LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Presenter:  Kayce Kay Goodro

June 6, 2005

The Day After Tomorrow: Is that Today?

Primary Objectives:

1. To identify, describe, and criticize stories humans tell about the future:
1. Apocalyptic

2. To identify typical visions of the future as seen from 2005
1. High tech; virtual reality – slick, clean, cool, unreal, powerful?
2. Low tech; actual reality – rough, messy, hot, real, powerless?
3. Dystopia/Ecotopia – gone wrong, + ecology

Secondary Objectives:

3. Is the future “written” (i.e., set, fixed, programmed, and usually apocalyptic) or “being written” (“open – ended” and usually evolutionary)?

6. To note literary strategies and problems such as how to make the future both familiar and exotic.  (These poles of value or attraction may also be characterized as comforting or challenging; friendly or unfriendly; warm or cold.)
1. How does one end a story about the future?

Film:  The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Summary:

This is a current day movie that takes on the environmental factors affecting the world today.  This takes on the issue of global warming and gives notion to the end of the world by means of the people destroying the environment.  Dennis Quaid plays a professor whose expertise is in the environment.  He tries to warn the populations of the disasters happening and no one is taking his warnings serious.  The story takes a turn most do not and invites the end of the world coming by means of another ‘Ice Age’ happening.  Like most believe, New York City gets his hard by this and completely freezes over.  There is a “Hollywood” effect and the tear jerking piece is that a man who knows of the happenings goes in to save his son no matter what the cost.  In the mist of all this, a small group of people who are all different gain a closeness because they are of the few survivors.  This movie sets a journey of peoples lives when the believed end of the world is approaching.

“There are no facts, only interpretation.” (June Havoc)

Questions to Discuss:

1. The concept of the world ending has been around virtually since the world began.  Would this particular film be coinciding with the typical idea of the ending of the world?
2. Would this film be more apocalyptic nature or of an alternative vision?
3. Could this movie be a type of prophecy or for better terms prediction considering it is one of the first apocalyptic films ending this way?
4. Do you agree that most of the apocalyptic stories told end with a select group of people still living to carry on the human race and do you feel this is in fact what will happen if it does ever happen?
5. Is this movie like everything else, searching for the answers?  Do you think mankind will ever know what will happen?