Bangs and Whimpers Apocalypse Scenarios End of the world & the movies

The all-mighty end of the Mayan calendar, which is predicted to arrive in December 2012, may have been contested both by the scientists and the common sense but the idea seems to have infiltrated the cultural psyche which, among others, manifests itself in film. The script of the Estonian apocalypse movie That’s IT! (2011), which is said to be the first communal film in the world was compiled of stories sent in by people who felt they had something to say. As a result, the Mayans are mentioned within the first minute and the whole story revolves around how the protagonists try to cope with the impending doom. The evil, however, is abstract, and instead of uniting people in fear as is the case in many apocalypse movies, for example in the classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and in many others, people struggle to define how to cope with the new situation.

That’s IT! tackles this issue in the comic manner with a hint of slapstick. One of the main characters hits his head and starts to think he has to kill a singer and another decides to have dinner on the train tracks to commit suicide because he is bound to fail in spending all the millions he won with the lottery on the last day before the apocalypse. Everyone tries to find his own way for dealing with what is thought to be inevitable. As can be seen, the apocalypse is often approached from a personal rather than a communal level. It is implied that the end will influence everyone, but it is not the hysteric crowds and screaming masses which are shown, the focus is on the individual.

As can be seen, the individual approaches to the apocalypse can vary. In Lars von Trier’s delicately slow Melancholia (2011), the end of the world through the collision of the planet Melancholia and the Earth is represented through the opposing reactions of two sisters. One of them, who seemed out of place in the world as we know it, thrives at the hint of the apocalypse and vice versa for the other sister. Justine feels the need to rebel against the nuptial rituals but the well-organised and rational Claire is similarly clueless about how to react to the impending apocalypse. However, differently from the director’s previous works, the fox keeps quiet and chaos does not reign in the end. In the last scene, Justine, Claire and her son sit calmly in their own-made hut holding hands.

Similar to Justine, who embraces the end of the world, the possible arrival of the unknown apocalypse in Bellflower (2011) is awaited rather than feared. The apocalypse is important for the characters for the simple reason that the depthless protagonists are dressed for the occasion. They have a bad ass car and flamethrowers ready to rule over the wasteland. The two friends have decided to embrace rather than fear the apocalypse, trying to imagine the most action-filled scenario for the occasion. Thus, the idea of apocalypse is not necessarily always regarded as negative, it can also be seen as a twisted possibility of becoming an improved (though only on the exterior) version of yourself.

As a result, the end as an event becomes irrelevant. That’s IT! ends vaguely with, All’s well that ends well without explaining whether the apocalypse arrived or not. The collision of planets in Melancholia adds a visually stunning planetary scope to the sister’s stories without delving into what the end means to the Earth or human kind. In Bellflower, the long-awaited end never arrives, even the passion-fuelled bloodshed turns out to be a dream. As such, the impending apocalypse in these movies is the catalyst for the events. However, the movies are not about the end but about coping with the idea of the end on a personal level, thus making it irrelevant if or how the end actually arrives. In many ways, the end is a release for the distress of trying to cope with the pressures of the impending doom. As the great modernist poet T.S.Eliot predicted years ago, /…/ This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.

By Pirjo Leek