IIPM Reviews
Fear is the key. The world, we are always told, is hanging by a string that could snap without warning. In 2012, the doomsday industry will probably go into overdrive like never before. Living on the edge and imagining the dire consequences of that reality holds limitless fascination for mankind. The fears have certainly not remained confined to just folk tales and apocalyptic legends of the past but have continued to the present day as a compelling subject of literature and film-making. The dread of the unknown fires the human imagination, and writers and filmmakers conjure up cataclysmic scenarios to scare the daylights out of us.
Cinema started experimenting with the subject very early. One of the most interesting early apocalyptic cinematic tales was the 1974 short film, A Boy and His Dog, produced and directed by LQ Jones.
The film depicts a war-ravaged Arizona in the year 2024, where all the survivors are men. Opposing forces have bombed their houses and killed the women and children. It is a moving story of a teenage boy, who is divorced from faith and morality and, with the help of his dog, is in constant search of food and women to satiate his physical needs.
Though the film was not a commercial draw at the time, it is today regarded as a cult film underscoring the degrees of destruction that an apocalypse can bring.
Appleseed was another interesting science fiction which was adapted into two films and two popular video games. Released between 1985 and 1989, Appleseed depicts the 22nd century after a non-nuclear war has decimated the earth. Olympus is now the most powerful city in the world, with Great Britain, China and the US facing testing times in the effort to maintain law and order.
Among more recent films, Resident Evil (2002), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), War of the Worlds (2005), and Transformers (a series of films released in 2007, 2009, 2011) are the most notable ones.
The year 2009 saw blockbuster maker Roland Emmerich springing 2012 upon the world. Starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet and Thandie Newton, the film is an epic adventure set in the year mentioned in the title. A global crisis triggers the end of the world and the survivors of the catastrophe wage a heroic battle to the save the species.
Apocalypse has inspired songs as well. In the Dog Eat Dog album, the band Warrant had sung a powerful song called April 2031, depicting a world where life is sustained by artificial means. Similarly, Edwin Muir composed a poem, The Horses, which shows our society back into the days of pre-industrial revolution. Video games too have exploited the subject.
Novels perhaps have covered apocalypse in the biggest way. Among the pre-twentieth century novels, After London by Richard Jefferies and H G Wells'
The War of the Worlds have been very successful. Among the 20th and 21st century novels, too many works came out in this genre perhaps influenced by six decades of the Cold War. Notable among them were Richard Matheson's I am Legend, (1954); The White Plague (1982) by Frank Herbert; M.P. Shiel's The Purple Cloud (1901) and Empty World (1977) by John Christopher.
It is not nuclear conflict alone that has been shown as the cause for end of the world. There have been other reasons, such as poisonous cloud, deadly viruses, meteor strikes, volcanic eruption, earthquakes, alien attacks etc. The list is endless.
Read also: IIPM Review Ranking/Rankings Across India, IIPM Faculty's Review on Thoughts and Courage, IIPM: The B-School with a Human Face and Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012 - IIPM ranks 1st and IIPM Review MBA 2012 - Delhi Bangalore Jaipur Lucknow Admissions
No comments:
Post a Comment