Film-goers’ attraction to disasters as a subject started since the time of the silent film era. Even in this present time, the interest on disaster film maintains. The disasters are either approaching, ongoing, or established in the distant future. They can occur in the vicinity or worldwide. Commonly showed catastrophes in disaster or doomsday films include natural disasters, accidents like plane crashes, a skyscraper on fire or global illness epidemic, criminally plots such as terrorist conspiracies, bombs on the plane, and catastrophe that includes aliens, zombies or monsters attack, apocalyptic like the end of the world. These films often focus on the development, the tragedy itself, and from time to time the aftershock. It usually is from …show more content…
Historical disaster films were basically entertainment products. ‘San Francisco’ (1936) directed by W. S. Van Dyke tells a soap opera story of ordinary romantic, a saloonkeeper and an impresario are rivals the loves of a lovely singer. But the film excites its viewers with ten minutes of vast special effects and continuous action when the city of San Francisco succumbs to an earthquake. The shrilling shock scale in this even so tame picture is part of the commercial package. (Keane, 2006) ‘The Hurricane’ (1937) directed by John Ford, a film with one of the most remarkable tropical storm scenes ever shot in the film history. (Filmsite.org, 2017) In the 1950s during the Cold War, it was the golden age of apocalyptic cinema. (Filmsite.org, 2017) The focus of disaster films during that era was on the likely devastations due to atomic bombs. (Selbo, 2015) With the first atomic bomb being used, political brinkmanship, the nuclear arms race and the space race, theater intensify with various types of disaster. (Filmsite.org, 2017) ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ (1951) directed by Robert Wise tells a story of an alien who lands on planet earth and tells the people to live peacefully or be destroyed for the safety of other planets. (Wise et al., …show more content…
Films from recent years have comprised more creative kind of catastrophes, such as killer viruses, fatal guerrillas, zombies, global warming disasters and human technological arrogance. (Filmsite.org, 2017) Some disaster films in the 2000s are ‘The Perfect Storm’ (2000), ‘District 9’ (2009), ‘Gravity’ (2013). Few Hollywood’s master creators of disaster films believe their films give the audiences a psychological relief. German screenwriter, director and producer Roland Emmerich quote “They are somewhat cathartic. You see all this destruction and everything but at the end the right people save the day,” (Brook,
Drea Knufken’s thesis statement is that “As a society, we’ve acquired an immunity to crisis” (510-512). This means that humans in general, or citizens of the world, have become completely desensitized to disasters, we think of them as just another headline, without any understanding of their impact upon fellow
One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak
Kubrick came across the novel Red Alert, and instead of deciding to make the work into a film that tackled the notion of nuclear war in a serious manner, he chose to make the film a satire. This was immensely risky. Only two years after the conclusion of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which nearly plunged the world into a nuclear holocaust, as the topic of nuclear war as a film subject, let alone a satire, was considered taboo and by no means socially ac...
A memorable, modern age comedy sees amy Schumer as the provocative female lead. Schumer wrote the script and it is obvious that her character's backstory mirrors her own personal life. Schumer herself has said how this film reflects her own life that she is “unapologetically herself”. Schumer teams up with Judd Apatow who is famous for such films as “The 40 year old virgin” and “Knocked Up” to direct this film.
Hurricane Katrina left a devastating scar on the citizens of the southern coast of the U.S., especially New Orleans, Louisiana. The category 5 hurricane was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the most deadly. Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29th, 2005 and after that day, 66,000 people were displaced from their homes. Of those who decided to ride out the storm with hopes of success and survival as they had experienced with other storms, they were found on their rooftops, in their attics, hoping for boat or helicopter rescue, relying on others for help to survive. The storm had reached 28,000 square feet inward to Louisiana, which was 60 percent of the state. 1,100 Louisianans lost their lives, and 200,000 were displaced and/or lost their homes (Davis 8). It was a devastating time of despair and suffering. People were put through experiences that would scar them for a long time. While preparing for evacuation, people left most of their belongings at home to flee to a safer city or to find shelter in the Superdome and Convention Center. Some even decided to remain in their boarded up homes. After the hurricane had past, a few hours went by and a levee located near the Mississippi River canal broke leaving New Orleans flooded (Delisi). After the disaster, the state and federal governments were pointing fingers at each other as to who was to blame for the poorly planned evacuation and rescue efforts for the victims. The state government promised to help evacuate those who could not transport themselves. Citizens were told to go to the Superdome and convention center for evacuation, but the supplies needed for survi...
Hazards pose risk to everyone. Our acceptance of the risks associated with hazards dictates where and how we live. As humans, we accept a certain amount of risk when choosing to live our daily lives. From time to time, a hazard becomes an emergent situation. Tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast or earthquakes in California are all hazards that residents in those regions accept and live with. This paper will examine one hazard that caused a disaster requiring a response from emergency management personnel. Specifically, the hazard more closely examined here is an earthquake. With the recent twenty year anniversary covered by many media outlets, the January 17, 1994, Northridge, California earthquake to date is the most expensive earthquake in American history.
Films are necessary in our time period because the human eye can articulate the message intended through sight allowing visual imagination to occur. In the book, world 2 by Max Brooks, he creates a character by the name Roy Elliot who was a former movie director. Roy Elliot manages to make a movie titled “Victory at Avalon: The Battle of the Five Colleges” and some how it goes viral. Similarly, Frank Capra’s film, “Why we Fight” expresses a sense of understanding the meaning of wars. Films do not inevitably portray truth because they display what the film director views as important and beneficial for people to know.
The Texas City Disaster of 1947 was a disaster that really left a impact to the world. The Texas City Disaster of 1947 was one of the world's worst industrial disasters.
not on the outside. All I wanted to do was find someone, get a story,
Katrina, Rita, Sandy; the 1906 San Francisco earthquakes; the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918; the 1993 World Trad...
Megan Sheehan English 243 Final Understanding Humanity in the Context of Apocalyptic Cinema The concept of an approaching apocalypse serves as a source of both terror and fascination within global society. Apocalyptic films such as Lars von Trier’s Melancholia and Roland Emmerich’s 2012 have received increasing amounts of media attention caused by humanity’s innate inclination to witness its own destruction. This is not to say that those intrigued by these films necessarily want the world to end so much as they want to be prepared and aware in the chance that it does.
The film industry has become a large part of part of human culture for over a millennium. Since the development of the motion picture camera in the 1890s, shortly followed by the establishment of production companies, film has vastly gained popularity. While there are many different reasons of the existence of films, one of the main purposes is to convey a message to the viewer. Climate change and the environment is a frequently discussed topic in films. This essay will discuss three common facts and fallacies found in popular movie culture by comparison of peer reviewed journals.
These movies are history lessons to the audience since they show something we were not able to witness or take part in. Consider war movies such as “The Tuskegee Airmen and Memphis Belle”. Though not one hundred percent accurate, both depict actual events of historical wars. They are examples of how movies can teach the newer generation about what their distant relatives did for their country. Another type of informative movies describes the cultures and societies around the world. “City of God” is a prime example. These movies show the hardships that people in other countries face in their day-to-day lives. Again, these are just two simple examples of how movies can be learning tools for a mass
Natural Disasters can occur anywhere at anytime. Some are more predictable than others, but they all bring hardship to everyone’s life. Examples of natural disasters are Earthquakes (Haiti 2010), Tornadoes, Tsunami, Hurricanes, Wild Fires, Winter Storms, Heat waves, Mudslides and Floods. Regardless of what kind of disaster occurs, bottom line, everyone needs to be prepared mentally and physically to deal with the aftermath. Education is the first step to prepare you to deal with any major disaster. Three of the major disasters that can potentially disrupt normal day to day operations in our lives, are Hurricanes, Tsunamis and Tornadoes.
There are different types and causes of disasters; man-made, natural and a combination. Man-made disasters are caused by human error or human actions that cause harm to the environment, and people (Baack & Alfred, 2013). Natural disasters are caused by nature a hurricane for example; and a combination; NA-TECH (natural-technological) examples are earthquakes that cause structural damage such as a collapse of a bridge (Nies & McEwen, 2011). Communities must have effective emergency preparedness in place to reduce the causalities from a disaster.