Film Studies 397E - ST- Film/End of the World

What insights do films with end-of-the-world scenarios, dystopian futures, and post-apocalyptic themes offer into the cultural moment that produces them? From alien invasions and planetary collisions to cataclysmic war and totalitarian dystopias, from the zombie apocalypse and the rise of machines, to human extinction and the end of civilization, what do these films tell us about contemporary realities? How do they speak to our anxieties and fears about the future as well as our hopes and aspirations? In what ways do these films pose and explore questions of the "human"? End-of-the-world films often intersect with other genres (thriller, action film, neo-noir, comedy, art-house, romance, drama, experimental, etc.) In this course we will study the cinema of eschatology, of ultimate endings, and analyze a range of filmic approaches to the philosophical, psychological, and aesthetic questions raised in end-of-the-world narratives. Satisfies UMass Undergraduate Film Certificate Category IIB

Satisfies Undergraduate UMass Film Studies Certificate category: IIB