Apocalyptic art embodies these two simultaneous effects: reflecting the general anxieties of the time and place in which it was created, while also shaping these concerns by bringing more awareness to a specific type of end times scenario.

A recent video installation called “Apocalypse Management” by Chris Dowle commissioned by the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art depicts the aftermath of an unnamed apocalyptic event.

The characters perform various desperate actions in a constant loop, while many are also heard musically moaning.

Chris Dowle cites Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire (1833–36) as a source of inspiration for the installation. The series of paintings by the American painter depicted the inevitable transition in human civilization from existential harmony to death and destruction. It was based on a quote from Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812).

“There is the moral of all human tales;

’Tis but the same rehearsal of the past.
First freedom and then Glory — when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption — barbarism at last.
And History, with all her volumes vast,
Hath but one page”

Dowle credits Renaissance last judgment altarpieces as sources of inspiration as well. This altarpiece, which would have stood behind the altar of a Christian church, depicts Jesus Christ on the day of judgement. The souls granted access to Heaven are shown on the left, and those banished to Hell are shown on the right.

This evolution in apocalyptic art throughout history reveals many similarities and differences between these varying cultures and time periods. One theme is what appears to be a historically constant apprehension about the end of times. Differences include the ways in which the end arrives.

In the 15th Century altarpiece, a religious apocalypse is shown, perhaps validating the importance of religious faith at the time, reflecting a concern for the end times and shaping society to remain faithful. The 19th Century American painting series attempts to display a cycle of human existence from peace to destruction, specifically referencing the American western frontier.

“Apocalypse Management” falls in a long tradition of apocalyptic art, showing no specific type of apocalypse, whether it be environmental, religious, or nuclear, but simply communicating the despair, desperation, and repetition of human suffering.

“Apocalypse Management” also features a new medium: animation. The animation is particularly powerful as it is paired with music. The video begins with a single man moaning. The moan quickly becomes more identifiable as singing when background music enters and more characters begin this similar style of singing.

This style recalls earlier styles of European opera. Opera consists of two types of vocal styles: arias and recitatives. Recitatives are defined as being imitative of the natural inflections of speech and the human voice. French opera, specifically “Tragedie Lyrique” focused on vocal parts reminiscent of the human voice/speech. For example, when a character is angry, the pace of the music may increase, the dynamics may get louder, and the text may be sung with more rapidity. If a character is sad, the vocal style may be intermittent and slow, imitating a breaking voice or occasional sob.

“Apocalypse Management” effectively uses music to imitate the desperate moans of people who survived the aftermath of an apocalyptic disaster. It also effectively refers to an older tradition of depicting the end of times through art. It simultaneously reflects ever-present anxieties about the apocalypse while also shaping society to think and reflect on human suffering and destruction.

The use of geographic and color cues was something I found very interesting. In this photo, the First Order is depicted as a cold, mountainous, and desolate geographic landscape. Red is also used as the background color of their emblem. I found this reminiscent of communist imagery, specifically during the Red Scare of the 20th Century. Following World War II and the Cold War, the United States was left with an intense distaste for communism and the countries that were causing its spread. In previous Star Wars films, the Galactic Empire often utilized imagery similar to Nazi Germany. This theme has continued in “The Force Awakens,” as JJ Abrams cited both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as inspirations for the First Order imagery.

Familiar imagery helps cue a specific response from the audience. Using references to a memorable enemy helps the audience easily understand who the enemy is and why they should be disliked. In the case of Rapture movies, the anti-christ became a sort of fill-in-the-blank character where the creators of the movie living in a particular point in time and space can insert a memorable enemy to evoke a specific response from the audience.

Although it is a comic and not a movie, “There’s a New World Coming,” by Hal Lindsey (who later went on to write a book which inspired a movie) illustrates this idea. This comic highlights the tendency to use the basic story of Revelations as a formula into which more modern characters and events are inserted.

This first section of the comic delineates numerous modern events as signs of the end times. The desire to predict the rapture and subsequent apocalypse is one motivator in using modern events and organizations as characters and events from Revelations in Rapture movies. This makes the evangelizing message of rapture movies all the more relevant and urgent.

The second excerpt from the comic not-so-subtly associates Satan with Hitler. By manipulating familiar images, widely-held beliefs, and confirmation bias, Hitler easily becomes proof for the end times.

In “A Thief in the Night,” (1972) produced by Russell S. Doughty, Nazi German imagery is used, while the United Nations is also inserted into the Rapture formula as a symbol of the anti-christ.

Note the similarities in uniform between the “Unite” officer featured on the movie poster for “A Thief in the Night” and the Nazi soldier uniform. This slightly subconscious association makes the Unite officer much easier for the viewer to dislike.

Also note-worthy is the transformation of the United Nations, a seemingly peaceful and progressive organization, to “Unite,” an army of the Anti-Christ. This shows the tendency in Rapture movies to portray characters of John’s book of Revelation as modern figures. The inversion of the UN as a peaceful group to one headed by the anti-christ is a technique which helps create the horror in this movie and maintains an uncanny relationship with something that is recognizable yet defamiliarized.

In “Left Behind: The Movie,” similar themes are noticed. A slightly more modern film (2000), the Nazi imagery is dropped, but communist undertones still remain, as well as the United Nations as the symbol of the anti-christ. This connection between the United Nations and the anti-christ is a common one, as many predict the anti-christ will first assume a position as a peace-maker who will unite nations and then trigger years of tribulation.

Nicolae Carpathia, the anti-christ in “Left Behind: The Movie,” has an eastern European heritage and accent. His name also means “victory of the people” (explained in the prequel novels). These subtle communist undertones make Carpathia a character easy to distrust and dislike from an American nationalistic perspective.

Carpathia was also appointed Secretary General of the United Nations, which he later changed to the “Global Community.” Nicolae Carpathia provides further evidence that the Rapture story becomes a formula into which modern events and figures are dropped to create an evangelizing horror film.

The Rapture formula functions in many facets. It serves the desire to predict the end of times and the tendency to assume that it will happen within one’s life time. This, in turn, serves to motivate people to become evangelized by making the end times seem imminent. Using modern figures as characters in the book of Revelation also cues the audience to dislike and distrust certain characters or organizations. In 10 more years, the face of the anti-christ may imply an entirely different geographic region, political organization, or ethnic heritage as modern enemies change. The next anti-christ might even show up in the next episode of Star Wars.