Top 10 Post-Apocalyptic/Dysoptian Media
Apr. 10th, 2014 12:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naushikaPost-apocalypse and dystopian stuff are two of my favorite genres. It's slightly unfair to mash the two together since they can be really different kinds of stories, but whatever. Anyway I was bored, so here is a list of my Top 10 Post-Apocalyptic/Dysoptian Media. The list includes tv shows, books, movies, comic books, and games.
10. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (book)
I find The Handmaid's Tale especially chilling because I can almost see it happening, were things to get dire enough. Women have never been treated all that well historically, and even today I see misogyny and inequality towards women nearly daily. Women - daughters, wives, sisters - have been relegated to slave status in many cultures throughout human history. Who's to say it couldn't happen again? And considering it was written, what, 30 years ago? The scenario in the book is one that is still theoretically possible (down to a faked Islamic terrorism attack which allows the noose to be tightened on the American government and the bad people to take control). So chilling!
09. Revolution (tv show)
Everyone's Dirty All The Time: The TV Show. lol. I mean I joke, but it's kind of nice actually. Alright their hair is still always perfect and their teeth are so white and lovely. But at least otherwise they look like they kinda smell. Which you totally would in this situation, hah.
If you don't know Revolution, the concept is: one day, all the power shut off. Not just power plants, but batteries, solar power - none of it works anymore. Anything electric is dead. The show takes place several years after the event, though there are flashbacks sometimes. The show gets stronger as it goes on, and I am really loving the current season. At first they tried to be kinda too LOST-like, with lots of mysteries, and while they keep on with mysteries sometimes, the mysteries are interesting and not just "THAT STATUE HAS THREE TOES!!" sorts of mysteries. I really like most of the characters, there's lots of AWESOME action (SWORD FIGHTS!!), and this latest season especially, a lot of great humor. Mostly the story is concentrated on humans fighting other humans, but it's not really good versus evil. It's more sorta-neutral-but-generally-falls-on-the-sorta-good versus not-really-evil-but-just-asshole-humans-who-take-advantage-of-the-situation-so-they-are-the-enemies.
08. Y the Last Man (comic book)
One day, all of the men on planet Earth - all but one, that is, named Yorick - die. What does a world populated entirely by women look like? How does society get along? The government? And what happens to the one man left alive? Y the Last Man isn't a perfect story, but it's really engaging, and has a lot of complex (lady!) characters. Agent 355 is especially fucking awesome. I read the whole thing in, like, two days. I couldn't put it down. This isn't a perfect story by any means - there are some silly stereotypical things in it (Daughters of the Amazon? sigh), BUT, it's such a unique concept, and simply by virtue of the concept, it's almost entirely lady characters. And like I said, Agent 355 is amazing and the whole series is worth it just to watch her continually badass her way around the country protecting Yorick's sorry ass.
07. The Road (book)
Okay, this one wins for most depressing entry on the list, haha. It is definitely the darkest look at an end-of-the-world scenario that I have seen. I cried at several points in the book, I was legitimately freaked out at a couple parts, and I just couldn't put it down. It is excellently written and it's not very often that books keep me on the edge of my seat, but this one did. And somehow, at the end of it all, there manages to be a bit of hope. It's a really lovely complete story, and when I finished I was like yes, that's good, that's enough. Perfect story conclusion.
(And nothing against the movie, at all - I really liked the movie. But the book just has more in it. It's also more atmospheric, somehow, too.)
06. Walking Dead (comic, tv show, game)
I smushed all three together for simplicity's sake, although I love certain bits of these entities more than others.
The tv show I've had the most rollercoaster ride of emotions with. It was the first incarnation of this universe I tried out, and I didn't love it. At first it was ok - but there was soooo much stupid personal drama. Personal drama isn't stupid, I mean that the personal drama they DID have was stupid, haha. And then season 2 happened, and god it was awful, and I was just DONE with the show. I stopped watching. But later - after playing the video game - I decided to pick up the show again, and not too long after I originally abandoned it, it got ok. Then, it got GOOD. This most recent season, season 4, was so awesome. SO GOOD. It was worth coming back to the show for. And the irony is, SO MUCH of season 4 was personal drama. BUT IT WAS DONE WELL. Well-done drama of people trying to survive in the face of impossible odds? YES.
The video game, I must credit with a lot of love. I've only played season 1 of the game so far (they are in the middle of releasing the season 2 game episodes), but it was sooooo good. It was everything I had wanted out of the show, but in game form. And the end was so emotional. I SOBBED LIKE A BABY.
As for the comic, I'm only like 9 volumes in. (I HAVE SO MUCH TO CATCH UP ON!) I am enjoying it. It's not, like, the most phenomenal thing I've ever read. But it's pretty good, and there's LOTS of this universe to be had with the comic.
05. 28 Days Later (movie)
This movie is credited with the first zombie thing I ever watched and legitimately enjoyed. It's an end-of-the-world scenario, it's got the small band of survivors who become a lovely found family, but it's all taken to the total next level for me. This is, somehow, a beautiful movie. It was filmed on a camcorder which adds to the atmosphere, I think. The acting is really amazing in this movie (Cillian Murphy! Naomie Harris! Brendan Gleeson!), and there is a really amazing musical score to accompany everything. It has scary moments and sad moments and happy moments, and this movie is actually in my top 5 movies of ALLLL TIMEEEEEE list, it's that good. The apocalyptic scenario is just the cherry on top for me.
04. Half-Life 2 (video game)
The story of HL2 is that a totalitarian organization known as the Combine, made up of aliens and some humans, has taken over the planet Earth, and is harvesting not only the planet's resources, but harvesting humans as well. There's all sorts of creepy creatures walking the planet, the number of humans has dwindled, but many of those left have formed a secret resistance, and I LOVE RESISTANCES. You play the game as Gordon Freeman, who helps the resistance and of course ~saves the day. But you get a really awesome NPC sidekick in the form of Alyx (seen above!) who is badass and wonderful. HL2 is a BEAUTIFUL game, in that beautiful decay sort of way. It's so atmospheric, and every time I play, I get totally absorbed and lost in the story. It was the first story-based game I ever played where I wasn't irritated by my inability to go "off path". This is one of the most lauded video games even to this day, and it's for a good reason!
03. The Stand (book)
The Stand has a special, elevated place in my heart because it's the first end-of-the-world scenario thing I can remember consuming. I went through my Stephen King phase in middle school (well - better phrased as I started my Stephen King phase in middle school; I have yet to leave it), and devoured everything he'd written (so far, hah). When I got to The Stand, I was blown away. WHAT. A. STORY. It definitely awakened something in me, and I've loved stories of people banding together and surviving in the face of crazy, world-ending events ever since. There is such a wide array of characters, and like, the entire thing is about these people being friends or lovers or enemies or frenemies and so on in this new semi-lawless situation, all tinged with supernatural aspects. I really don't care that the book is ridonkulously long - in fact, I prefer the unabridged version, which adds 400(!) more pages to the story. Sure, there are valid criticisms of the story to be had, and I've heard them all and even agree with some. But I just don't care. I LOVE THIS BOOK, and have re-read it more times than any other book.
02. Jericho (tv show)
This show is so good. And not the typical sort of survival show where it's people struggling just to find drinkable water. It's what happens in a small town when all communication with the outside world is lost. Fear and uncertainty reign. People stop trusting each other, but others learn to trust. Towards the end of the show is some very good intrigue stuff about the rebuilding of government. The show has a REALLY good story. And all throughout this is plenty of lovely character drama. I especially love everyone living on the Richmond family farm. Stanley, good-hearted and adorably dorky, his sister Bonnie, a teenager so she's grumpy sometimes but she loves her brother, and Mimi Clark, the IRS agent from out of town who came to audit his farm then got stranded when the nukes fell. I love this show to death and it's so sadly short (1.5 seasons!), but that also means I've watched the entire series from beginning to end about a dozen times. I love Jericho because I find it so, so realistic. It's the most realistic entity on this list, which makes it very compelling to me.
01. Fallout 3 (video game)
And, finally, my number 1 favorite post-apocalyptic story.. Fallout 3! It's 200 years after massive nuclear war, and the planet is made up of wastes. There are mutant bad guys, mutant good guys, and scrappy little bands of humans that have managed to survive. Everything is run down ancient shells of a previous society (which is an alternate history type of society where most of the style/technology stalled out in the 60s, and there was a massive war with China). You spend the whole game scavenging, picking through old buildings and detrius, and if you take the effort to read the written materials you come across and pick through every nook and cranny of the map, there is a whole history to be read and uncovered. This history is largely irrelevant to the story, so by taking the time to really explore EVERYTHING you get a super rewarding and interesting world to discover that's a bonus to to the game's story. And it's all paired with the fun (well, for me as an American anyway, haha) of going through significant landmarks which have been destroyed. Washington Monument! Lincoln Memorial! You can even go to the White House. Fallout 3 showed me how amazing open world games can be. There's a main story, of course - and I do enjoy the main story. Liam Neeson voices the character who plays your dad, and there's a big emotional component there because LIAM NEESON'S VOICE. But you can also completely ignore the main story and just do side quests and explore. I've played the game several times and I STILL FIND STUFF! Being able to personally explore and either fight for - or fight against - this broken down, apocalyptic world, is really the pinnacle of apocalyptic storytelling for me.
Honorable Mentions: 1984 by George Orwell, Falling Skies, Adventure Time, I Am Legend.
I find The Handmaid's Tale especially chilling because I can almost see it happening, were things to get dire enough. Women have never been treated all that well historically, and even today I see misogyny and inequality towards women nearly daily. Women - daughters, wives, sisters - have been relegated to slave status in many cultures throughout human history. Who's to say it couldn't happen again? And considering it was written, what, 30 years ago? The scenario in the book is one that is still theoretically possible (down to a faked Islamic terrorism attack which allows the noose to be tightened on the American government and the bad people to take control). So chilling!
Everyone's Dirty All The Time: The TV Show. lol. I mean I joke, but it's kind of nice actually. Alright their hair is still always perfect and their teeth are so white and lovely. But at least otherwise they look like they kinda smell. Which you totally would in this situation, hah.
If you don't know Revolution, the concept is: one day, all the power shut off. Not just power plants, but batteries, solar power - none of it works anymore. Anything electric is dead. The show takes place several years after the event, though there are flashbacks sometimes. The show gets stronger as it goes on, and I am really loving the current season. At first they tried to be kinda too LOST-like, with lots of mysteries, and while they keep on with mysteries sometimes, the mysteries are interesting and not just "THAT STATUE HAS THREE TOES!!" sorts of mysteries. I really like most of the characters, there's lots of AWESOME action (SWORD FIGHTS!!), and this latest season especially, a lot of great humor. Mostly the story is concentrated on humans fighting other humans, but it's not really good versus evil. It's more sorta-neutral-but-generally-falls-on-the-sorta-good versus not-really-evil-but-just-asshole-humans-who-take-advantage-of-the-situation-so-they-are-the-enemies.
One day, all of the men on planet Earth - all but one, that is, named Yorick - die. What does a world populated entirely by women look like? How does society get along? The government? And what happens to the one man left alive? Y the Last Man isn't a perfect story, but it's really engaging, and has a lot of complex (lady!) characters. Agent 355 is especially fucking awesome. I read the whole thing in, like, two days. I couldn't put it down. This isn't a perfect story by any means - there are some silly stereotypical things in it (Daughters of the Amazon? sigh), BUT, it's such a unique concept, and simply by virtue of the concept, it's almost entirely lady characters. And like I said, Agent 355 is amazing and the whole series is worth it just to watch her continually badass her way around the country protecting Yorick's sorry ass.
Okay, this one wins for most depressing entry on the list, haha. It is definitely the darkest look at an end-of-the-world scenario that I have seen. I cried at several points in the book, I was legitimately freaked out at a couple parts, and I just couldn't put it down. It is excellently written and it's not very often that books keep me on the edge of my seat, but this one did. And somehow, at the end of it all, there manages to be a bit of hope. It's a really lovely complete story, and when I finished I was like yes, that's good, that's enough. Perfect story conclusion.
(And nothing against the movie, at all - I really liked the movie. But the book just has more in it. It's also more atmospheric, somehow, too.)
I smushed all three together for simplicity's sake, although I love certain bits of these entities more than others.
The tv show I've had the most rollercoaster ride of emotions with. It was the first incarnation of this universe I tried out, and I didn't love it. At first it was ok - but there was soooo much stupid personal drama. Personal drama isn't stupid, I mean that the personal drama they DID have was stupid, haha. And then season 2 happened, and god it was awful, and I was just DONE with the show. I stopped watching. But later - after playing the video game - I decided to pick up the show again, and not too long after I originally abandoned it, it got ok. Then, it got GOOD. This most recent season, season 4, was so awesome. SO GOOD. It was worth coming back to the show for. And the irony is, SO MUCH of season 4 was personal drama. BUT IT WAS DONE WELL. Well-done drama of people trying to survive in the face of impossible odds? YES.
The video game, I must credit with a lot of love. I've only played season 1 of the game so far (they are in the middle of releasing the season 2 game episodes), but it was sooooo good. It was everything I had wanted out of the show, but in game form. And the end was so emotional. I SOBBED LIKE A BABY.
As for the comic, I'm only like 9 volumes in. (I HAVE SO MUCH TO CATCH UP ON!) I am enjoying it. It's not, like, the most phenomenal thing I've ever read. But it's pretty good, and there's LOTS of this universe to be had with the comic.
This movie is credited with the first zombie thing I ever watched and legitimately enjoyed. It's an end-of-the-world scenario, it's got the small band of survivors who become a lovely found family, but it's all taken to the total next level for me. This is, somehow, a beautiful movie. It was filmed on a camcorder which adds to the atmosphere, I think. The acting is really amazing in this movie (Cillian Murphy! Naomie Harris! Brendan Gleeson!), and there is a really amazing musical score to accompany everything. It has scary moments and sad moments and happy moments, and this movie is actually in my top 5 movies of ALLLL TIMEEEEEE list, it's that good. The apocalyptic scenario is just the cherry on top for me.
The story of HL2 is that a totalitarian organization known as the Combine, made up of aliens and some humans, has taken over the planet Earth, and is harvesting not only the planet's resources, but harvesting humans as well. There's all sorts of creepy creatures walking the planet, the number of humans has dwindled, but many of those left have formed a secret resistance, and I LOVE RESISTANCES. You play the game as Gordon Freeman, who helps the resistance and of course ~saves the day. But you get a really awesome NPC sidekick in the form of Alyx (seen above!) who is badass and wonderful. HL2 is a BEAUTIFUL game, in that beautiful decay sort of way. It's so atmospheric, and every time I play, I get totally absorbed and lost in the story. It was the first story-based game I ever played where I wasn't irritated by my inability to go "off path". This is one of the most lauded video games even to this day, and it's for a good reason!
The Stand has a special, elevated place in my heart because it's the first end-of-the-world scenario thing I can remember consuming. I went through my Stephen King phase in middle school (well - better phrased as I started my Stephen King phase in middle school; I have yet to leave it), and devoured everything he'd written (so far, hah). When I got to The Stand, I was blown away. WHAT. A. STORY. It definitely awakened something in me, and I've loved stories of people banding together and surviving in the face of crazy, world-ending events ever since. There is such a wide array of characters, and like, the entire thing is about these people being friends or lovers or enemies or frenemies and so on in this new semi-lawless situation, all tinged with supernatural aspects. I really don't care that the book is ridonkulously long - in fact, I prefer the unabridged version, which adds 400(!) more pages to the story. Sure, there are valid criticisms of the story to be had, and I've heard them all and even agree with some. But I just don't care. I LOVE THIS BOOK, and have re-read it more times than any other book.
This show is so good. And not the typical sort of survival show where it's people struggling just to find drinkable water. It's what happens in a small town when all communication with the outside world is lost. Fear and uncertainty reign. People stop trusting each other, but others learn to trust. Towards the end of the show is some very good intrigue stuff about the rebuilding of government. The show has a REALLY good story. And all throughout this is plenty of lovely character drama. I especially love everyone living on the Richmond family farm. Stanley, good-hearted and adorably dorky, his sister Bonnie, a teenager so she's grumpy sometimes but she loves her brother, and Mimi Clark, the IRS agent from out of town who came to audit his farm then got stranded when the nukes fell. I love this show to death and it's so sadly short (1.5 seasons!), but that also means I've watched the entire series from beginning to end about a dozen times. I love Jericho because I find it so, so realistic. It's the most realistic entity on this list, which makes it very compelling to me.
And, finally, my number 1 favorite post-apocalyptic story.. Fallout 3! It's 200 years after massive nuclear war, and the planet is made up of wastes. There are mutant bad guys, mutant good guys, and scrappy little bands of humans that have managed to survive. Everything is run down ancient shells of a previous society (which is an alternate history type of society where most of the style/technology stalled out in the 60s, and there was a massive war with China). You spend the whole game scavenging, picking through old buildings and detrius, and if you take the effort to read the written materials you come across and pick through every nook and cranny of the map, there is a whole history to be read and uncovered. This history is largely irrelevant to the story, so by taking the time to really explore EVERYTHING you get a super rewarding and interesting world to discover that's a bonus to to the game's story. And it's all paired with the fun (well, for me as an American anyway, haha) of going through significant landmarks which have been destroyed. Washington Monument! Lincoln Memorial! You can even go to the White House. Fallout 3 showed me how amazing open world games can be. There's a main story, of course - and I do enjoy the main story. Liam Neeson voices the character who plays your dad, and there's a big emotional component there because LIAM NEESON'S VOICE. But you can also completely ignore the main story and just do side quests and explore. I've played the game several times and I STILL FIND STUFF! Being able to personally explore and either fight for - or fight against - this broken down, apocalyptic world, is really the pinnacle of apocalyptic storytelling for me.
Honorable Mentions: 1984 by George Orwell, Falling Skies, Adventure Time, I Am Legend.
