Top Nine Friday – End of The World Edition
If I am looking to buy a book, rent a movie, or watch a TV show there is one subject that I will choose over anything else – the apocalypse. From your standard 99.99% deadly virus to a global infestation of zombies to a nuclear holocaust I love me some world destruction. Basically they are all the same premise:
- The protagonist gets thrown into a chaotic situation and the standard rules of the world are thrown out of the window as they stumble blindly around familiar environments that are made unfamiliar by their new scenario’s “rules”.
- The confusion and loneliness of their situation slowly worn away by finding others or learning why or how they ended up in their current situation.
- At the peak of their self-realization a plan is made to solve their problem or relocate to a realm of safety.
- Battles are won and lost, more people die and they arrive to a solution or a place of perceived safety only to yield more uncertainty.
- The credits roll and the audience is unsatisfied.
There are a few things here that are worth exploring:
The reasons why these types of movies are compelling are due to the possibilities that the post apocalyptic world offers. The rules and limitations of the old world are wiped away and the characters are left to pursue their desires in a way that the pre-apocalypse world never could. Who wouldn’t want to shank golf balls into Manhattan, man a sniper rifle from the top of a mall or beat-off on home plate in Yankee Stadium (points for you if you know what stories each of those scenes are from)? The aggravations of modern life can be shed and a new existence can be created somewhere in between modern man and prehistoric man. Toiling away in an office in 2009 AD or scrounging for food in 5000 BC - no thanks. Toting a high powered rifle while stalking a herd of deer in downtown Chicago - yes, please!
Watching these movies or reading these books makes me so jealous of the people running around living their lives without any of the restrictions associated with modern day responsibilities. In all reality though I know it would suck. I am not equipped to operate in an environment similar to what is portrayed in”The Walking Dead”. I like electricity, uninterrupted sleep and not fearing for my life enough not to really want to live in the aftermath of the apocalypse. I have only shot a gun once, I could not kill and butcher an animal to eat, and I certainly would not do well in a bare knuckle brawl with a blood thirsty zombie. Add that to the fact that everyone I know would be gone and I would have to live inside my own thoughts. It would be like being stoned all the time… I would freak the fuck out. If I were living in a post-viral apocalypse I would be shitting my pants any time I had a sore throat , crushing up Airborne and snorting it just to be safe.
The possibilities though, fucking-A, the possibilities - no more cubicles, no more mortgage payments, free reign over everything. Also, there always seems to be hot chicks strewn about the shattered landscape wearing wet white tee shirts the day that the world ended that I know I would be running into. It is weird how that happens. Bottom line is that I know I would be ill-equipped to live that life but sometimes anything is better than sitting in my office dying a slow sedentary death instead of getting shit on from above by an advanced race of alien invaders. Modern life isn’t so bad though… I guess I am getting paid to blog right now.
As for the final stage of these tales of destruction there is always a feeling of dissatisfaction as these movies end. There is no good way to wrap them up without being too cheesy (Day After Tomorrow), too depressing (28 Days Later) or just fucking lame (The Happening). “The Walking Dead” has really taken the best approach to fix the problem with this genre of movie by simply never ending. In an interview, the write of “The Walking Dead” series, Robert Kirkman explains that he does not see an end in sight for this comic book series which lets him explore this subject with a clarity that no one else has been able to. A TV show is scheduled to be released in the near future based on this comic which would be amazing.
For now my daydreams of riding a motorcycle cross country through the littered debris of car wrecks and the remnants of a society that has faded will stay on the page or on the screen but who knows what the future holds. So without further ado I present the first installment of Top Nine Friday with:
Top Nine Apocalypse Stories
- The Road (Book) – an simply written book that serves as a vehicle to illustrate the weakness of human nature and the fragility of the bonds between people.
- The Walking Dead (Comic Book) – a “never ending” comic series that is well illustrated and written – I am hooked.
- Fallout (Video Game) – game I used to play back in the day – funny take on the apocalypse in a choose your own adventure style.
- Night of the Living Dead (Movie) – classic.
- The Stand (Book) – I read this when I was a kid over a summer break because I liked the cover and it started me on my appreciation for this type of story.
- War of the Worlds (Book) – one of the most enduring apocalypse stories and one of the first sci-fi books ever.
- 12 Monkeys (Movie) – best ending for an apocalypse movie – it still freaks me out that Bruce Willis’s character’s life is a loop – I think… right?
- Red Dawn (Movie) - barely qualifies as an apocalypse movie but I still remember these douche-bags that I painted houses with in college “hoping” World War 3 happened so they could take up arms and call themselves the “Wolverines”.
- Shaun of the Dead (Movie) – funniest apocalypse movie to date.