"Wish-Fulfillment"

The conversation we had in class today about the article was very intriguing. I have to say that Laura’s idea about the idea of being able to survive an apocalypse may be more of a reason these could be seen as wish-fulfillment is a very good one and is kind of along the lines of what I was thinking as well. I don’t think that these shows are necessarily wish-fulfilling in that people want an apocalypse to happen, but that it is a scary thing to think about so the idea of people surviving gives a sense of comfort. People are obsessed with the apocalypse because they don’t know what’s going to happen, who or what will survive, or what will exist in the world. There are so many ideas out there for the end of the world, and I think that the fact that people can’t control what will happen, how it will happen, and when it will happen scares people more than knowing that it is going to happen. If you know the answer to all of or most of the previously stated questions, it is easier to prepare for. How do you prepare for something if you don’t know when it is going to happen, or what exactly is going to happen? These movies and shows give people hope that even though an apocalypse could happen at any minute, survival is possible.

Do you think the motives of these shows could be to give people a sense of hope with all the things going wrong in the world and people fearing the end more than ever? Or are they a nightmare far worse than what we deal with now so that they can distract us and create a sense of comfort in our own world?