The Cracked Podcast

Why Hollywood Always Gets the Apocalypse Wrong


Listen Later

Lately, you can't swing an undead cat without hitting the end of the world. Whether it's the pure escapism of 'The Walking Dead' or high art like 'The Road', every story hits the same beats: it's every man for himself against the hoard of zombies or cannibals or nuclear Nazi mutants, and the only ones who survive are the badasses with shotguns willing to shoot their best friends for a Pop Tart. Even your general post-apocalyptic dystopia movies fall in the same lazy traps -- every city looks like a warehouse or a desert, not because it's an accurate depiction of such a society, but because they're cheaper to film in. But whether it's a case of art reflecting society or storytellers accidentally tapping into a human desire -- and running with it until it's as bloated and decayed as their crew of extras -- it says something about us that's pretty uncomfortable to think about. The apocalypse is just the new Old West, but instead of conquering the "savages," we just revel in being way better at savagery. We like the idea of the fall of civilization because it allows us to elevate basic human decency to heroic decency, and escape the complications of the modern world -- even if most of us would die without it. But that’s why every disaster in the history of ever has shown that it doesn’t play out that way at all. This week, Cracked editors Jack O'Brien, Soren Bowie, and Jason Pargin (aka David Wong) discuss the rote ways in which apocalypse movies and TV shows always get the demise of civilization wrong.
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Cracked PodcastBy Literally Media

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

3,268 ratings


More shows like The Cracked Podcast

View all
How Did This Get Made? by Earwolf and Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas

How Did This Get Made?

23,178 Listeners

The Dana Gould Hour by Dana Gould

The Dana Gould Hour

2,031 Listeners

We Hate Movies by WHM Entertainment

We Hate Movies

4,549 Listeners

Blank Check with Griffin & David by Blank Check Productions

Blank Check with Griffin & David

6,190 Listeners

The Daily Zeitgeist by iHeartPodcasts

The Daily Zeitgeist

4,744 Listeners

Small Beans by Small Beans

Small Beans

1,021 Listeners

Gamefully Unemployed by Gamefully Unemployed

Gamefully Unemployed

488 Listeners

Some More News by SomeMoreNews | PodcastOne

Some More News

2,593 Listeners

Behind the Bastards by Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts

Behind the Bastards

15,684 Listeners

Unspooled by Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson | Realm

Unspooled

4,763 Listeners

Quick Question with Soren and Daniel by Quick Question Podcast

Quick Question with Soren and Daniel

1,054 Listeners

WHAT WENT WRONG by Sad Boom Media

WHAT WENT WRONG

3,570 Listeners

Secretly Incredibly Fascinating by Alex Schmidt

Secretly Incredibly Fascinating

743 Listeners

The Dogg Zzone by 1900HOTDOG by The Dogg Zzone

The Dogg Zzone by 1900HOTDOG

356 Listeners

Bigfeets by Bigfeets

Bigfeets

366 Listeners