Disaster Movies
In disaster movies, natural disasters, accidents, and terrorist actions provide the setting for daring escapes and incredible heroism. The films rely heavily on special effects to recreate on screen the violent consequences of earthquakes, plane crashes, and meteorite storms; the category also includes monster-disaster movies in which an enraged, oversized creature destroys buildings and other large objects. It is an important part of disaster movies that in them heroic acts are performed by unlikely heroes—by people with psychological wounds, with limited experience of the things they are asked to do, and in situations where the odds against success seem impossibly high. Because these films are about averting and surviving disaster, it may be significant that disaster movies began to be produced in large numbers in the years after the horrors of World War II. If the twentieth century has seen great advances in technology, disaster movies reflect a fear that technology alone will not save us. Although their plots are often unrealistic and the acting and special effects unconvincing, they offer the message that, through self-belief and the right moral choices, people just like us have the ability to save themselves.
Disasters featured in disaster movies can be divided into three main types: natural disasters, disasters caused by technology failing or being accidentally damaged, and disasters caused by terrorism or by the recklessness of an individual or agency.
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