Such a voluminous and controversial concept of “post-apocalypse” is a paradoxical combination of the absence of logic. For the world represented 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 consciousness. The picture of the world is very vague.
The Christian origins of the post-apocalypse
Since time immemorial, the religious tradition represents 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 being: the reign of Christ and his Holy subjects. Satan will lose its main source of nutrition: lies, temptation, temptation, which, in essence, led humanity to the end of the earthly path. These general features will express the post-apocalypse as the zero content of the world.
Features secular view of the concept
Since the end of the 20th century, within the framework of animation and cinema, the post-apocalypse genre has been 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 poststructuralism, and its branch - postmodernism. When the history of a particular civilization reaches the limits of its development, then all existing logical, spiritual and social conflicts are exposed. This leads to an inevitable process of elimination, where further development of the system is impossible. At that time, the time of degradation and destruction of the structure of the general structure, values and spiritual guidelines comes into force. The world absorbs a state of emptiness and pessimism. The fantasy of post-apocalypse is becoming a harsh reality in the struggle for individual survival.
Philosophical and psychological stamps of the post-apocalyptic scenario
If we focus on the classification of the needs of psychologist Abraham Maslow, those few people who survived the collapse of their era return to the need to meet their basic needs - finding food and ensuring safety. 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, post-apocalypse is also the birth of such highest values as an attempt to awaken human souls to unity, providing conditions for unity for the highest goals. Life itself takes on the role of that very good, moreover, social life. One of the basic tasks is the restoration of civilizations.
A short checklist of any post-apocalyptic scenario
- Mandatory presence of a national 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 origin of the communes.
- Full or partial destruction of civilizations or individual settlements.
- The appearance of small social settlements of a prehistoric type with the use of the remnants of the benefits of a vanished civilization.
- The total disappearance of technology.
Now that the basic structure of fiction post-apocalypse is examined, what genre can express the worst-case scenario for the death of humanity?
The zombie apocalypse
Zombies are an independent separate fantasy genre that managed to conquer its large army of fans. It is no secret that in order to prepare for such an expected forecast, it is necessary to arm yourself with a collection of weapons if the dead want to rise from the dead.
What determines the basis? A mandatory sense of hopelessness when one or more heroes try to hide from the roving 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, having got into some kind of high-rise structure. After the presented scenario, such pictures as War of the Worlds Z (where Brad Pitt played the main role) and Quarantine immediately come to mind.
It should be noted the line of films "Resident Evil" with Mila Jovovich and, perhaps, the best in the genre of post-apocalypse movies - "Infection". A feature of the scenario of this picture is how the virus acts and changes the mind of the infected protagonist. The main role was brilliantly played by actress Nejarra Townsend.
Monstroapocalypse
The features of this subgenre include a scenario of an attack by invaders seeking to completely capture planet Earth in order to enslave the population or completely destroy it.
A vivid example is the notorious film “I Am A Legend”, where Will Smith plays the hero Robert Neville, the only person whose immunity is opposed to the virus of vampire monsters. The idea itself and the concept distinguish the picture from the number of options presented on this topic.
Mandatory to watch the film "Guest", based on the novel of the same name by Stephanie Meyer. Here, the main antiheroes 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 directors of the types of post-apocalypse are natural disasters, presented in all kinds of variations. Everything that is in the reach of creative imagination: from devastating tsunamis and sudden changes in climate to increasing wind flows and changing the Earth’s magnetic field. Sometimes scriptwriters are not stingy with mixing several natural elements into a single picture at once to give the story a particularly vivid color.
It is no secret that many screen scripts are borrowed from books. Such an example 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, following the results of a global catastrophe. This state of affairs revealed a number of human vices - cannibalism, growing cruelty, aggression, and all this is seasoned with endless hunger and cold. The enemy superiority is given to the person himself, and now everyone must fight for their own survival on their own.
Post-apocalypse is the picture “The Day After Tomorrow” saturated with genuine drama, which makes the audience fully imbued with the tragedy unfolding on the screens. This time, nature was seriously angry with humanity, thereby arousing drought in one part of the world, incessant downpours in another, as well as heavy winds and sharply changing temperature indicators. The protagonist, the environmentalist Jack Hall, is trying in every possible way to stop the raging cataclysms, but the government refuses to assist him.
The post-apocalypse style is very exciting reflected in the film "2012", where the directors' main focus was on a high-quality picture. The plot here is relegated to the background, but this does not take away the entertainment and feelings of involvement in the events.
Other scenarios of post-apocalypse on the example of famous films
In the center of the plot of “Mad Max,” there is a man-made disaster that has completely collapsed on the world. The action takes place in Australia, where desperate residents cut through the deserts in search of food and shelter.
The Matrix trilogy of the Wachowski brothers. The moment has come when intelligent machines created virtual reality for humanity, using its representatives as “bio-batteries”.
No less well-known "Terminator", where the uprising of machines that want to exterminate mankind in every possible way is the basis of the content.
Also, the ambiguous painting "Cloud Atlas", which incorporates six storylines parallel to each other. The film is quite complicated for perception, but it is worth the viewer to delve into the storyline.
Perhaps one of the cutest examples of post-apocalypse fantasy is PIXAR's animated story - WALLE painting. 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 debris of a planetary scale, the meek robot Valley, who, having discovered a tiny sprout, is trying in every possible way to keep it alive.
Total globalization
The compression of the borders of the world 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 recharge, which played a special role in creating various anti-utopias and the origins of cyberpunk. All this gave rise to a confusion of the problems of global threats of anthropogenic nature, religious universalism into the idea of an inevitable apocalypse from errors associated with the illiterate use of a hand atom.
Disclosure of themes of individualism and collectivism
Post-apocalypse is the disclosure of the relationship between two social models: an individualist individual and a spontaneous team that needs a leader. An interesting pattern is manifested in such a bundle: the one who has assumed command of the human mass has full responsibility for each individual. Now the subject will not be able to take aside responsibility for someone’s life, as could be done in a system that has not yet been 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-apocalypse genre, as such. Therefore, it is not surprising the love of fans of this style for mutants, various zombies, alien invaders and other freaks.