You’ve probably heard rumors that the end of the world is going to happen in the year 2012. But people have been making predictions about how and when the world is going to end for ages. The End is a fun, comprehensive, pop culture read about the 50 top movies, books, songs, comics, artworks, and plays—from the movie Shaun of the Dead to the pop song "It’s the End of the World as We Know It"—that have been created about the apocalypse. Each item includes:
a synopsis of the apocalyptic work
information about the apocalyptic theory behind it (from alien invasion to meteors, nuclear war, and natural disasters)
an explanation about why this work is important in pop culture
Love doomsday talk and the art that is made about it? Check out this fun and entertaining read!
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Gr 9 Up-No cultural medium goes unexamined in this compendium of 50 apocalyptic visions of the world. Moving fluidly between fine art, mega-hit movies, obscure plays, comic-book series, and everything in between, the author explains how all have looked into the future and seen the end of life as we know it. Barcella describes each work in detail and then provides background and context, explaining what was going on in the world that may have contributed to the creator's particular vision of the end of the world. Reality checks, interesting quotes, thoughts about the wider impact on the culture round out each entry. In an introduction, Barcella explains that she spent a lot of time trolling through plenty of end-of-times material but doesn't specify how she landed on these specific 50, so the list feels vaguely random, but in a fun, surprise-on-every-page kind of way. Michelangelo's The Last Judgment comes not long after cult favorite Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and a few page turns before V for Vendetta, a comic-book-series turned movie. Teenagers and adults alike will find this an entertaining book to thumb through, searching for familiar works as well as exploring some of those less well known. Readers of dystopian novels may find this collection particularly intriguing. Plenty of people will have their own ideas about what should have been included, but this particular collection is varied and interesting.-Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review
“Readers who voraciously consume apocalypse-themed YA novels should feel right at home with this guide to end-of-days scenarios, as depicted in pop culture.” — Publishers Weekly
“An entertaining and fascinating compendium of doomsday scenarios…An amusing, informative look at apocalyptic pop culture.” — Kirkus Reviews
Hello! I'm a writer, editor, and Washington, DC native currently torn between San Francisco and NYC. I'm the author of "The End: 50 Apocalyptic Visions From Pop Culture That You Should Know About...Before It's Too Late" (Zest Books, July 2012) and the editor of "Madonna & Me: Women Writers on the Queen of Pop" (Soft Skull Press, March 2012). I've also contributed to the books "BitchFest: 10 Years of Cultural Criticism From the Pages of Bitch Magazine" and "Somebody's Child: Stories About Adoption."
I've covered pop culture, feminism, arts, and lifestyles for more than 40 publications, including Salon, the Village Voice, Time Out New York, the Chicago Sun-Times, CNN.com, Rookie, ELLEGirl, XOJane, NYLON, and BUST.
For more information about my work, please visit LauraBarcella.com and MadonnaAndMeBook.com. You can also follow my occasional musings on my blog at laurabarcella.wordpress.com.
I love "The End"! This book is super fun to read and has a ton of information, too. It counts down movies, books, plays, songs, etc. that were created about the apocalypse. But the author goes beyond just creating a huge list--she gives you the inspiration for the pop culture work and its impact on our world today. I never realized how much our culture focuses on the apocalypse, but "The End" made me realized just how obsessed we are. If you want a book that's fun and informative, "The End" is a good choice.
Society has a morbid fascination with the end of the world. And really, who can blame them? I certainly can't since I'm one of the many morbidly curious.
The End is a look at pop culture's many dooms day predictions, and how they continue to influence the masses and media. There were many pieces I had never heard about, or only had a vague concept of, and it was interesting to see how they connected to other more current works. I do have to admit that as a zombie fan, I was wanting them represented a bit more, but I'm sure I could come up with at least 50 pieces for them alone!
This was a pretty quick read, with each piece of work broken down into a summary, Inspirations for the piece, unforgettable moments, reality factor, and the impact it has had on our culture. The Kindle formatting I received through Net Galley did make it difficult to read, but I notice that at this time it's only available in paperback, which I think would be cool to see, as there are photos to go with each 'vision'. This is definitely a fun look at pop culture!
The End is a fun facts that you should know about, Very well written with each page containing a picture of subject, unforgettable moment, reality factor, the inspiration, the impact, quotable, and more movies directed by. There are 50 apocalyptic visions from pop culture that you should know about... before it's too late.
I want to give you an example of one called Children of Men (2006); Unforgettable Moment At the start of the movie, clusters of somber, scared-looking Brits squeeze into a storefront to catch the news, blaring from an overhead TV screen. Eighteen-year-old Baby Diego- the youngest person left on the planet--has been stabbed to death in a bar brawl. The onlookers' horrified reaction to the news is less about the dead young man and more about what his death represents: Any hope for the future is gone.
Inspiration The title of both book and film were inspired by the Bible. The phrase "children of men" comes from verse three of Psalm 90: "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." Most believe that the first part means that mankind will be wiped out by God because of humans' grave propensity to sin. The second part ("and sayest, Return, ye children of men") is interpreted different ways. Some believe that the "return" is simply man's return to dust; others believe the "return" here signifies that Christ will call those who repent to resurrection after the destruction. Either way, it can be seen as an end-of-times, apocalyptic reference.
The Impact; The movie offered a haunting vision of what a world without children would look like. Though the movie's chase scenes and shoot-outs are intense to begin with, the film's violence is even more visually arresting due to the flat grey landscapes it's set in.... the lack of youth, laughter, and sunlight echo the lack of hope in the population as a whole.
Quotable
"As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices." Miriam's observation as she, Theo, and Kee hide from police inside a school.
It is a great book for children 12 or older and parents to talk about around the dinner table. A fun way to learn about different things you never thought about before. A must read for all!
I was given this book from Zest Books [...]Read more ›
This is such a great book to leave out on your coffee table or office. Guaranteed, to grab someone's attention and regularly keeps me amused. I love a good apocalypse story and this book digs up references and fine art that I'd never seen before. So fun.
This is a fun little book, great for a cute gift for apocalypse enthusiasts! A bit of a random assortment from across the past 150 years, and useful for fans to find / consider books/movies/songs/shows they may not be familiar with.
The End is a great read and has given me tons of new ideas to check out for movies, books etc. The author has a funny and witty writing style and it is fun to read. It's also a perfect bathroom book, and my guests always end up getting engrossed in it when they visit my house! Two thumbs up.
Laura Barcella's book does a good job of covering ends of the world, from the First Century "Revelation of John the Divine" to 21st Century world-endings like WALL-E. She also covers a wide range of media, including not only films and books but also stage plays and popular songs like "Eve of Destruction" and "Gimme Shelter". I do have to question some of her choices: The world doesn't actually end in "V for Vendetta", for instance, and while a dozen worlds die in "Battlestar Galactica", none of them is our world. And how could she mention a forgettable song like "The End of the World As We Know It" (only barely qualified by the popularity of the title as a catchphrase) and leave out "Hard Rain" (which Bob Dylan wrote during the Cuban Missle Crisis to represent all of the songs he wouldn't live to write) or "Bad Moon Rising"? I appreciate the "Reality Check" Barcella includes for each Armageddon (nuclear war or giant meteor impact rated more likely than a male-killing plague or zombies), but she slips up there, too: she seems to think that the coincidence of disasters makes for an unlikely apocalypse, when in fact a "perfect storm" of, say, nuclear war and plague, or civil disorder and famine, is exactly the sort of thing that could push a civilization over the brink. Pestilence, Famine and War are all too deadly and all too likely a combination. And how could she review Alan Moore's "Watchmen" and mention the threat posed by Dr. Manhattan and an alien invasion but not the looming threat of nuclear war which was the overarching theme of the series? That omission is really mind-boggling. Overall, though, it's a lovely assortment of extinction-level events to choose from.
