Postapocalypse is Definition, description, types

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Such a voluminous and contradictory concept of "post-apocalypse" is a paradoxical combination of lack of logic. For the world presented in this genre is beyond the limits of generally accepted rationalism, and the paradox here indicates the vision of images that, in fact, are not in our minds. The picture of the world is presented very vaguely.

Christian Origins of the Post-Apocalypse

From time immemorial, religious tradition has presented the concept of the apocalypse as the complete completion of the history of all mankind. However, the "Book of Revelation" indicates a subsequent, completely new stage of life: the accession of Christ and his Holy subjects. Satan will lose his main source of nourishment: lies, temptation, temptation, which, in fact, led humanity to the end of the earthly path. These common features will express the post-apocalypse as the zero content of the world.

Features of the secular view of the concept

From the end of the twentieth century, withinanimation and cinema, the post-apocalyptic genre is firmly strengthening its position. The prefix "post-" is a reflection of the scientific and philosophical trend of the 70-80s of the last century, referred to as post-structuralism, and its offshoot - postmodernism. When the history of this or that civilization reaches the limits of its development, then the exposure of all existing logical, spiritual and social conflicts occurs. This leads to an inevitable process of obsolescence, where further development of the system is impossible. At that time, the time of degradation comes into force, the destruction of the structure of the general way of life, values and spiritual guidelines. The world is consuming a state of emptiness and pessimism. The fantasy of the post-apocalypse becomes a harsh reality in the struggle for individual survival.

Philosophical and psychological stamps of the post-apocalyptic scenario

According to psychologist Abraham Maslow's classification of needs, those few people who survived the collapse of their era return to the need to satisfy their basic needs - finding food and providing security. There is a rollback of civilization for many centuries.

Survival becomes the main criterion characterizing the position of the surviving humanity. These criteria are optimal for cultivating evil. However, the post-apocalypse is also the birth of such higher values as an attempt to awaken human souls to unity, providing conditions for unity for the sake of the highest goals. Life itself assumes the role of that very good, moreover, social life. One of the basic tasks is the restoration of civilizations.

A short checklist for any post-apocalyptic scenario

• Mandatory presence of a folk hero who will fight evil and lead some of the surviving citizens.
• The manifestation of widespread degradation in the spiritual, social and intellectual spheres.
• The birth of commun.
• Complete or partial destruction of civilizations or individual settlements.
• The appearance of small prehistoric social settlements using the remnants of the benefits of a lost civilization.
• Total disappearance of technology.

Now that the basic structure of post-apocalyptic fiction has been considered, what genre can express the worst-case scenario of human extinction?

Zombie Apocalypse

Zombie is an independent separate fantasy genre that managed to win its large army of fans. It's no secret that in preparation for the much-anticipated prognosis, it is necessary to arm yourself with a collection of weapons if the dead wish to rise from the dead.

What defines the foundation? Mandatory feeling of hopelessness when one or more heroes are trying to hide from the wandering dead behind a flimsy door. The chances of salvation are becoming less and less, because often the surviving people are driven into a dead end, hitting some kind of high-rise building. After the presented script, such films as “World War Z” (where Brad Pitt played the main role) and “Quarantine” immediately come to mind.

Not to be misseda line of films "Resident Evil" with Mila Jovovich and, perhaps, the best in the genre of post-apocalyptic cinema - "Infection". A feature of the scenario of this picture is how the virus affects and changes the mind of the infected main character. Actress Nejarra Townsend played the lead role brilliantly.

Monster Apocalypse

Features of this subgenre contain the attack scenario of the invaders, seeking to make a complete capture of the planet Earth in order to enslave the population or completely destroy it.

A striking example is the notorious film "I Am Legend", where Will Smith plays the hero Robert Neville, the only person whose immune system resists the vampire monster virus. The very idea and concept distinguish the picture from among the options presented on this topic.

A must-see film "The Guest", based on the novel of the same name by Stephenie Meyer. Here, the main anti-heroes are unearthly life forms that cannot exist without the main carrier. Thus, alien guests need to parasitize on any living object.

Natural disaster

Perhaps one of the most favorite types of post-apocalyptic filmmakers are natural disasters, presented in all sorts of variations. Everything that is within the reach of creative imagination: from devastating tsunamis and abrupt climate changes to increased wind currents and changes in the Earth's magnetic field. Sometimes screenwriters do not skimp on mixing several natural elements at once into a single picture in order to give the story a special look.bright color.

It's no secret that many screen scripts are borrowed from books. An example of this is the novel The Road, which was filmed in 2011. The story of this film is about how the world turned into a lifeless desert, as a result of a global catastrophe. This state of affairs exposed a number of human vices - cannibalism, increasing cruelty, aggression, and all this is seasoned with endless hunger and cold. Enemy primacy is given to the man himself, and now everyone must fight for their own survival on their own.

Post-apocalypse is a film “The Day After Tomorrow” saturated with genuine drama, which makes the audience fully imbued with the tragedy unfolding on the screens. This time, nature is seriously angry with humanity, thereby awakening a drought in one part of the world, incessant downpours in another, as well as heavy winds and sharply changing temperature indicators. The main character, environmentalist Jack Hall, is trying in every possible way to stop the raging cataclysms, but the government refuses to help him.

A very exciting post-apocalyptic style is reflected in the film "2012", where the main focus of the directors was made on a high-quality picture. The plot here is relegated to the background, but this does not take away the spectacle and the feeling of involvement in the ongoing events.

Other post-apocalyptic scenarios based on famous films

In the center of the plot of "Mad Max" is a man-made disaster that has completely hit the world. The action takes place in Australia, where the desperatethe inhabitants cut through the deserts in search of food and shelter.

The Matrix trilogy by the Wachowski brothers. The moment has come when intelligent machines have created a virtual reality for mankind, using its representatives as "biobatteries".

No less famous "Terminator", where the content is based on the uprising of machines that want to exterminate humanity in all sorts of ways.

Also ambiguous picture "Cloud Atlas", which incorporates six parallel intertwining storylines. The film is quite difficult to understand, but it is worth it for the viewer to delve into the storyline.

Perhaps one of the cutest examples of post-apocalyptic fantasy is PIXAR's animated story WALLE. According to the scenario, people have polluted the Earth so much that it is no longer suitable for any form of life. In a pile of garbage on a planetary scale, the meek robot Wally remained to live, who, having discovered a tiny sprout, is trying in every possible way to save it.

Total globalization

The shrinking of the world's borders began to emerge clearly in the last century, when the effectiveness of communications began to gain momentum. In particular, the total and irreversible consequences for humanity became real after the invention of nuclear weapons. After that, the cultural shell of society picked up such an extensive paranoid feed, which played a special role in creating various dystopias and the origins of cyberpunk. All this gave rise to a confusion of problems of global threats to technogenicnature, religious universalism into the idea of an inevitable apocalypse from the mistakes associated with the illiterate use of the manual atom.

Discovering the themes of individualism and collectivism

Post-apocalypse is the disclosure of the relationship between two social models: a single individualist and a spontaneous team that needs a leader. In such a bunch, an interesting pattern is manifested: the one who took command of the human mass is given full responsibility for each individual. Now the subject will not be able to put aside responsibility for someone's life, as it could be done in a system not yet destroyed by the apocalypse.

Postmodern aesthetics

As you know, the very specificity of postmodernism contains all sorts of facets of the concept of "strange", breaking it down into such components as "unfamiliar", "bizarre", "curious", "supernatural", "specific" and even " eroticized." This is the basis of the post-apocalyptic genre, as such. Therefore, the love of fans of this style for mutants, various zombies, alien invaders and other freaks is not surprising.