Going forward on my research proposal and paper, we have recently learned how to cite scholarly sources: working on both the works cited page and in-text citations. On top of this I have received my research proposal from Heather last week and see that I still need to work on decided exactly what my topic is going to be about. I have been very general in my proposal, I must figure out how I am going to make my topic as specific as possible. I recently caught up on the most recent season of the hit TV series, "The Walking Dead." In short, "The Walking Dead" revolves around a moral sheriff, named Rich Grimes, who wakes up from a coma into an apocalyptic world patrolled by zombies called "walkers." Shortly following his awakening, Rick goes out in search of his family while interacting with survivors, conflicts, and many walkers along the way.
I recently discovered an online source titled "America's Most Watched: The Top 50 Shows of the 2013-2014 TV Season" written by Michael Schneider. According to this source, "The Walking Dead" was ranked the 4th most watched television show in America during the 2013-2014. Being one of the top rated TV series in America, "The Walking Dead" is an ideal show for my research topic; since I am revolving my research topic around the apocalyptic theme's effects on the American society, this show is easily be related to that particular topic. http://www.tvguide.com/news/most-watched-shows-2013-2014-1082628/
Continuing from my last blog, the movie "I Am Legend," proves an ideal source to use for my research paper. With the movie having an apocalyptic action/suspense movie, "I Am Legend" contributes to my topic because it was such a popular movie during its time. This fact reinforces my stance on apocalyptic fiction's effect on the American society.
Along with this, "I Am Legend" has many different meanings within the movie and, in my opinion, the ending of the movie has the most important meeting in the end. Outside of the original movie, it also has an alternate ending that is commonly known as well. In the original ending, Neville sacrifices himself in his lab in order to allow several survivors to leave freely from the zombie attack.
In this ending, Dr. Neville discovers the reason of the massive zombie attack inside his lab. Because of this, he is able to hit a nerve with the zombies and win over their trust of him helping them. Ultimately, he saved his own life, the cure, and the lives of the other thousands of survivors. I believe both of these endings were an exact reflection of the its audience's desires. The popularity of this movie was apparent--selling $77.4 million on its weekend opener, therefore making a different, happier ending would boost it's worth much more. This shows apocalypticism's effects in the American society, whether it is moral, financial, or simply for entertainment.
Starting up my blog, I have many ideas on how I plan to structure my research paper and literature review. With my topic being the effect of apocalyptic fiction on the American society, I decided to look into how this theme has influence the nation's entertainment industry. While doing some research and looking around, I decided to search for different movies and I found many films featuring this theme. One particular movie that I found interesting and also one of my personal favorites is the popular film "I am Legend" directed by Francis Lawrence.
This movie features actor and academy award winner Will Smith, who plays Dr. Robert Neville, a lone survivor of a man-made virus originally created to cure cancer. Living in the middle of New York City, Dr. Neville desperately searches for other survivors in the city while cleverly evading the millions of infected civilians that were transformed into living mutant zombies. Ultimately, the doctor dies in the end to save the human race and help those still healthy from being exterminated.
This is an ideal movie for my topic because, in many people's eyes, a hero is an idol or icon in their lives. The fact that this movie is influenced by apocalyptic fiction makes Dr. Neville that much more of a hero for saving the entire race in exchange for his life. This film was highly rated in society considering its very fictional theme. This leads to an interesting topic of how the American society has been accustomed to thee apocalyptic theme.
I Am Legend. Perf. Will Smith, Alice Braga. Warner Bros, 2007. Film.
