The Winter 2008 Knowlton School of Architecture Movie Series is offering films throughout the quarter on an unexpected theme for a school that trains the designers and planners of the future: the apocalypse.
"Foreshadow, Crisis, Aftermath" features films about people struggling to survive in the face of zombie attacks, epidemic disease, economic and social collapse and global terrorism and warfare. The series runs through winter quarter with showings most Tuesday nights at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium in Knowlton Hall (Room 250).
"It's a nice change for us,because everyone thinks architecture students are like, 'Don't you want to watch a movie about Frank Gehry?'" said Whitney Moore, a senior in architecture who planned the series.
Moore said the KSA Movie Series began two years ago as an opportunity for architecture students to take advantage of the auditorium in the new home of the School of Architecture, Knowlton Hall. When she took over the series in 2008, she wanted a theme that would be fun and intellectually stimulating, so she decided to explore what she calls "the apocalypse genre."
Citing recent television specials on "20/20," The Discovery Channel and articles in Time magazine as well as current films, books and video games, she said she asked herself "why is the genre so prevalent today?"
Two showings in January have offered the films "La Jetée," "Twelve Monkeys" and "Mad Max." Four showings remain, including "Children of Men," which takes place in a future where humans have become infertile and the social order is breaking down, on Feb. 5.
Though the series is open to the public, it is required viewing for students in Architecture 700: Design for the Apocalypse, a seminar course taught by assistant professor John McMorrough.
"I think it's a good series because it is a mix of films people might have seen before but not thought of in that context, like 'Mad Max,' and films they might not have seen before, like 'Time of the Wolf,'" McMorrough said.
McMorrough suggested some titles and helped plan the sequence so that it would go with the seminar, which he said focuses on how the design profession is reacting to people's concerns about the threats of global warming, terrorism and peak oil. "The seminar itself is interested in ways the design field is already dealing with the apocalypse," he said.
Michael Paull can be reached at paull.15@osu.edu.
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