Why Apocalypse Stories Feel Different Now

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I feel that the appeal to apocalypse stories like these is a sense of 'the return of meaningful action'. There's less people to replace you, less structure to adhere to, and less pressure to conform to, and in many ways that can feel liberating, knowing that nobody else around may know how to tend a vegetable garden as well as you, and it is your joy and your personal calling to do just that, and thus feeling like you are making a real difference to the world around you, while also not being forced or expected to shape your personality or beliefs to a large structured society's standards.

In the Last of Us (HBO show, and to a lesser extent, the game), the apocalypse is very obviously NOT the end of history; and I think that's a powerful message.

I went to emergency room at our local hospital the other night. The waiting area was standing room only, the 2m distance stickers almost worn off the floors; aisles were crowded with dozens of sleeping homeless people, shopping carts mounded with trash blocking the ways; security guards? too many to count; two young men under guard, secured to wheelchair via tie straps yelling profanity; the nurse who installed my iv quietly wept and apologized for it....we are not so far from breaking. Thank you for offering good time stories to help me deny the truths at hand. God bless, and good luck.

Before, we imagined how we’d die in a apocalypse. Now, we understand how we live in one.

I'm a mental health practitioner for chronically suicidal folks, and this isn't just how we survive the apocalypse, this is how we build lives worth living in the here and now. We need each other as much as we need food, air, or water

Man, I still can't hear Bill saying "you were my purpose" without breaking down again. So beautiful...

I feel like since covid began in 2020, many of us also felt the things you pointed out in this video, constant longing for connection, meaning, purpose, missing our loved ones, distrusting the current institution, fear of the future and the unknown, many of us have lost someone because of covid, many lost their jobs, properties, etc, this theme is relevant now more than ever. Even tho the world didn't end, as in post apocalyptic and apocalyptic stories, we still felt so vulnerable and fragile, the fact that the foundation of our society was shaken to it's core due to the pandemic, our governments, families, lives as we know it, will never be the same again.

20:32 I also came to this realization watching Last of Us. The difference between surviving and living. It was episode 3 when it clicked. Joel and Bill go through the motions of surviving to see the next day. Almost mechanical. Frank and Ellie on the other hand are living: having fun, making connections. The badass survivors have also become zombies in their own right.

The idea that humans have a built in resistance to despair is interesting. I recall reading that humans almost went extinct, possibly falling to as little as 2000 people. It'd be interesting if this resilience in the face of the apocalypse is inherited from ancestors who survived an apocalypse of their own.

“I was never afraid before you came along” Bruh. I felt that.

Perhaps I'm emotional and more prone to crying than your average person, but I spent nearly the entire segment on Station Eleven in tears. I have a lot of doubts about the future we face and being reminded that things might still be alright, even if things go terribly wrong, feels like a warm hug from someone I've missed. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Ive desperately needed this new found emotional breathing room.

"It demonstrates that regardless of our circumstances, it will always be human beings finding each, loving each other, and quietly living out fulfilling lives together." 🥰😊

The show is so good. When you first get to see the city, I was blown away. They did such a good job on capturing the feeling of the world.

Oddly reminded of the movie Warm Bodies; how it's connection that ultimately saves humanity, not the closing of borders and distrust in others. It's a bit of a silly Romeo and Juliet-esque romcom set in a zombie apocalypse, but that message in the end honestly is why I like it so much.

Whenever I watch post apocalyptic shows I always, ALWAYS, remember the way some places went through with COVID. Some places, with people inside their homes, nature slowly began to come back, wild animals etc (hence the meme "nature's healing"). This was such a great video. Thank you!

I think one of the things that attracts us to post-apocalypse stories is the freedom they offer. Evolution hasn't changed us to any significant degree for many thousands of years. Our most basic needs and desires are no different to those of our forebears who wandered the plains of Africa, the forests of Europe and the steppe and mountains of Asia. In sharp contrast, our modern world demands different things of us. From the moment we become truly conscious, we're herded through school and then into work to sell our time on this earth for everything from our most basic requirements to increasingly fabulous novelties to ease the pain of our way of life. In many respects we're born into captivity. I think the end of the world represents the breaking of that cage that our Paleolithic selves are trapped within. It's a fantasy, of course; such a life would often be harsh and short, but it is still a life that our instincts were made from, and from which all our fundamental drives and behaviours derive. Love, companionship, the banding together against shared adversity, and the urge to wander, to be free beyond the abstract concepts of political theory. In short, as you put it, our true natures.

The thing about Station Eleven is that it makes the real world look like the apocalyptic one

It's pure magic. In my darkest hours, when I'm struggling with fear and losing hope, a new essay from LSOO is there and my trust in "us" returns slowly.

Station eleven is a severely underrated show. It damn near made me cry at the ending. It’s so good poetically