Between Destruction and Hope: The Vision of the Apocalypse in John Hillcoat’s “The Road”
Abstract
The author of the article, who places her argument in the context of anthropology of film, takes into consi- deration the image of apocalypse in John Hillcoat’s The Road (2009), which is a film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same title. The vision of the end of the world presented in the work is a realistic representation of eschatological anxiety inherent in contemporary consciousness. If one accepts Erich Auerbach postulate, that realism “reveals reality”, then one may reasonably conclude that The Road is a response to the contemporary feeling of “crisis”. Hillcoat’s film also contains apocalyptic paradox as described by Jacob Taubes - a tension between destruction and a hope for what the destruction may bring.
Keywords:
John Hillcoat, Cormac McCarthy, apocalypse, eschatologyReferences
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Authors
Małgorzata Sokołowskakwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Jagiellonian University Poland
Antropolog kultury, doktorantka w Instytucie Etnologii i Antropologii Kulturowej Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
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Copyright (c) 2016 Małgorzata Sokołowska
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