Through the tutorial study, I have a new view on the shaping of terrorist elements in doomsday movies. Disaster films are usually natural, man-made and invasive. Japan is one of the countries with outstanding disaster film production. After reading, I think Japanese apocalyptic films mainly convey their emotions and goals in two ways. The first is to abstract the disaster through the imagination of terror to achieve a “security terror” effect for the audience. In disaster movies in the decades after World War II, directors often used “monsters” as the theme of horror imagination elements and added a happy ending at the end (collectivism can overcome disaster and terror) to distract people’s anxiety about disaster at that time, making “disaster and terror” more acceptable and normal. The second form is the popular “nihilism”. The film uses darker depictions to express concerns about Japanese society and reflections on past disasters to stimulate people’s sense of social and political consensus and identity.
Chi CHEN
UID: 3035835650
You pointed out the potential underlying messages of disaster films and the emotions they may evoke. Can you clarify what you mean by “security terror” effect? Also, instead of ‘terrorist’ elements, do you mean elements which bring terror?