Future Shock Film: Greenland (2020)

In a world where extinction events pose an imminent threat, one family enacts their survivalist instincts in a desperate ploy to stay alive. From director Ric Roman Waugh and starring his frequent leading man counterpart Gerard Butler, Greenland fell out of theatrical wide-release in 2020 when it ran up against the real-world threat in the COVID-19 global pandemic. Finding a second life on streaming services, Greenland now functions as an underground B-movie that purports the dramatic circumstance of the widespread panic that ensues when a comet unexpectedly realigns toward earth. By leaning on pre-apocalyptic scenarios, the creative team effectively taps into the widespread paranoia that currently grips the underbelly of many First-World nations.   

Host Garret Castleberry welcomes Scott McMurry into the dystopian discourse that foregrounds this "Future Shock Film" season of Special Topic in Media. The dialogic duo explore the dystopian spaces that haunt sci-fi film and the fears and anxieties of storytellers and their audiences. The pair organize their analysis around genre themes concerning presence versus absence, imitation versus innovation, and make a case for what moments situate Greenland as future shock.

"Future Shock" originated as Season 3 of Special Topics in Media. Season 3 collides with its altered future as we converge into a new season (and NEW university film course!) of future shock analyses.

Host: Garret Castleberry, Scott McMurry

Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)

Recommended readings to pair with Season 3 "Future Shock Science Fiction Film":
Keith M. Johnston. Science Fiction Film: A Critical Introduction. Bloomsbury, 2011.

Michael Harris. In Come With Me If You Want to Live: The Future as Foretold in Classic Sci-Fi Films. Roman & Littlefield, 2024.

Alvin Toffler. Future Shock. Ballantine Books, 2022.

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Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.