Post apocalyptic Genre Conventions

The ‘post apocalyptic’ genre has changed in a variety of ways since its first appearance in film. One major part of the post apocalyptic genre is how limitless it is with the amount of scenarios, one which is favoured by directors is, what if humans survived the apocalypse and what would life be like, certain scenarios could erupt, for example: a zombie apocalypse (Resident Evil 3: Extinction (2007), the failure of modern technology (The Matrix (1999) or even extraterrestrial catastrophes (War Of The Worlds (2005). These are just a small handful of scenarios.

Conventions usually seen within this genre are seen almost, there are themes of desolation and isolation, and this can be seen in many films, which are aimed at a variety of different audiences, for example: Resident Evil 1,2,3 , I am Legend (2007) and Zombieland (2009). However, some films do break the conventions of the genre by adding a less serious side to the story, in films such as Shaun of the Dead (2004) where a more comical approach is taken to the idea of a zombie apocalypse. Shaun of the dead is clearly a play on the title of the film Dawn of the Dead (1978, 2004) which is a cult classic of the genre. The start of the film Dawn of the Dead shows a ‘bleak’ news-video montage depicting swarms of zombies overwhelming the human civilisation.

The film genre has spawned a series of different types of media; one example would be computer games. A perfect example of this would be the ‘Fallout’ video game series, where the game takes place after an event entitled only as “the great nuclear war”. The game includes many of the original genre conventions such as desolation and depicts a destroyed Washington D.C where the player must navigate through the ruins of the city. The game also includes the scenario of mutants, altered by nuclear radiation. Because of the new craze with post apocalyptic games, the genre has opened up to a wider audience from teenagers to those in their late 20’s.