Synopses & Reviews
Review
and#8220;Readers who voraciously consume apocalypse-themed YA novels should feel right at home with this guide to end-of-days scenarios, as depicted in pop culture.and#8221; and#8212; Publishers Weekly and#160; and#8220;An entertaining and fascinating compendium of doomsday scenariosand#8230;An amusing, informative look at apocalyptic pop culture.and#8221; and#8212; Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Unfathomably merciless and powerful, the atomic bomb has left its indelible mark on film. In Atomic Bomb Cinema, Jerome F. Shapiro unearths the unspoken legacy of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and its complex aftermath in American and Japanese cinema.
According to Shapiro, a Bomb film is never simply an exercise in ideology or paranoia. He examines hundreds of films like Godzilla, Dr. Strangelove, and TheTerminator as a body of work held together by ancient narrative and symbolic traditions that extol survival under devastating conditions. Drawing extensively on both English-language and Japanese-language sources, Shapiro argues that such films not only grapple with our nuclear anxieties, but also offer signs of hope that humanity is capable of repairing a damaged and divided world.
www.atomicbombcinema.com
Synopsis
Youand#8217;ve probably heard rumors that the end of the world is going to happen in the year 2012. But people have been making predictions about how and when the world is going to end for ages.
The End is a fun, comprehensive, pop culture read about the 50 top movies, books, songs, comics, artworks, and playsand#8212;from the movie
Shaun of the Dead to the pop song "Itand#8217;s the End of the World as We Know It"and#8212;that have been created about the apocalypse. Each item includes:
- a synopsis of the apocalyptic work
- information about the apocalyptic theory behind it (from alien invasion to meteors, nuclear war, and natural disasters)
- an explanation about why this work is important in pop culture
Love doomsday talk and the art that is made about it? Check out this fun and entertaining read!
About the Author
Laura Barcella is a freelance writer and editor from Washington, D.C. She is a contributing editor at xoJane and a contributing writer at The Fix. She edited Madonna and Me: Women Writers on the Queen of Pop, an anthology of essays about Madonna by women writers, and is the author of a pop culture guide to the apocalypse called The End: 50 Apocalyptic Visions From Pop Culture That You Should Know Aboutandhellip; Before Itandrsquo;s Too Late. Laura has written features, profiles, essays, and more for Salon, Esquire.com, the Village Voice, Cosmopolitan, Elle.com, Refinery29, the Chicago Sun-Times, Time Out New York, AlterNet, BUST, Elle Girl, CNN.com, and NYLON. An expert on pop culture, feminism, and lifestyles, she lives in San Francisco, California.