A brief, incomplete tribute to the post-apocalyptic fiction that shaped me.
I never really expected to live through a pandemic. In an abstract way I have long known that the possibility was there, but still I never truly felt it would happen in my lifetime. And I certainly never imaged it to be anything like what we are currently living through. Books, comics and films had given me to imagine a lot more chaos, military trucks, lots of hazmat suits— that kind of thing, they didn’t prepare for this reality of days inside making baked treats while checking work emails and home-schooling a 7-year-old!
Growing up in the 1980s, it was nuclear war that was the overriding threat. The tensions between the USSR and the USA permeated through popular culture into the movies of my childhood: Red Dawn, Top Gun, War Games, Russkies, Rocky IV, not to mentions half the James Bond franchise.
Maybe it was growing up with this constant — and quite real — threat of world-wide annihilation that sparked my interest in post-apocalyptic fiction… I don’t know. But it is an interest that started young and certainly hasn’t gone away.
Given we have found ourselves in an apocalypse of sorts, I thought I might indulge myself in putting together an incomplete list of some of my favourite pieces of post-apocalyptic fiction.
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
Cause of Apocalypse: nuclear war
Sure, I could have said the whole Mad Max franchise, but I wanted to single out this movie in particular. Not only was it the first of the series I ever saw and a movie that had a big influence on me (you have no idea the amount of hours I spent cutting up car tyres to make suitable costuming for the apocalypse!) but I’d argue that this 1981 George Miller classic almost single-handedly spawned a whole sub-genre that many others tried to emulate. The 1987 Patrick Swayze film Steel Dawn certainly comes to mind as well as the much-maligned Waterworld in 1995. While not a great movie overall, Waterworld was an incredibly ambitious film. It is visually stunning, even today, and the scale of the sets is impressive!
Mad Max 2 is an action rollercoaster with a simple plot and superb execution. In my mind it’s only topped by the fourth film in the franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road, which is a master class in the genre! I just hope George Miller keeps making them for as long as he is still standing!
The War of the Worlds
Cause of Apocalypse: Martian invasion
Can an alien invasion story be considered post-apocalyptic? Well, I think the complete destruction of Great Britain by invading tentacled aliens wielding poison gas and heat rays counts! This book by H.G. Wells was actually one of the earliest novels I can recall reading and lead me to devour more in the science fiction genre. Written in the 1890s it is a powerful comment on British Imperialism and its deadly impact on Indigenous people around the world. It is also the archetypal alien invasion story. Now, I’ve not been impressed by any film adaption of the story so far, but I’m keen to see the 2019 BBC television series — the first to actually set it in the period it was written!
I am Legend / The Omega Man
Cause of Apocalypse: Vampiric plague
I confess I don’t have strong memories of Charlton Heston’s 1971 The Omega Man. I once had a housemate who was slightly obsessed with Charlton Heston films and we went through most of them in that time. But there is something haunting about the idea of being the last man alive on earth that makes it an appealing story.
The 2007 Will Smith version, while entertaining, was not all that great in my opinion. It is only that I went on to read the original novelette I am Legend, by Richard Matheson that I decided to include it on this list. It is far from a perfect book, but one rich with ideas and I found it kind of stays with you. Plus, you finally get to understand the whole point of the title ‘I am Legend’.
The Planet of the Apes
Cause of Apocalypse: nuclear war
Is it a spoiler to include 1968’s The Planet of the Apes in a list of post-apocalyptic fiction? Probably. But the image of Charlton Heston collapsed in front of the broken down Statue of Liberty is so iconic and has been satirised so often, I find it hard to imagine there is anyone out there who isn’t aware of the twist in this movie. It’s dated, but the idea has such a powerful appeal. I mean, it spawned four sequels, a TV series, a remake, and more recently three reboot films!
12 Monkeys
Cause of Apocalypse: viral pandemic
Continuing with the monkey theme, we come to the truly amazing Terry Gilliam 1995 film Twelve Monkeys. A non-linear, time travelling epic about a bid to retrospectively stop a viral pandemic that wipes out most of humanity. A movie that feature deep themes and powerful performances from Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis. Putting this list together made me realise it has been far too long since I last saw it!
The Matrix
Cause of Apocalypse: war with intelligent machines
Now, this is sure to upset a few people, but looking back at The Matrix, I find a lot of it incredibly cheesy and there is a lot about the aesthetic of the movie I just don’t like. But in saying that, stylistically this was a genre-changing action movie, that popularised comic-influenced cinematography and Hong Kong martial arts ‘wire work’ in countless movies that followed. I was blown away when first seeing it at the cinema! It is definitely worth the praise that it gets, but I just can’t say I find myself ever itching to rewatch it.
The entire zombie genre
Cause of Apocalypse: zombies
OK, so I’m cheating here by naming an entire genre instead of one single book or film, but hey… It’s my list. Now, I came late to the horror genre as a whole; it never really held much appeal to. I believe it was only after watching Danny Boyle’s terrific 2002 film 28 Days Later that my fascination with the zombie genre began. Then followed the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, 28 Weeks Later (the equally great sequel to 28 Days Later) and I was hooked. I devoured all the George A. Romero (the Godfather of modern zombie films) movies — Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, Survival of the Dead — and then moved onto the comic book and television series of The Walking Dead. If you have any interest in the genre and haven’t read The Walking Dead Comic, I heartily recommend it! But the television series… I have mixed feelings about. When it is good, it’s great! Unfortunately, that is only half the time.
The zombie comedies Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland are good fun, and special mention needs to go the Australian-made Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, and the fantastic Korean film, Train to Busan!
