The question ‘what if?’ has been the origin of innumerable flights of science-fiction fancy from Hollywood. Right now it appears there is a preoccupation with one particular formulation of this very question: what if it all ended tomorrow, the world as we know it snuffed out overnight?
Certainly, the amount of films either recently released or imminent dealing directly with an end of the world scenario, or set within a post-apocalyptic environment, is remarkable. We’ve already had the disaster movie 2012, the decidedly more understated Carriers and the computer-animated 9, which offers an irreverent take on familiar material by substituting woollen puppets as the survivors of a holocaust for the more traditional human protagonist. This January, meanwhile, saw the much-anticipated arrival of The Road, an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s acclaimed novel, and the less highbrow The Book of Eli, an action blockbuster starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. Thematically the two films are almost interchangeable: they both address what happens to human nature under extreme duress when the boundaries of civilisation are removed, although The Book of Eli is likely to address these concerns with considerably more in the way of explosions.
It is telling that the release of two of these films was significantly delayed. The Road was completed over 12 months ago, whilst Carriers has been sitting on the shelf for two years. Is it a coincidence that they have been postponed until now? I think not. For many, standing on the cusp of the new decade feels more like teetering over a precipice, and the films that herald its arrival reflect a Western world scrutinising itself in a cinematic mirror in anticipation of meeting its maker. The brutality and callousness on display in many of these films, few of which offer much in the way of optimism, suggest that disillusionment with human endeavour will figure heavily in popular culture as we enter an even greater period of uncertainty.
Or maybe not. Indeed, it should be noted that besides 2012’s respectable revenue, none of the aforementioned features have set the box office alight in America. Although Hollywood is clearly interested, even invested, in the allure of the apocalypse, it would appear audiences are less enamoured of visiting the pictures to be reminded of the bleak prospects outside. It is quite possible in fact that the modern apocalypse movie is already on the way out, only to receive the occasional light-hearted gesture in knockabout comedies like Zombieland, or superficial lip-service in blockbusters where the cosy survival of the American percentage of humanity and all its adorable household pets is ensured from the opening frames.
If so it’s a shame, since an apocalypse movie capable of catching the zeitgeist and captivating large audiences would be welcome. Sure, it may address the issues confronting us in broad terms, but people are surely likelier to take an interest if the future of our world is being discussed in a medium with the universal power of cinema. A medium that makes apocalypse feel frighteningly plausible. Just ask yourself…what if?
