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Abstract
The steady rise in production ofAmerican apocalyptic films and the genre's enduring popularity over the last seven decades can be explained by the functions the film genre serves. Through an analysis of a broad range of apocalyptic films along with the application of several theoretical and critical approaches to the study of film, the author describes seven functions commonly found in American apocalyptic cinema expressed both in terms of its meaning (the underlying purpose of the film) and its message (the ideas the filmmakers want to convey to the audience). Apocalyptic cinema helps the viewer make sense of the world, offers audiences strategies for managing crises, documents our hopes, fears, discourses, ideologies and socio-political conflicts, critiques the existing social order, warns people to change their ways in order to avert an imminent apocalypse, refutes or ridicules apocalyptic hysteria, and seeks to bring people to a religious renewal, spiritual awakening and salvation message.
Keywords
Apocalyptic Films, Comedy Films, Christian Films, Crisis Management, Film Functions, Ideologies, Social Criticism, Warning
The Rising Popularity of Apocalyptic Cinema
Films with apocalyptic themes have never been more popular. John Walliss and James Aston report that the 21st Century has seen a significant increase in the number of films having an apocalyptic theme.1 Mary Bloodsworth Lugo and Carmen Lugo-Lugo estimate that there were 59 apocalyptic films released between 1980 and 1999, and there were close to 90 in the time span between 2000 and 2013.2 The author's survey of apocalyptic films produced over the last 100 years found that only a handful of end-of-the-world motion pictures were produced in the period before 19503, and with each passing decade after 1950 until the 1980s the number of films released to audiences steadily increased. During the 1980s and 1990s the number of apocalyptic films released remained steady before an explosion of apocalyptic films in the 21st Century.4 In "Why Are Dystopian Films on the Rise Again?," in addressing the recent popularity of apocalyptic films, Christopher Schmidt posits two questions: "Why, then, do we shell out 12, 13, 14 dollars for films that seem designed only to frighten and depress us? What species of entertainment, much less relief, do these nightmare scenarios offer?"5 In this article, in finding answers to the questions posed...