Continuing on from my previous post, thoughts and ideas about the world ending has been around since before our lifetime. Religion and apocalypticism have coexisted in this world for a very long time, forming and building upon each other as well. Based of this, where did the thought of apocalypticism actually come from? What pushes people to believe to that apocalyptic view? The scholarly source, "Apocalypticism Explained: The Resiliency of Apocalyptic Belief," does well in explaining these questions while also going in depth with how these beliefs are influenced in religion across the world as well.

The apocalyptic message has enormous power for various reasons. One is, ironically enough, the terror that it inspires. The vision of the future that's embedded in the apocalyptic world view is really a frightening one. But yet, combined with the fear, is a sense of meaning, and also the sense that as individuals we can escape the true terrors that lie ahead. And that's where the Rapture belief becomes so important, because horrible events will be unfolding in the future, but true believers will be spared all of that because they will be taken in the Rapture and spend that time with Christ in the skies. So there's the sense of fear that comes with thinking about those events, combined with the sense of escape, the sense of personal redemption from all of that, that I think is one of the sources of strength of this belief system.

This quote accurately describes the general reason for the presence of apocalypticism in the early stages of the world. This also briefly explains how religion has its part in this major topic. With these posts taken into consideration, it is apparent to see and understand how and why apocalyptic fiction has become such a major influence in the American society today.


Boyer, Paul. "Apocalypticism Explained: The Resiliency of Apocalyptic Belief." PBS. PBS. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

The apocalyptic influence has had its effect in the world for many centuries, dating back to America's first discovery in the 1500's. For most of its known existence, America has been based upon religious beliefs and practices. Interestingly enough, apocalypticism--or at least its ideals--has played its role in American culture for just as long, if not longer. I recently came across an exceptional scholarly source that discusses the impact that apocalypticism has on American culture from a religious standpoint. This source is an online article titled "Apocalypticism in American Culture," written by Randall Balmer, and discusses the apocalyptic mindset of Christians during the early years after discovering the New World of America.


"Americans have long evinced a fascination with the end of time and the role that they would play in such an apocalypse. Even Christopher Columbus invested the discovery of the New World with millennial significance. More often, apocalyptic ideas have issued in the expectation that human history might screech to a halt at any moment and dissolve into some kind of apocalyptic judgment."


This quote from the article discusses the apparent presence of apocalyptic thoughts flowing through the minds of these newcomers. Balmer also incorporates religion with apocalypticism by explaining how the existence of the human race can end at any moment if placed into a calling of judgment by a greater religious power. Using this for my research paper will provide sufficient evidence to my current claim of apocalypticism's effects on American society. This will strongly help support my stance being that the idea of apocalypse has flowed in America since its discovery and has continued to grow since then.


Balmer, Randall. "Apocalypticism in American Culture." Divining America, TeacherServe. National Humanities Center. 18 April 2015. Web.

Cured from the Apocalypse

While looking around for sources for my research paper, I discovered an interesting event coming up that deals with the search for the cure for cancer. This specific is event is named "The Walking Hope," to show its theme's striking resemblance to that of AMC's "The Walking Dead." This caught my attention because the specific theme for this cancer fighting event is a zombie apocalypse! Going more in depth, this upcoming event is a charity that will be raising awareness and hosting fundraisers in support of the American Cancer Society. The charity itself will be held in Detroit, featuring many activities such as music, burlesque, slideshow acts, an apocalyptic art gallery, and vendors. The event starts on Saturday, April 18 at 8:30p.m; all of the money raised at this charity will go directly to the American Cancer Society.

This upcoming and popular event represents the theme of apocalyptic fiction very much present and influential in our society. Although apocalyptic fiction is generally thought of as a darker, heinous concept, "The Walking Hope" event shows how this theme can be altered and adapted. Based on this fact, it is apparent that apocalyptic fiction's influence on the American society can enable positive outcomes amongst the nation, though not the most appealing of positives.

Apocalypse in the World Wars

Finishing up on my Literature Review, I was able to use a scholarly source that I discovered to help strengthen my stance. This source is a book titled "World War 2: A Short History," discussing the course of World War II and its effects. This book goes in depth with the course of the war, including who was involved, the major impacts and turning points, and how the war ended as well. It also discusses the reactions of the world as the Second World War ceased. I felt that this source was useful to include in my review because it provides a real life example of an "end of the world" scare, in other words the fear of an apocalypse. Because of this, I used the article as an example and evidence for apocalyptic fiction and how it relates to society in America.

 Providing a realistic example provides increased its support for my claim, which allows my stance on my claim to be that much easier to express to my audience. It will also allow my audience to better understand my point of view while providing them the ability to visualize the circumstance. Giving them the opportunity to have a mental glimpse of the situation will greatly contribute to my stance; therefore my audience will have a greater chance in relating to my point of view. It will also provide them with a better understanding of apocalyptic fiction and to compare both the American society and post-apocalyptic fiction. Along with apocalyptic fiction, they would be able to visualize post-apocalyptic fiction as well. As the article states, when the threat of nuclear warfare occurred near the end of WWII, fear struck inside of the hearts of countries around the world. Phrased differently, the thought of the world ending reared the heads of millions. In other words, peopled visualized a post-apocalyptic world if nuclear warfare erupted.

Michel, Henri, 1907-1986. World War 2: A Short History. Farnborough: Saxon House, 1973.

Changes to the American Dream

Continuing my literature review, I discovered another scholarly source that could be very useful for my topic. The journal article, titled "The Apocalyptic Strain in Popular Culture: The American Nightmare Becomes the American Dream," is written by Paul A. Cantor. This article discusses what was initially seen as the true American Dream: a happy, healthy family living in a suitable house with 2-3 cars owned, adults living with a well paid job, the children going to a quality school with a good educational institution. After describing the original American Dream, he describes how this dream has been altered in the nation over the decades primarily due to apocalyptic fiction.

 He also states that the occurrence of the World Wars also played a huge part in this drastic change. Both apocalyptic fiction and the World Wars ties in with each other because the wars lead to a global apocalypse scare. The threat of nuclear warfare drove the world into hysteria of the world soon coming to an end, which allowed the theme of apocalypse to become a very hot topic in America for generations.  Because apocalyptic fiction has become a part of the American lifestyle, people of the nation began doubting that a lifestyle as explained in the original American Dream, could actually be realized. If choosing to use this article source in my Literature Review, the drastic shift from the older, original sense of the American Dream to the newly revised and somewhat darker version will be greatly supported.

Cantor, Paul A. "The Apocalyptic Strain in Popular Culture: The American Nightmare Becomes    the American Dream." The Hedgehog Review 15.2 (2013): 23. Web. 28 March 2015.

American and Apocalyptic Lifestyle

Thinking of way that I could better develop my topic, I decided to compare the apocalyptic era's effect on American media and culture to the post-apocalyptic era's effect on American media and culture. These two era's have many similarities, and at the same time possess many differences as well. I believe that this is an ideal topic for the literature review because both of these era's are both very involved and important in American media and culture in many ways, with each era still having distinct impacts at the same time. Apocalyptic fiction is the current, on-going verge to the end of human civilization; it often includes a certain catastrophe in the world such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, or more commonly a zombie apocalypse. This is the time where human extinction is inevitable, but has not completely occurred yet and the plight for human survival is at its peak.

 One scholarly source that I found and will use for my review is a journal article called "Apocalypse Cinema as Counterfactual Phenomenon" written by Nerijus Milerius. This article discusses how the apocalypse genre used in cinemas affects the everyday lifestyles in the American society. It explains how the apocalyptic genre can potentially cause negative effects amongst the society. When entertained by this genre, the negative thoughts of the end of the world occurring is generally blocked out by its viewers due to the fact that a negative, counter-factual world can threaten the self-identity of an everyday society. Going off this fact, because it can have such an effect on society, it is that very reason that drives many to watch and be entertained more by this genre. This is a good source to use for my review because it speaks directly about how the apocalypse can affect society in America, which can be an ideal comparison to that of the post-apocalyptic effects.

Group Session Benefits Apocalyptic Theme

This week, we worked in groups to complete a small, 2-3 paragraph research essay regarding the impact of Disney Princesses. Doing this we were required to find both primary and secondary sources for our essay. The primary sources could be any type of source, the secondary sources had to be scholarly sources that reinforced the primary source. I believe that doing this helped me understand both how to use sources in essays, as well as how to correctly cite sources throughout the text. Prior to this, I found 3 scholarly sources about my resource topic of both the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic theme's effect in American society.

 One source in particular that I found interesting was a journal article about the recent action movie World War Z. In this article, titled "World War Z" the writer, Thomas R. Feller, goes in depth with the concept of the creation of the movie. This concept benefits my topic because I can use this source in many different ways to support my argument of apocalyptic fiction's effect on American society. For example, Feller discusses how the use of zombies in this movie represents more than just heart-pounding excitement. He describes zombies as a symbol for many things such as: overpopulation, consumerism, class struggles, or any global pandemic. This fact gives this source much versatility in which I can use in multiple ways.