Hollywood's End of Days: Visions of Biblical Apocalypse And
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Hollywood’s End of Days: Visions of Biblical Apocalypse and the Transposition of a Secular Science Fiction Film Genre Antonio Degouveia Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of East Anglia School of Art, Media and American Studies December 2016 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there-from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. 1 Abstract Amid the often complex and paradoxical relationship between Hollywood and American Christianity lies the dichotomy between the archaic and the futuristic, and the way in which biblical beliefs have been intertwined into the seemingly discordant realm of science fiction. Hollywood, as an institution that has often been regarded as pronouncedly secular, was once deemed at the opposite end of the cultural spectrum to American evangelical belief – in much the same way that science and religion are often identified as conflicting arenas of ideological latitude. My study lays emphasis to the fact that biblical allegory and religious cabal are now adopted by Hollywood on a frequent basis, and cinematic visions of apocalypse, incorporating ideas of biblical ‘myth’ and prophecy, are often framed within the machinations of science fiction. What makes this development all the more intriguing is that, in effect, this represents an ideological inversion of what had not only been an expressly secular 20 th century (sub)genre of science fiction cinema, but one which had often incorporated a denigration of religion as a whole. My key conceptual approach is based on close textual analyses of a body of contemporary apocalypse films that most effectively represents this ontological shift. As a cultural backdrop to post-9/11 America over the first decade of the 21 st century, I examine the influence of ‘premillennial Dispensationalism’, or the form of evangelical belief that is intrinsically concerned with the biblical ‘endtime’, and thus with the future, and is ‘hermeneutically hungry’ for signs and prophecies that might signal the beginning of the end. Correspondingly, I draw on Hollywood’s own accordant fascination with prophetical signs and codes and premonitions of apocalypse, and consider the socio-cultural intersection between premillennialist belief and post-9/11 social structures of trauma, paranoia, and neoconservatism. This thesis ultimately contends that, since the turn of the century, perceptions of Premillennialist endtime belief has become an integral aspect of Hollywood’s apocalyptic vision, and this is something that informs a strong religious consciousness already at the heart of the American apocalyptic imagination. 2 Table of Contents: Abstract Page 1 Acknowledgements Page 3 List of Illustrations Page 4 Introduction Page 7 Chapter 1: I Am Ωmega Man: Religious Repositioning of the Secular Apocalypse Film in I Am Legend Page 37 Chapter 2: The Coordinates of Catastrophe: Finding Faith in Knowing the End Page 63 Chapter 3: Blind Faith: Post-Apocalyptic Preaching in The Book of Eli Page 99 Chapter 4: God’s Representative on Earth: The Rise of the Religious Superhero Page 133 Conclusion Page 166 Bibliography Page 178 Filmography Page 187 3 Acknowledgements Eternal gratitude to my supervisors, Christine Cornea, Peter Krämer, and Emma Long, who have provided me fantastic support and guidance during my long road to completion. A special mention goes to my academic cohorts, Matt Selway, Stephen Mitchell, and Toby Reynolds And, of course, I cannot thank my parents enough, without whom I would not have been able to make it this far. 4 List of illustrations: Chapter 1 Fig. 1.1 I Am Legend , Richard Matheson (Author). 1954. Published by Gollancz (SF Masterworks). 2001. – p. 38 Fig. 1.2 The Ωmega Man , dir. Boris Sagal. 1971. USA. Walter Seltzer Productions. – p. 41 Fig. 1.3 The Last Man on Earth , dir. Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow. 1964. USA/Italy. Associated Producers (API), Produzioni La Regina. – p. 48 Fig. 1.4 The Ωmega Man – p. 49 Fig. 1.5 ibid. – p. 49 Fig. 1.6 I Am Legend , dir. Francis Lawrence. 2007. USA. Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, Weed Road Pictures, Overbrook Entertainment. – p. 50 Fig. 1.7 ibid. – p. 51 Fig. 1.8 ibid. – p. 53 Fig. 1.9 ibid. – p. 56 Fig. 1.10 ibid. – p. 57 Fig. 1.11 & 1.12 ibid. – p. 59 Fig. 1.13 ibid. – p. 60 Chapter 2 Fig. 2.1 Knowing , dir. Alex Proyas. 2009. USA/UK/Australia. Summit Entertainment, Escape Artists, Mystery Clock Cinema, Goldcrest Pictures, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment, Wintergreen Productions. – p. 69. Fig. 2.2 The Bible Code , Michael Drosnin (Author). 1997. Published by Touchstone. – p. 70 Fig. 2.3 Knowing – p. 76 Fig. 2.4 ibid. – p. 77 5 Fig. 2.5 The Great Day of His Wrath , John Martin (1851). – p. 81 Fig. 2.6 2012 , dir. Roland Emmerich. 2009. USA. Columbia Pictures, Centropolis Entertainment, Farewell Productions, The Mark Gordon Company. – p. 81 Fig. 2.7 Jesus in the House of the Pharaohs: The Essene Revelations on the Historical Jesus , Ahmed Osman (Author). 1992. Published by Bear & Company. 2004. – p. 84 Fig. 2.8 Ezekiel 1: Bible illustration. – p. 85 Fig. 2.9 Knowing – p. 86 Fig. 2.10 ibid. – p. 87 Fig. 2.11 & 2.12 The Spaceships of Ezekiel , J. F. Blumrich (Author). 1974. Published by Corgi Books. – p. 92 Fig. 2.13 & 2.14 Wall-E, dir. Andrew Stanton. 2008. USA. Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures. And Lunokhod 1 lunar rover. – p. 93 Fig. 2.15 Knowing – p. 94 Fig. 2.16 ibid. – p. 95 Chapter 3 Fig. 3.1 The Book of Eli , dir. Albert & Allen Hughes. 2010. USA. Alcon Entertainment, Silver Pictures (promotional poster). – p. 99 Fig. 3.2 ibid. – p. 102 Fig. 3.3 & 3.4 The Book of Eli concept art by Chris Weston. – p. 103 Fig. 3.5 The Book of Eli concept art by Tommy Lee Edwards. – p. 104 Fig. 3.6 The Book of Eli (promotional poster) – p. 105 Fig. 3.7 ibid. – p. 115 Fig. 3.8 ibid. – p. 119 Fig. 3.9 ibid. – p. 131 6 Chapter 4 Fig. 4.1 Uncanny X-Men (The New Age ): The End of History . Marvel Comics. 2004. X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills . Marvel Comics. 1982. Young X-Men : Books of Revelations . Marvel Comics. 2009. Uncanny X-Men: End of Greys . Marvel Comics. 2006. – p. 133 Fig. 4.2 Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer , dir. Tim Story. 2007. USA/Germany/UK. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Constantin Film Produktion, Marvel Studios, 1492 Pictures, Bernd Eichinger Productions, Ingenious Film Partners, Dune Entertainment. – p.136 Fig. 4.3 300 , dir. Zack Snyder. 2006. USA. Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Virtual Studios, Hollywood Gang Productions, Atmosphere Entertainment, Mel’s Cite du Cinema, Nimar Studios. – p. 138 Fig. 4.4 Season of the Witch , dir. Dominic Sena. 2011. USA. Atlas Entertainment, Relativity Media. – p. 141 Fig. 4.5 Priest , dir. Scott Stewart. 2011. USA. Screen Gems, Michael De Luca Productions, Stars Road Entertainment, Tokyopop, Buckaroo Entertainment. – p. 143 Fig. 4.6 ibid. – p. 146 Fig. 4.7 Constantine , dir. Francis Lawrence. 2005. USA/Germany. Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, DC Comics, Lonely Film Productions, Donner’s Company, Branded Entertainment/Batfilm Productions, Weed Road Pictures, 3 Arts Entertainment, Di Bonaventura Pictures. – p. 150 Fig. 4.8 ibid. – p. 151 Fig. 4.9 ibid. – p. 155 Fig. 4.10 ibid. – p. 156 Fig. 4.11 ibid. – p. 157 Fig. 4.12 Season of the Witch – p. 158 Fig. 4.13 ibid. –p. 159 Fig. 4.14 Priest – p. 160 7 Introduction On the 21 st of August, 2014, during a news briefing at the Pentagon, America’s top-ranked military officer, Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, described the self-proclaimed ‘Islamic State’ as possessing an ‘apocalyptic, “end of days” strategic vision’, and declared that this eschatological ethos identified them as a group that could not be defeated unless the United States and a coalition of partners confronted it head-on. 1 This comment may have come as no real surprise to many political observers at the time, with General Dempsey attempting to underscore what is often perceived as the destructive and nihilistic nature of modern jihadist ideology. The term ‘apocalyptic’ now seems common within modern parlance when indicating times of global strife, disaster, and upheaval, and has invariably been utilised by the media, often appositely so, in describing much of the desperate and devastating environs today in parts of the Middle-East. The word ‘apocalypse’, of course, further retains a fixed biblical nexus and derivation. The term itself comes from the Greek, apokálypsis : meaning a ‘lifting of the veil’ or a ‘revelation’ – a disclosure of something previously hidden. Crucially, it is a word that has always retained a degree of biblical mystique in its connection to the final chapter of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation. Sometimes more ominously referred to as the Apocalypse of John, with its cryptic prophecies of doom and salvation, the Book of Revelation remains one of the Bible’s true enigmas, and is from where the equally portentous term, ‘Armageddon’, originates. Though not always consciously acknowledged within tropes of contemporary, secular Western culture, the biblical source text of Revelation continues to infix a concomitant religious nuance to the term, ‘apocalypse’. Going back to the words of General Dempsey, the Book of Revelation is the seminal scripture from which this eschatological concept derived its Evangelical denotation as ‘the end of days’. Sometimes also referred to as the ‘endtime’, these particular phrases emerge from doctrines of Premillennialist or Dispensationalist belief ; that is to say, those segments of Evangelicalism that places biblical prophecies of apocalypse at the centre of their faith ; and refers more literally to the premillennial perception of a time of ‘tribulation’ that will signal the end of the world as we know it.