The “apocalypse” genre movie, which includes natural disasters and artificial calamity, was popular after WWII in Japan. Some scholars pointed out that this genre of film represented the history of Tokyo, a city that used to be a victim of several catastrophic events. They agreed that the “apocalypse” movie reflected the horror or trauma of the atomic bomb and the war. But critics have blamed this assertion as a “cynical trivialization” of the nuclear threats and failed to identify nuclear implementation’s ethical problem.
According to Susan Sontag, these movies have a function that is not that polarized, reflecting reality to some extent while still presenting a last-minute optimistic ending to the audience. This point convinces me of view, and a Japanese anime called EVA came to my mind. The anime is set fifteen years after a worldwide cataclysm, and the characters have to drive a giant machine-bio mecha named “Evangelion” to fight against the enemy called “Angles.” The Angels represented different catastrophes, such as Typhoons, tsunamis, atomic bombs, and even human beings themselves, showing reflections on the disasters throughout the history of Japan. But at the end of the story, humans still triumph over the Angels, creating an optimistic emotion in the audience.
Mingyang Hua, 3035830612
Good summary. How does the optimistic emotion help Japan to cope with the post-disaster period?