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KAZAKH ECO ART STUDIES CINEMA THROUGH THE PRISM OF APOCALYPTIC AND POST- APOCALYPTIC CSCSTI 18.67.01 UDC 791(2-175) Ә14 DOI 10.47940/cajas.v6i2.396 GENRES Bauyrzhan Abdikassymov1, Aida Mashurova1 1 T. K. Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts (Almaty, Kazakhstan) Abstract. The basis of this article is the consideration of the topic of apocalyptics and post- apocalyptics in Kazakh cinema. This article is extremely relevant to the consideration of apocalyptic topics that take place within the framework of local environmental problems and man-made disasters, and in this case the word “Ecology” is interpreted broadly. Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic cinema is directly related to environmental difficulties, and environmental and man-made disasters – which cause the collapse of an entire ecosystem, the human race, or a huge part of it – are one 93 of the most common scenarios in such movies. The most serious threat to all of humanity and the modern world is the reality of global environmental problems. Kazakhstan, like other countries, is experiencing a severe environmental crisis, and the issues of their solution are embedded in the global situation. This research is based on the materials of the national cinematographic art of the Republic of Kazakhstan, America, the USSR, and European and Asian countries, including early cinema as well as the modern periods of development. The methodological basis of the article consists of theoretical, visual, film and comparative analysis. Many regions of Central Asia, especially Kazakhstan, remain environmentally unstable, but to date, these issues have not become important topics of Kazakh cinema. In world cinema, the apocalyptic genre is classified into groups and subgenres. Also, world 6. Issue 2. 2021 Volume cinematographers have extensive experience in film production in this genre. Classic cinema plots on the theme of the end of the world include the destruction of the planet's ecology and worldwide and local man-made and natural disasters, all of which belongs to the elements of the apocalypse genre. In Kazakh film studies, the apocalypse or the end of the world remains an unexplored topic. Therefore, this topic needs to be deepened from the point of view of cinema. In the article we consider Kazakh films with elements of the apocalyptic genre; however, in comparison with global cinema, the theme is reflected narrowly with elements of degraded ecology. Keywords: apocalypse, post-apocalypse, ecocinema, famine, art, ecology, element, disaster, cinematography. Cite: Abdikassymov, Bauyrzhan and Aida Mashurova. “Kazakh eco cinema through the prism of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic genres”. Central Asian Journal of Art Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, 2021 pp. 93–106. DOI: 10.47940/cajas.v6i2.396. Central Asian Journal of Art Studies of Asian Journal Central Introduction Methods he word Apocalypse is translated The authors used the following methods Tfrom the ancient Greek as “Revelation” in research: theoretical, visual, film (Oxford Reference). Throughout and comparative analysis. In the search the centuries, the apocalypse has taken and collection of world and domestic films different forms, ranging from negatively- with apocalyptic elements were used minded religious interpretations chronological and systematic methods. to rich representations that depict the In the art of the 19th–21st centuries apocalypse in the realm of all kinds of art. “revelations” of apocalypticism are among The actualization of the theme of the end the most expressive and powerful images of the world has gained great momentum in mass culture and appear as one in recent years, if we speak of the apocalypse of the popular topics: in music, visual as an eschatological phenomenon. arts, theater, literature and cinema. At this stage, humanity was vulnerable As noted by candidate of philosophy to global problems like pandemics, Petev Nikolai Ivanovich: “Apocalyptic to world and local wars, anthropogenic, ideas became especially popular natural and environmental disasters, in the 20th–21st centuries” (3). social, economic, political problems. For almost two thousand years And in the subject under consideration, the Apocalypse was layered with fantastic as apocalypse, the above phenomena and surrealistic images, but, over time, are vividly reflected in the history of art, with the development of science there in the form of classic script solutions, was a demarcation of facts from fantasy which leads humanity to death and oblivion. and fiction, a deep analysis of the theme Today, Eco-cinema vividly reflects of the Apocalypse and the theology the worldʼs environmental, man-made of Western European religions finds its dead and natural problems, signaling a person end by the beginning of the 20th century. to change the way of life for the better side, Nevertheless, the further fate of the rise because we can suffer bad consequences. from the ashes of the Apocalypse is decided The genre of cinema of the 21st century by two world wars, nuclear and other tests, 94 knows no boundaries, one of these genres technical and technological progress is apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic which that has had a detrimental effect is closely intertwined with the theme on the state of nature, and of course, all of Eco-cinema. “The first use of the term these events have caused fear, anxiety, ʼecocinemaʼ may be traced back to Roger and worry in the hearts of people around C. Andersonʼs Ecocinema: A Plan for the world. Preserving Nature when he proposes to film all living organisms in the world and show Results Volume 6. Issue 2. 2021 Volume them in theatres with simulated conditions that resemble natural environments, The cinematic image in this issue as a way of preserving nature (Anderson, is relevant, given the psychological BioScience, 25 (7), 1975, first published and educational effect of cinema in 1966). Andersonʼs proposal was on the consciousness of society more of a sarcastic criticism towards in the 21st century, cinema is a synthesis modern peopleʼs growing detachment of painting, music, theater and literature. with the physical world, but it suggests Pictures with apocalyptic and post- the possibility of connecting the study apocalyptic subjects awaken food of ecology or the environment with for thought in the audience. The relevance Central Asian Journal of Art Studies of Asian Journal Central cinematic texts” (Chu 1). of cinematic material can be viewed from several perspectives, first – films The Last Man on Earth (1964), Testament with elements of apocalyptic and post- (1983), The Day After (1983), Threads apocalyptic are massive in film culture, (1984), Dead manʼs letters (1986). Byron this means that box office figures are high, Haskin, who made a film adaptation and Hollywood filmmakers have a primacy of the work of Herbert Wells War of the in this niche, second – these are acute Worlds (1953), also followed in these environmental problems, which remain footsteps. Haskinʼs film, which was unresolved to this day. formulaic in its script at the time, won Currently, the situation of the ecosystem popularity and found its audience thanks can be considered critically vulnerable, to excellent special effects and a perfect the planet is in ecological decline. sci-fi world where aliens on their tripods The words of senior lecturer and Professor exterminate humans. There was also Chris Nadezhda Berkova are just as opportune Markerʼs La Jetée (1962), a somewhat in this case, “The ever-deepening experimental film that consisted of slide ecological crisis demonstrates the negative shots of World War III and a crisis consequences to which humanityʼs in the human race. ambitions have led. The assault on nature, On August 6 and 9, 1945, ignoring its laws, its rights to sovereign the Americans dropped two atomic bombs existence turn against man, threaten life – The Little Boy and The Fat Man – on earth” (153). on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosions destroyed Discussion most of these cities, and the exact number of deaths is unknown: on average, it is In the history of cinema, the first believed that there are at least 200 thousand. experimental and fantastic film about Even more people were maimed and left a global catastrophe with an apocalyptic homeless: “Japan. At 8:15 A.M. on 6th plot is the film directed by August Blom of August, the Enola Gay dropped Verdens Undergang (The End of the World) the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, (1916), the same sense of the film was whose population of approximately 350,000 made by the French director Abel Gans, included 43,000 troops… Three days later, La Fin du monde, End of the World (1931), on August 9, the United States dropped 95 but already with the sound. In the fifties, a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, the apocalypse stories evolved into with a population of 270,000” (Selden 6). science fiction, where the main ideas For many decades, millions of Americans are the invasion of aliens, one of the most believe that it was The Little Boy and striking examples is the film The Day The Fat Man who were able to stop the war the Earth Stood Still (1951), most and thus saved the lives of both Americans of the film illustrates the deteriorating and Japanese. However, the survivors Volume 6. Issue 2. 2021 Volume relations between the USSR do not agree that the world needed such and the United States. The topic sacrifices. The Second World War greatly of the danger of nuclear weapons, influenced post-war Japanese cinema and the possible start of already he third also give birth to different subgenres, large-scale world war and the possible especially the nuclear explosion destruction of the planet are also raised at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is in this in other films of that period: The World, decade that the first films with elements The Flesh and The Devil (1959), of apocalyptic and science fiction appear On the Beach (1959), Dr.

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