Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Post-Apocalyptic stories far from done being told

Wow, with the epic fail 2012 brought us in an apocalyptic end you'd think the popular conscience would have thrown the idea out the window. But the opposite is proving true. With two more dystopian style book series being made into movies (trilogies no less) like  ‘Divergent‘ and ‘The Maze Runner’ (divergent trilogy isn't even complete) it is obvious that the audience is still very much alive and well despite their chosen genre (apocalyptic).
'This is the End' has also received some amazing reviews lately  - the comedy that spoofs the end of the world. And of course, The Hunger Games has just gotten started with book two coming out as a movie in the next few months.
Some directors are even writing their own books and optioning them as movies just to keep up on demand for more apocalyptic fare. An example of this would be Chris Weitz, director of New Moon in the Twilight series of movies.
It would be nice to see a series like The Judas Syndrome up on the big screen, often compared to The Road meets The Lord of the Flies. A trilogy with an underlying purpose which builds from book one (or film one) to reach its antithesis in movie number three.
The Judas Syndrome has been very well received by its audience and with a bit of marketing by one of the heavy weights in Hollywood and proper casting, there is no doubt it would become a sensation. A coming of age trilogy which spans two generations of survivors (not unlike the Star Wars saga) and encompassing things like reincarnation and the meaning of life using both spirituality and science to prove its theory of everything, along with humanities true purpose. Heavy? A little, but today's youth are becoming heavily invested in the power of self and should be drawn to the characters universal struggles, even in light of an apocalyptic end. Or is it just the beginning?

Michael Poeltl