This is the End: How Movies Prepared Us for the Apocalypse
2022 |
1hr 30min
FILM TALK | MAY 11, 2022 | MASKS OPTIONAL
FILM TALK | MAY 11, 2022 | MASKS OPTIONAL
Great city streets emptied of people; a population panicked; misinformation in the air. If some of our experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic seemed familiar, it might be because the movies already imagined them. Whether the cause is environmental factors (The Day After Tomorrow, Snowpiercer, Contagion), nuclear disaster (On the Beach), or unexplained doomsday (Midnight Sky, Children of Men), film has explored what it looks like when the "Big One" hits -- and how we might react. In this talk illustrated with clips, Robert Horton looks at the eerie imagery of apocalyptic movies, and how these films foreshadowed our responses during the pandemic: the extremes of divisiveness and community-building, the loneliness of isolation, and the tantalizing possibility of starting over again -- but maybe doing it better this time.
As a member of FIPRESCI (International Society of Film Critics) he has recently served on film festival juries in Odessa, Ljubljana, Seattle, Mannheim-Heidelberg, Hong Kong, Indianapolis, and Berlin, where he was jury president. His film books include Frankenstein (Columbia University Press) and Billy Wilder: Interviews (U. Press of Mississippi). His work is linked at the website The Crop Duster (roberthorton.wordpress.com). Twitter: @citizenhorton.