Marcus O'Donnell: Remediating the apocalypse (PhD)
The study will explore the relationships between the interlocking fields of news media, and film and television drama. While each of these cultural fields are defined by their particular forms and inherent possibilities, their boundaries are permeable and each functions as part of the network of sense making structures available to postmodern “nomadic subjects” . Specifically the study will focus on an analysis of eschatological narratives of apocalypse in a series of case studies which explore specific mythic clusters: the apocalyptic city; the person of the president; the smart warrior; new world/new self; the redeemer.
Although it does not focus exclusively, or primarily, on texts that explicitly evoke the events of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre, this event and the subsequent “war on terrorism” provide a compelling contemporary political and cultural context for an examination of apocalyptic narratives.
Project website and blog: http://www.apocalypticmediations.com