By Megan Schillereff, Ball State University In current conversation, the idea of apocalypse and the interconnected idea of the posthuman are usually presented as science fiction or fantasy. Despite its popularity within the fictional universes of both the page and the screen, apocalyptic events have occurred within the course of human history, traceable all the […]

By Kaitlyn Bell, Ball State University       In his study After the End, James Berger says “the post-apocalypse in fiction provides an occasion to go ‘back to basics’ and to reveal what the writer considers to be truly of value” (8).  I believe this is especially true in Bungie’s video game Destiny. The plot […]

By Abigail Gelopulos, Ball State University Evie Covington, the main character of the Warner Bros. apocalyptic television show No Tomorrow, is a nervous perfectionist who lacks the confidence necessary to implement changes in her life that would make her feel more on track to who she wants to be.  Xavier Holliday, her male counterpart, is introduced […]

By Audrey Bowers, Ball State University 2028 – The Change   Nothing can stop me. I’m a survivor of the zombie apocalypse. “Come along Toby,” I say to my dog. My eyes squint to see what this abandoned city might offer me. Toby, my corgi, trails after me through the brick streets of what I […]

by Nick Smith, Ball State University “The world as we know it is gone…. Scarred by endless wars, humanity struggles to survive in the ruins of the old world. Frozen in an everlasting nuclear winter. This is the future. This is the year 1997” (00:01:17-00:01:34). These are among the first words of the 2015 film, […]

by Tynan Drake, Ball State University An erasure poem is a “poem that sculpts itself out of another larger text” in order to commentate on or derive new meaning from the original text (Brewer, “Erasure and Blackout Poems”). Erasure poems are created by taking choice words or phrases from the source text and deleting everything […]

Olivia Hershman, Ball State University The Walking Dead and its representation of post-apocalyptic humanity has made it popular since its 2010 premiere. With each new season, the writers of this zombified survival narrative push the boundaries of audience comfort and force their viewers to confront questions about humanity, gender roles, and the quest for survival. One […]

by Bethany Benkert, Ball State University   Avatar the Last Airbender is a fantastic television show (which is much better than the live-action movie) that ran on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. It features a world where some people can control, or “bend,” water, earth, fire, and air. It also features a world under siege […]

by Hannah Partridge, Ball State University M. R. Carey’s 2014 novel The Girl With All the Gifts presents a new twist to the genre of post-apocalyptic zombie novels by making the protagonist of the story a zombie herself. Melanie, who believes she is an ordinary young girl and knows no other life than living in […]