LibGuides: DSEM: Apocalyptic Narratives: Race, Gender, and Sexuality at the End of the World: Films

Required Viewings

For this course, you are required to watch some films and television shows. While they are all available to rent or purchase on various streaming platforms, I have done my best to track down free viewing options for as many of them as possible.

Free Streaming Options:

The Matrix (The Wachowskis, 1999)
What is the Matrix? Have you ever had a dream that you were so sure was real? What if you couldn't awaken? How would you know the difference between dream and reality? When a beautiful stranger (Carrie Ann Moss) leads computer hacker Neo (Keanu Reeves) to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence. Neo joins legendary and dangerous rebel warrior Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) in the battle to destroy the illusion enslaving humanity. Now, every move, every second, every thought becomes a fight to stay alive--to escape The Matrix.
Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968)
After a man is killed by a zombie, his sister runs into an isolated house, where a group of people are holed up trying to figure out their escape from the flesh eaters.
The Book of Eli (Hughes Brothers, 2010)
Eli roams a postapocalyptic world, protecting a sacred tome that offers guidance on how to rebuild humanity. The evil Carnegie goes to great lengths to acquire the powerful book, but Carnegie's adopted daughter, who wants to escape her dad's clutches, helps Eli.
Born in Flames (Borden, 1983)
The movie that rocked the foundations of the early Indie film world, this provocative, thrilling and still-relevant classic is a comic fantasy of female rebellion set in America ten years after the Second American Revolution. When Adelaide Norris, the black radical founder of the Woman’s Army, is mysteriously killed, a diverse coalition of women - across all lines of race, class, and sexual preference - emerges to blow the System apart. Featuring early cameos by Kathryn Bigelow and Eric Bogosian.
Children of Men (Cuaron, 2006)
Thriller/sci-fi/action-adventure set in a dystopian future in which worldwide infertility has led to chaos. However, a British bureaucrat-turned-reluctant activist finds hope when he becomes the protector of the world's only pregnant woman.
Mad Max: Fury Road (Miller, 2015)
From director George Miller, originator of the post-apocalyptic genre and mastermind behind the legendary "Mad Max" franchise, comes "Mad Max: Fury Road," a return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky. Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max (Tom Hardy) believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa (Charlize Theron). They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.
The Girl with all the Gifts (McCarthy, 2016)
In a world overrun by zombies, a trio of soldiers, a teacher and a scientist are forced to protect a young girl whose immunity to the outbreak could be the key to saving humanity.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Amirpour, 2015)
Strange things are afoot in Bad City. The Iranian ghost town is a place that reeks of death and hopelessness, where a lonely vampire is stalking the town's most unsavory inhabitants. But when boy meets girl, an unusual love story begins to blossom…blood red.

The first Iranian Vampire Western, Ana Lily Amirpour's debut feature A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT basks in the sheer pleasure of pulp. A joyful mash-up of genre, archetype and iconography, its prolific influences span spaghetti westerns, graphic novels, horror films, and the Iranian New Wave. Amped by a mix of Iranian rock, techno and Morricone-inspired riffs, its airy, anamorphic, black-and-white aesthetic and artfully drawn-out scenes combine the simmering tension of Sergio Leone with the surrealism of David Lynch.

Free Physical Media Options:

The Drew Library has a collection of DVDs available for students, faculty, and staff to check out. To borrow a DVD, ask a worker at the circulation desk for assistance, as the collection is only accessible to Library employees.

If you do not have access to a DVD player or your laptop does not have a disc drive, have no fear! We also have external disc drives availble for loan (for four hours at a time). Ask a circulation desk worker to check one out. Addidtionally, rooms LC12 (a group study room) and LC15 have DVD players available.

If you decide to check out a DVD for this course, please remember to be considerate of your classmates! Watch it and return it as soon as possible to ensure everyone who needs it gets an opportunity to use it.

Sorry to Bother You (Riley, 2018)
Call Number: VIDEO S7134s
In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a macabre universe.

Research Guides

DSEM: Apocalyptic Narratives: Race, Gender, and Sexuality at the End of the World

Required Viewings

Free Streaming Options:

Free Physical Media Options: