A Story of Hope in Ambiguity

Apocalyptic literature has much to say about the fundamental nature of humans. Previous to technology and modern inventions, individuals relied on a community and very communal way of life: chores were assigned to various members of a family necessary to human existence. Today, we're very detached from origin of our food and clothing, these things are made readily available. Thus, inhabitants of the modern age have developed very individualized lifestyles, independent of the need to band together with others to survive.

In this way, the stories of destruction described by apocalyptic literature, are often sought out for the larger message they convey: the ability for lone survivors after the chaos to find hope and community in one another, an idea that has been lost to a certain extent through our existing media-heavy culture. In Elaine Pagels' article What Revelation Reveals, she acknowledges John's experience in the Book of Revelation as "[his] worst of all nightmares [ending] not in terror but in a glorious new world," accurately depicting the intended purpose of this literature. In TV shows like The Walking Dead, the plot focus is not on the destruction of society, but on the connections that arise from the darkness, and the light in new life that is formed from this small community of survivors.

The myths of apocalypse enable individuals, whether through religion or pop culture, to have hope in the very ambiguous perceptions of "the end of the world."