Presentation

Slide 1:
Apocalypse

•According to wikipedia the definition of apocalypse is - a term applied to the disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the majority of humankind. Today the term is often used to refer to the end of the world.
•Apocalyptic films are designed around targeting the fears of its audience, which may be found as quite entertaining. However my aim is to discuss whether watching these types of films affect the attitudes of its audience, for example watching a film that brings on the end of the world because of global warming, would it make the person that is consuming the film want to become more environmentally friendly in order to prevent things like global warming?

Slide 2 :
Films

•The following films are the popular apocalyptic/sci-fi films of the 21st century:
•The Day After Tomorrow (2004) - The Day After Tomorrow is an apocalyptic science-fiction film that depicts the effects of global warming.
•Children of Men (2006) - is a dystopian (a creation of a nightmare world) sci-fi film, the film is set in the future(2027) of the united kingdom the film explores a grim world in which two decades of global human infertility have left humanity with less than a century to survive.
•I Am Legend (2007) - is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film, It is the third feature film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 'I am Legend'. Will Smith plays virologist Robert Neville, who is immune to a vicious man-made virus originally created to cure cancer. He works to create a cure while living in Manhattan in 2012, a city inhabited by animalistic victims of the virus.
•War Of The Worlds (2005) - a sci-fi disaster film, It is one of four film adaptations of the novel. The film focuses on the attack of America by Aliens.
•I-Robot (2004) – sci-fi film set in the year 2035, Robots carry out the everyday tasks that humans would do, however something goes wrong and the robots start killing all the humans.
•Constantine (2005) - John Constantine is the exorcist who has been to Hell and back, and whose soul is sentenced to hell. He has been deporting demons to get on good terms with God, yet God wants self-sacrifice. After the mysterious suicide of her twin sister, detective Angela Dodson goes out in search of the truth. Together, Constantine and Angela battle the demons on Earth.
•Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)/Resident Evil (2002)/Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2005) – a trilogy that contains a leak of a virus which kills everyone, yet they came back to life, and fed on those who were not infected.
•Dawn Of The Dead (2004) – another flesh eating zombie film.
•28 Weeks Later (2007) – another virus spreading film that kills all humankind.

Slide 3:
Theories

•The reception theory can be used to explain the idea of the affect that consuming a type of media has on an audience.
•Reception theory argues that contextual factors, more than textual ones, influence the way the spectator views the film or television program. In short, reception theory places the viewer in context, taking into account all of the various factors that might influence how she or he will read and create meaning from the text.
•Another theory that answers my question is the uses and gratifications theory, the uses and gratifications theory is The basic theme of uses and gratifications is the idea that people use the media to get specific gratifications. The main idea of the Uses and Gratifications model is that people are not helpless victims of all powerful media, but use media to fulfill their various needs. Looking in particularly at these ideas - Inform and educate — the audience gain an understanding of the world around them by consuming a media text, for example print and broadcast news.
Entertain - consumed purely for entertainment purposes, meaning that text need not have any other gratifications.
Social interaction — People create personal relationships with the characters in a media text. Potentially this could become dangerous if people do not question the reality of such texts. It also creates a common ground for conversation in people's every day lives.

Slide 4
Children Of Men

The text that I shall be using to mainly refer to in my independent study will be Children Of Men (2006), the text that we had to analyse in the as exams.
Brief Summary
In 2027, as humankind faces the likelihood of its own extinction, a disillusioned government agent agrees to help transport and protect a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea where her child's birth may help scientists to save the future of mankind.
Information
Ødirector is Alfonso Cuarón
ØGenre – dystopian/sci-fi
ØIt is an adaption from the novel
ØSet In the United Kingdom of 2027
ØChildren of Men grossed $69,612,678 worldwide, with $35,552,383 of the revenue generated in the United States.
ØIt was released by Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment
ØThe films tagline is ‘No children, No Future, No hope’
Within the film
Sound - Cuarón uses sound and music to bring the fictional world of social unrest and infertility to life, by using a creative yet restrained combination of rock, pop, hip-hop and classical music, as well as The mundane sounds of traffic, barking dogs, and advertisements. the film makes use of silence and sound effects such as the firing of automatic weapons, and loudspeakers directing the movement of "fugees"
Children Of Men is important to my independent study as it is a film that looks at the world at a crisis because women are not giving birth any more. I shall look at this film in order to determine whether the disaster of women not giving birth affects the attitudes and morals of its audience.