MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

In 2017 the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued 137 disaster declarations, a 75% rise of wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods since 2015. Many news stories at that time focusing on the survival of individuals and the necessity for disaster preparedness. A 2012 FEMA survey of 2,013 households have shown that 55% of those asked were familiar with alert and warning systems and 46% were familiar with local hazards. One of the authors of this proposed study completed a comparative study with a college population from a large, Midwestern University and found that while 43% of students were familiar with local hazards only 32% indicated that they were familiar with alert and warning systems. A follow-up study is planned at the beginning of the fall semester to understand whether movies and television shows have an impact on students’ knowledge of, or willingness to prepare for disasters. The main focus of the inquiry will look at movies and television shows related to ‘end-of-the-world’ scenarios, especially concerning themes including Zombie apocalypse (e.g., The Walking Dead), back-to-nature competitions (Naked and afraid) or actual disaster preparedness shows (Doom Preppers). These shows are considered entertainment yet could be teaching viewers aspects important to FEMA’s expectations of preparedness. After all, the basic foundation of human learning and teaching is storytelling (Cajete, 1994). The Aborigines in Australia tell stories to their children to help them find water in the desert. Violent movies and computer games have been attributed to affect children’s behaviors negatively. So it would only be appropriate to consider the insurgence of recent apocalyptic shows to guide our understanding of what it would take, or the necessity of, preparing for any form of natural or human-made disaster.