The Child in Post-Apocalyptic Cinema

This edited collection brings childhood studies into an important conversation with a dominant genre of recent years: post-apocalyptic cinema. Olson unites a group of international scholars who examine some expected films (The Road and The Children of Men), but also some unexpected ones (The Omega Man, I Am Legend, Dawn of the Dead, and Daybreakers). The result is a diverse and fascinating examination of how, as Olson puts it, ‘the Child . . . defines the lost past/present and becomes a motivational, almost sacred image to spur on reclamation of the future.’ -- Karen J. Renner, Northern Arizona University
The essays in this valuable collection highlight the central but under examined trope of the child in post-apocalyptic cinema as a symbol caught between the competing tensions of nostalgia and futurity. Drawing upon a rich critical tradition, The Child in Post Apocalyptic Cinema theorizes this common figure, considering the child’s role as instrument and agent within this genre and demonstrating the narrative, ethical, and philosophical stakes of its deployment. This is a welcome contribution in the areas of media studies and childhood studies. -- Meredith A. Bak, Rutgers University