CS Weekly Archive > The Big Picture > 1/15/10

After the End:
Five Great Post-Apocalypse Films

BY PETER CLINES

"There's a lot of trend stories running in the media about how post-apocalyptic themes are popular again," muses Gary Whitta, screenwriter of The Book of Eli.  "I think it's true—to an extent.  I think post 9-11 and with the economic meltdown, we live in slightly more cynical times than we have in the past.  There are a handful of movies, including mine, that are coming out around the same time—I don't think they're necessarily all a response to that trend."  However, the writer does agree that people aren't feeling as positive about the future as they have been in days past, and that makes them more responsive to the dark futures being portrayed in film as of late.  "Certainly in my case," he points out, "it didn't come from that cynical place of feeling like the world was going to end or coming from a nihilistic viewpoint.  The movie was always conceived as an opportunity to have a conversation about religious faith.  Had it been that the best way was to tell that story was on a space station, then we would've done that.  As it turned out, the post-apocalyptic [setting] was the best way to address some of the themes that I wanted to talk about in the movie."
 
With Whitta's words in mind, and his film opening this week, CS Weekly decided to look back at a few other famous post-apocalyptic films and examine the stories that also used that grim setting with varying degrees of hope and hopelessness. [Be sure to check out Peter's full interview with Gary Whitta in the new issue of Creative Screenwriting—Ed.]
 
On The Beach (1959)
Screenplay by John Paxton
Based on the book by Nevil Schute
 
In the "future" of 1964, World War III has come and gone, taking most of the northern hemisphere with it.  Lt. Commander Towers (Gregory Peck) and the crew of the submarine Sawfish have been harboring in Melbourne, Australia, since the end of the war, but a recon into the barren and empty cities of the American west coast convinces them of the ugly truth.  The radioactive fallout is not fading—it's spreading across the few parts of the world that weren't devastated, killing everything that survived the war.  The remnants of mankind have months left at best, and decisions have to be made about how to spend those final weeks.
 
After the End
The very idea of nuclear war, and the world-ending ramifications that came with it, was barely a decade old when this film came out.  On the Beach was one of the first major movies to deal with the possibility that mankind could wipe itself out, and the even more frightening idea that not everyone would go at once.  The story is part cautionary tale against the horrors of nuclear war and part character study.  What would people do knowing they were doomed?  Would they live life to the fullest, attempt to find comfort in love or duty, or perhaps just avoid the end with the painless, coma-inducing "suicide pills" supplied by the government?
 
The Road Warrior (1981)
Screenplay by Terry Hayes & Brian Hannant & George Miller (latter also directed)
 
Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) was a cop before his family and best friend were murdered, the economy collapsed, and a world war left everything in ruins.  Now he's just a loner wandering the back roads of Australia, where he stumbles across a tiny community centered around an oil refinery.  In these hungry times, though, fuel is worth killing for, and Max finds himself caught in a war between the people of the refinery and a vicious gang led by Lord Humungous (Kjell Nilsson).
 
After the End
There's no denying this is an adventure film.  Perhaps more interesting, though, it's the story of a broken man who's determined to stay broken.  When the film begins, Max is a man who has lost everything.  Throughout the story, he has several chances for new friends, a new community, a new purpose—even a young feral boy (Emil Minty) who sees him as a father figure.  And Max wants none of it, rejecting every offer, spoken or implied, except the one that will let him get back on the road.  The rest of the world may be ready to move on and forget the past, but he'd rather stay bitter and get left behind.  It's also worth noting that The Road Warrior quickly became the definitive post-apocalypse movie and a template for hundreds to follow; a coarse amalgamation of disintegrating technology, scavengers, and feudal lords.

Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Screenplay by George Romero (also directed)
 
When the dead rise, society collapses and four survivors band together to escape the chaos in a stolen helicopter.  When they stop at an abandoned mall for supplies, they realize they can live there indefinitely once they've disposed of the walking dead inside and make the mall their luxurious new home.  However, as the days roll on, the world continues its descent, and the quartet is reduced to a trio, it becomes apparent they can't just ignore the bleak reality outside.  Worse yet, other survivors have noticed their miniature paradise and want what the mall offers for themselves.
 
After the End
A common theme in "last man on Earth" stories is the sheer amount of stuff someone can finally have.  Clothes, booze, cars—nothing's too good or too expensive anymore.  Heck, it's one-third of the plot of another cult post-apocalypse film, Night of the Comet. Romero takes a double-edged sword to the idea of consumerism with this script, a sequel to his breakout hit Night of the Living Dead.  On one level, the characters are willing to fritter away days and weeks with the distractions of the mall while civilization collapses around them.  In a sense, they're just like the zombies, consuming for no real reason except the act of consumption itself.  Like so many trophy wives before them, they realize they're not accomplishing anything except lulling themselves into a false sense of security and avoiding the actual problem.  On another level are the zombies themselves, who in Romero's tales sometimes keep a few faint memories of their previous lives.  There's more than a little irony that the sole imperative for so many of the undead is to go to the mall and just... walk around. 
 
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Screenplay by Brannon Bragga & Ron Moore
Story by Rick Berman & Brannon Bragga & Ron Moore
 
The cybernetic Borg have been defeated, but a final strategy sends them hurling back in time with Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the Enterprise in pursuit.  Their destination is 2063, a mere 10 years after World War Three, where a defenseless mankind is struggling back to its feet.  It's also a key point in history, because in a small Montana shanty town a scientist named Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) is about to test a patched-together spaceship fitted with his revolutionary "warp drive" and introduce mankind to the stars... unless the Borg stop him and assimilate mankind a century before the Federation is born.
 
After the End
Since first envisioned by Gene Roddenberry over four decades ago, the Star Trek mythos has always been about a better humanity aspiring to greater things.  Not-quite-hidden in the background of those hopeful stories, though, was the ugly fact that this world was born out of another third-world-war scenario.  The post-apocalyptic setting for this film is a ramshackle wilderness town that wouldn't look much different if it was under an overpass today, and we immediately understand that this is what every town is like at this point; threadbare, patchwork, and just a bit paranoid that they could be attacked again.  Yet what better way is there to demonstrate Roddenberry's dream than to show mankind at this point, not even done dragging themselves back from the brink and already set to take a bold step forward with a prototype starship made from scrap titanium and an unused tactical missile.
 
The Road (2009)
Screenplay by Joe Penhall
Based on the book by Cormac McCarthy
 
In a barren world gripped by a never-ending winter, a father (Viggo Mortensen) struggles across the shattered remnants of America with his young son (Kodi Smit-McPhee).  Their goal is to reach the coast, which the man believes may be warmer and safer.  Between them and that goal are hundreds of bleak, harsh miles and potential death by exposure, starvation, or the violent gangs of survivors that have sunk to cannibalism.  The two scrape out a meager existence as they march mile after mile toward a salvation the man desperately believes has to be there.
 
After the End
Much like Whitta's screenplay for The Book of Eli, the story of The Road uses the post-apocalyptic landscape as the best setting for a larger story.  In fact, in the film and the original book we never learn who or what caused this catastrophe.  Penhall grasps that the heart of this story is not about the hows and whys of survival but about fatherhood.  The unnamed hero (because if there's only one other person to speak with, why would you ever use your name?) is determined to struggle through each day because he really is sacrificing everything for his son.  The boy is his sole motivation, keeping him alive, moving, and sane.  It's a story of just how much someone can endure for somebody they love unconditionally.

Peter Clines grew up in the Stephen King fallout zone of Maine and made his first writing sale at age 17 to a local newspaper.  He currently lives somewhere in southern California, and can often be found ranting on his cleverly named blog, Writer on Writing.  His first novel, Ex-Heroes, will be released soon.

The Road Warrior courtesy Warner Home Video

Dawn of the Dead courtesy Starz/Anchor Bay Home Entertainment

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