Prognosis End-Time: Madness and Prophecy in Melancholia and Take Shelter

Authors

  • Briohny Doyle Murdoch University, Perth

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13130/2035-7680/2992

Keywords:

Madness, Foucault, Apocalypse, Film, von Trier, Jeff Nichols

Abstract

This paper discusses two films released in 2011, Lars Von Trier's Melancholia and Jeff Nichols Take Shelter in the context of the history of dominant conceptions of madness as laid out in Foucault's History of Madness. I argue that these films allegorise protagonists' experiences of depression and schizophrenia in order to critique the present moment in North America as well as to restore a poetic link between madness, prophecy and apocalypse in the popular imagination.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biography

Briohny Doyle, Murdoch University, Perth

Briohny Doyle is an Australian PhD candidate at Murdoch University, writing a dissertation on post-apocalyptic narrative and expressions of resistance. Her first novel The Island Will Sink also considers conceptions of apocalypse and is due for publication in mid 2013 through Hunter Publishers, Australia. 

Downloads

Published

2013-05-23

How to Cite

Doyle, Briohny. 2013. “Prognosis End-Time: Madness and Prophecy in Melancholia and Take Shelter”. Altre Modernità, no. 9 (May):19-37. https://doi.org/10.13130/2035-7680/2992.

Issue

No. 9 (2013): Apocalisse 2012

Section

Saggi Ensayos Essais Essays