Watching Apocalypto, Children of Men and 28 Days Later back to back all in the same night, had me feeling pretty fed up with over-exaggerations, fight scenes, and ominous music. Now that I’ve had a few days to digest all the doom, gloom, blood, and violence I’ve come to realize that we are relatively limited in terms of creative renderings of the end. Continue reading
While reading Kirsch I often noted how cultural anxiety plays a key role in apocalyptic thinking. Apocalyptic anxiety has opened up a huge market in pop-culture. It’s important to note that this market didn’t just succeed without the presence of some need; people buy into it. I would argue that apocalyptic consumers aren’t just successfully targeted bystanders, but rather they have an anxiety-driven fascination with the legacy that originated with The Book of Revelation. Kermode addresses further how this market of anxiety succeeds because of the very human need for a comprehensible end to the human “story.” Continue reading
