Documentaries in the Age of Apocalypse

IN 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on two cities in Japan, we entered a new Age of the Apocalypse. The conditions of the old world were over. Modernization ushered in new opportunities and wealth and improved quality of life, but it also introduced a new threat of total annihilation. Now, with an escalating climate crisis, successive pandemics, ongoing war, and general social malaise, the transformative power of the apocalypse casts a shadow on almost all areas of modern life. It’s reflected in the art we consume, whether it’s fictional movies about Texas-sized asteroids and zombie infections or documentaries that employ the aesthetics of apocalyptic narratives.

The word “apocalypse” has long been divorced from its theological origins in our largely secular world. While initially referring to a mystical end of the world, as described in the Book of Revelations, it’s now more closely associated with any end-of-the-world scenario. Even the study of the apocalypse, eschatology, has begun to branch out to explore the subject from both a theological and a secular point of view.

“Apocalypse” does not strictly mean the end of the world: its Greek origins are a bit more complex. The Greek word translates more directly to “revelation,” which insists on a greater truth or experience being