Task Overview
Discuss one cultural text (either a film, TV series, piece of music, art, or fiction) that you consider uses apocalyptic themes, or serves a similar purpose to apocalyptic literature in the Bible.
Learning outcomes assessed
This assessment assesses the following learning outcomes of the course:
- Be able to explain how the Bible influences popular culture and how popular culture influences interpretations of the biblical texts;
- Be familiar with the ways in which the Bible functions as a cultural resource in a wide variety of contemporary contexts and cultures;
- Be able to identify some significant Biblical themes and characters as they appear in popular culture texts, including film, music, art, advertising, television and the media
Suggested procedures
Please name your cultural text, tell us who created it (artist, musician, director, author, etc), and why you think it has apocalyptic significance. I.e. does it draw on apocalyptic themes from the Bible (e.g. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Whore of Babylon, battle between heaven and hell)? Does it serve a similar function to apocalyptic biblical literature, presenting contemporary anxieties in a coded way using futuristic, supernatural, fantastic imagery? What contemporary anxiety does it address? Would it fit one of the criteria of contemporary apocalypses discussed in class (e.g. technological, environmental, nuclear, etc.)?
You can add a URL link to where we can see the texts using Chicago Manual of Style with footnotes and bibliography (not included in word count). In the case of a film or TV drama, a link to its page on a website such as IMDb or Wikipedia will be fine. For artworks, either include the image in your discussion post or add a URL to where we can see it online. For music, if you can link to it on YouTube etc., that would be great.