In Wilder Page’s Opinion – The Top 5 Post-Apocalyptic Franchises!

Wilder Page here! I’m the author of a new, debut novel, The Aria of Galvanize, which was just released July 3^rd. I’m writing a guest post today picking my top five post-apocalyptic books or movies, which is no easy task! I have to say, it’s interesting that post-apocalyptic (P-A) fiction is such a popular and vibrant genre, especially when most books, movies, and video games in this area often have a dark and anxious tone! I have speculated as to why I think it is that people love this genre on my blog at www.wilderpage.com, but regardless of the reasons why, people love a good dark, P-A world and fall in love with the characters just trying to get by amidst the danger and chaos! In my opinion, this genre is still quite young, only having really emerged the last few decades, and I think it will continue to grow over the years. But even with new great stories coming out every day, over the years the P-A genre has produced some amazing stories! Here are my top 5:

5. Mad Max. Mad Max franchise represents a series of movies detailing the horrors of post-apocalyptic life, the first of which really represents the early beginnings of the genre, in my opinion. I still remember the first time I saw the Road Warrior as a kid, I’d never seen anything P-A before and I was immediately hooked on the crazy chaos, random violence, and the rare heroic idiot! Mad Max is set in the future Australian Outback after society has collapsed, leaving the survivors to try and maintain daily life in a desert with ongoing fuel shortages. The tension of life in this world lead to brutal wars and crazy apocalyptic car chase scenes, naturally! All the movies provide great scenes of post-apocalyptic chaos, and then, of course, there’s the Thunderdome! Two men enter, one man leaves! Even with many of the great things the series has going for it, at times the series can be a bit too gritty and psychopathic for my liking. But I can definitely see why it’s iconic and a lot of people love it! Plus, I also love the roving gangs of crazy wasteland raiders roaming the desert aspect, makes for such a great setting. Here’s hoping we get more of this franchise in future years!

4. The Terminator Film Series – I debate whether this one really fits the “post-apocalyptic genre” since the bulk of the material takes place in a present day timeline where the protagonists are trying to prevent the apocalypse. For me, that’s just inherently less interesting than characters being stuck in post-apocalyptia trying to create some kind of life amidst the destruction. But when it comes down to it, I think The Terminator series is truly post-apocalyptic at its heart. I mean the premise is that in the future robots kill everyone, classic and so relevant to the rise of robots today! *Gives the Roomba going by a suspicious look.* The Terminator depicts a whole series of movies that display a disturbing future for humanity after the machines, and these speculations about the futures are outright fascinating. Every time I watch these movies I struggle, because I want to see them spend more time in the horrible terrifying future, but at the same time I’m always rooting for the characters to avert doomsday, even against the inevitable flow of time and consequences!

3. The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a novel written in 2006, which was later adapted for a movie. This book is so interesting because it’s written by a pillar of fine Western (including the old West!) literature, who turned his talents to post-apocalyptic fiction. Talk about giving some credibility to a genre that some might have called bizarre a few decades ago. The Road features the story of a man and his young son as they try to survive day to day life in the hellish burned landscape and constant ash of a destroyed world. Even just getting food and water represent substantial challenges for the protagonists. Some really rich world building and dark settings for sure! But, in my opinion, The Road goes even darker into the depravation of the human psyche than some of the other titles on this list. I mean, infant cannibalism, that’s so dark! McCarthy also does something that I think a number of post-apocalyptic works fall short on, and rather than just focus on the horror and pain of post-apocalyptic life, he tries to point to the bigger picture. Where are the main character and his son going with all their striving, I mean really, they’re walking through piles of ash, but where are they going? The book is as deep as it is dark, superb!

2. Metro 2033 is a Russian science fiction novel written by Dmitry Glukhovsky in 2010 that was translated into English and also made into a video game. This book is set in the remnants of the Moscow metro system after a massive nuclear war that destroyed most of global society. The story follows the protagonist, Artyom, a young man, as he travels about the ruined metro, where people reside to survive the harsh wasteland above. As if nuclear radiation and warring human tribes within the metro weren’t bad enough, Arytom and the other surviving humans are faced with the ongoing threat of “The Dark Ones,” mutated monsters that seem to be overrunning the metro, leading to an ultimate epic final battle with a wild twist! What I love most about Metro 2033 is the dark, creepy atmosphere, the fear and terror of the unknown, and some incredible world building with the focus on the metro and its various locations. This one hits all the right notes for me!

1. And at #1 -The Walking Dead franchise! First, I’ll note that I could have include a number of zombie themed P-A franchises here (there might be something like 28 days worth of them…). However, I prefer to be very picky about zombie apocalypses fiction because most of this P-A fiction seems to be interested in people getting torn apart and horror to the point of excluding any kind of character or plot development. But this is where The Walking Dead actually rises to the top of the entire P-A genre! While the Walking Dead graphic novels and TV series have plenty of horrifying zombies and vicious humans, the Walking Dead creates characters, villains even, that you can’t help but fall in love with! Those very same characters routinely then go on to become lunch, whether good or bad. I have to say, I’m still blown away by the complexity of human behavior in this franchise. While the zombies rule, it’s those little moments of human drama that stand out more than all the rotting flesh to make this series pop!

There you have it, my top five post-apocalyptic novels and movies! Of course, a number of excellent titles were left off of this list, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re great. I just think these examples best represent the most interesting worlds and characters that the P-A genre has to offer!

For more ramblings about the apocalypse visit my blog, and you can check out my novel The Aria of Galvanize on Scribd or Amazon!