Psycho-Apocalypses, from Theory to Practice
Psycho-Apocalypses, from Theory to Practice
Author(s): Andrei SimutSubject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts
Published by: Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai, Facultatea de Teatru si Televiziune
Keywords: psycho-apocalypse; pre-apocalypticism; imminence; apocalyptic expectations; reactive depression
Summary/Abstract: This paper investigates the concept of psycho-apocalypse as belonging to a new type of apocalyptic imagination in film and literature, with a vast range of examples, mostly taken from the films of 2011, extremely significant both for the change in the apocalyptic genre of the last two decades and for the return of pre-apocalypticism, a resurgence of intense expectations for the end of the world (a new apocalyptic psychoses). In the first part of the article I outline a few theoretical perspectives on this shift, and, in the second part I analyze the significant examples, from the TV series “Doomsday Preppers” to films like Take Shelter and Another Earth.
Journal: Ekphrasis. Images, Cinema, Theory, Media
- Issue Year: 08/2012
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 64-75
- Page Count: 12
- Language: English