And apparently we like them because they keep making them.Ħ. Not all films follow this formula but most do. Sometimes they are able to save the world (with or without the help of other survivors). We follow a lone survivor as they do their best to survive a world filled with this new plague.
There the plague spreads and brings down humanity. Most of these films follow a disease that originates somewhere “scary” and “exotic” (see Asia and Africa) carried on a plane by an unsuspecting victim to the United States. The most basic things in life may be the very things that kill us (touching a door knob, being on a plane). These films are scary because of their realistic nature and the fact that we can’t see disease coming (as opposed to giant things falling from space). Plague has dominated our thoughts about the end of the world since the beginning of time. Disease Notable Appearances: Blindness(2008), Contagion (2011), Twelve Monkeys (1995) They are fun to watch even though they tend to be both predictable and completely outside of scientific possibility.ĩ. These films almost always have a strong, white, male white who races in to save the day (thank you again Bruce Willis). Giant things hurdling through space coming right towards us. And don’t even get us started on the space special effects. Maybe it’s because the special effects involved in destroying various monuments all over the world (why does it always hit the Eiffel Tower?) are so fun to watch. This gimmick is used again and again in various science fiction/action films. Neil deGrasse Tyson has some very funny and excellent rants on this particular method of destroying the Earth that we will link below.
Asteroids/Comets/Space Stuff Notable Appearances: Deep Impact (1998), Armageddon (1998), Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)