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WARRIOR WOMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE: THE ROLEOF THE FEMALE IN SOME APOCALYPTIC FILMS

TINA PIPPIN

Agnes Scott College

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale.William Shakespeare, King John (1597)

Introduction to the World of Fairy Tales

Let me state from the beginning that, strictly speaking, theApocalypse of John is no fairy tale. Sometimes it acts like a fairytale though. Magical creatures are everywhere, on earth and inheaven. Instead of fairies, there are armies of winged creaturesangels, who work devastating magic. There are evil tricksters andfemme fatalesJezebel, the Whore of Babylon and beasts andthe devillaying wait at every turn. There is a great wizard/king

(God) who orchestrates the whole deadly business while he sitson a great throne. Sure, there is a happy ending for some (the144,000 virginal males) and they (supposedly) live happily everafter. But for the Earth and the overwhelming majority of itsinhabitants there is only doom and gloom. Actually, gloom is notquite correct: the aftermath is a charred landscape with a fierylake. Then the glorious palace and city-state of God, the New

Jerusalem, comes down from Heaven. The wicked witch (theWhore) is stripped of her power and magic and destroyed eter-nally with fire. And the multitude in Heaven cry, HallelujahThe smoke goes up from her forever and ever! (Rev. 19:3).

Still, the Apocalypse of John is not a fairytale, even though itmight share elements of fantasy with the genre of fairy tales

Apocalypses have their own otherworldly, cosmic sense of destruction that moves outside of the space of the family. Perhapsf th f d ti d f l ti th A l i f i t l

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struggle for the future. Both Good and Evil use supernaturalpower in this final fight. In the end the faith of the few leadsthem into triumph. In many ways, the plot is similar to Tolkeins

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings epic fantasy. The character ofindividuals (especially Frodo) determines the fate of the ring.There are trials, then transformations, common themes in fairytales.But unlike the Left Behind fantasy, the created order (MiddleEarth) is left intact.

There are further reasons that the Apocalypse of John is nota traditional fairy tale, even though I find the conversation be-

tween the two genres instructive. Its tale of death and destruc-tion of the Earth and most of its inhabitants is global. Fairy talesare centered on the family unit and its dissolution and ultimatesurvival (often in a different form). These very different genresdo have something to say to each other, though, with their bidsfor proper values and actions. Marina Warner explains, More sothan the presence of fairies, the moral function, the imagined

antiquity and oral anonymity of the ultimate source, and thehappy ending (though these factors help towards a definition ofthe genre), metamorphosis defines the fairy tale (Warner: xx).In fairy tales the protagonist children often step outside therealm of virtue to gain the prize, save the family from poverty,and so on. According to Maria Tatar, the real magic of thefairy tale lies in its ability to extract pleasure from pain. In bring-

ing to life the dark figures of our imagination as ogres, witches,cannibals, and giants, fairy tales may stir up dread, but in theend they always supply the pleasure of seeing it vanquished(Tatar: xiv). Warner asserts that fairy tales not only tell tales ofstruggle but also of utopia visions (410-11). The protagonists livehappily ever after in an Edenic garden space, full of light andgood weather, and minus the presence of evil-doers.

In the Apocalypse of John the happy-ever-after ending contin-ues to chill I have argued that this text is best described as

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palace. Even though the Bride in this apocalyptic tale marriesthe Prince, she becomes the great, utopian city that the 144,000sanctified men enter into. She is a passive recipient of the pure

male believers, and then she disappears. Fairy tale women refuseto disappear, even if they are submissive wives of a prince, orhave to be rescued by a hunter. With Madonna Kolbenschlag(Kiss Sleeping Beauty Goodbye) and Colette Dowling (The CinderellaComplex),Zipes argues that fairy tales do not cause women to bepassive, submissive to men, always dreaming of Prince Charmingand a life restricted to his castle. He relates, Rather they are the

symbolical forms which reinforce self-destructive social and psychological patterns of behaviour in our daily livesthe fairytale is only important in so far as it reflects how women areoppressed and allow themselves to be oppressed (1987: 8). Inmore contemporary rewritings of the major fairy tales, the princesses-to-be perform all manner of subversive actions, like choos-ing to live full, contented lives alone. The Apocalypse does its

own clever gender-bending, with the 144,000 men becoming theQueens of Heaven. The Prince has multiple wives in this storyTheir prize is Paradise. Or are they prisoners for eternity in aloveless marriage?

This biblical story of the end of the world has many rewritesApocalyptic films are numerous, from disaster films about nuclearand biochemical warfare, and disease to invasions by powers from

outer space to more subtle psychological thrillers with vampiresand other monsters. I have decided not to choose the popularHollywood disaster films such as Independence Day, ArmageddonDeep Impact, and The Day After Tomorrow, in which women are, atbest, secondary characters. These films offer depressing roles for

women; the main female characters wait behind for the bravemale adventurers to rescue the planet. Nor am I choosing todiscuss films in which strong women work in partnership (andsometimes also as love interests) with men to ward off the apoca

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miraculously stop the evil, in suave and bold James Bond fash-ion. I want instead to converse with the women in some lesserknown films, Last Night and The Book of Life, against a better

known silent film, Metropolis. How do these films help us under-stand biblical apocalyptic? I do not want to make the claim that

women in independent films (Last Night or The Book of Life) orclassic films (Metropolis) on the apocalypse and/or utopian fu-ture fair better. In these films the roles of women are complexand against type. The women are more interesting, more nu-anced characters. They carry with them the burdens of scriptural

apocalyptic women (and always Jezebel) and patriarchal Westernsociety. But they also alert us to the possibility of different read-ings of apocalypse. To turn the Shakespearean phrase, apoca-lypse is as tedious as a twice-told tale. How does a conversation

with fairy tales help us negotiate the tedium of the seeminglyendless retelling of the apocalypse?

Gods Twisted Fairy Tale

New Years Eve, December 31, 1999, is the magical time of theturn of the millennium. Anything could happen; Y2K computercrashes, along with the collapse of the infrastructure of Westernculture are the main apocalyptic contenders. But what if Goddecides to end the world and break open the seven seals of the

Apocalypse? Director Hal Hartley was chosen to submit the U.S.film entry for the international 2000 Seen By series. Eachfilm is an hour long and represents the directors take on theturn of the millennium. Hartley chose a literalist, biblical ap-proach to his film, The Book of Life. Jesus (Martin Donovan) appearsexiting JFK airport in New York City, with Magdalena (P.J. Harvey)in tow. There are hints Magdalena also is eternal. Jesus comes totown on New Years Eve to meet with Gods lawyers (Armaged-d d J h h t) d b k th l t f th l

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(Dave). Satan arrives with an eye shiner, as if he had been in afistfight. Ive been misunderstood is Satans mantra. The couplebefriend him, even as Dave offers Satan Edies soul in return for

a winning lottery number. The philosophical debate, along withurban loneliness, leads this little group to begin to form a friend-ship. Edie represents the innocence of compassion, making happysense of the world on what is perhaps its last day.

Jesus and Magdalena obtain a bright silver key from a safetydeposit box in the hotel. Then they retrieve the seven sealedscroll in a locker in Grand Central Station, locker 666. This

scroll is loaded onto a Macintosh Powerbook. Jesus climbs thestairs of an abandoned building to the roof where he opens thecomputer and clicks on the icon, The Book of Life, and thenthe fifth of the seals that appear. The message says, Do you wantto open the fifth seal?, followed by the blocks for okay andcancel. Jesus moves the cursor uneasily between the two choicesIn the Apocalypse of John the Four Horsemen make up the first

four seals (Rev. 6:1-8). When the Lamb opens the fifth seal, thesouls under the altar plead, Sovereign Lord, holy and truehow long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood onthe inhabitants of the earth? (Rev. 6:10). During these proceedings Magdalena waits quietly below, nervously smoking ahand-rolled cigarette on the street.

Meanwhile, back on the roof, Jesus is having second thoughts

about the whole apocalypse idea. The first four seals had broughtwar, famine, and suffering. A tormented Jesus reacts as he seesone of the souls under the altar:

It was the darkest hour of the long, dark night of the soul. The chill centerof divine callousness. What twisted fairy tale had I allowed myself to betangled up into? What misplaced gratitude had I believed to be awe? Whyhad I let these souls believe there was anything other than sacrifice? Why

were they comforted with dreams of vengeance? Why hadnt I interferedmore, agitated more, questioned, revolted?

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and evil. There is a certain remoteness to this God, and theaccompanying contingent in Heaven, not only for the fallen angelbut also for the only son. Jesus says, My father he is a jealous

god. To him the law is everything. Even today lawyers are hisfavorites. Satans main concern is keeping his job of winningsouls for Hell. Satan argues, I just happen to think this is agood system, this tug-of-war between good and evil. It keeps peoplehonest. He further philosophizes, Let God have his eternity.My precincts are the seconds and the minutes of the everyday. Aslong as there is a future, well, I have mywork to do. Satan is very

convincing, for with the apocalypse comes his unemployment,no way to win souls for Hell.

This Jesus is addicted to humanity, but so is Satan. Magdalenaand Edie serve as the representatives. In many ways Magdalenaserves as a sidekick to the superhero Jesus. She gets Jesus wine,calls Gods lawyers to set up their appointment with Jesus, callsRome (the Vatican) to alert them of their arrival, channel surfs

in the hotel room. She understands Jesuss ambivalence in hisrole to judge the living and the dead. Magdalena does morethan wait in the wings in this film; she appears as a beacon ofreason and compassion. She retrieves the Powerbook from thetrash and then lies to the lawyers, claiming that the book hasbeen thrown out and lost.

Although Hartley characterizes Magdalena as a strong but sullen

assistant to Jesus, he relies on the connection with the womancaught in adultery in John 7:53-8:11. Magdalena relates her firstmeeting with Jesus to one of Gods lawyers who responds, Alikely story. She tells the receptionist of her relationship with

Jesus, I thought he had fallen in love with me, to which thereceptionist replies, Hes that kind of guy. She hangs out in arecord store listening with headphones and singing along to ToSir with Love. And she accompanies Edie and Dave on a shop-ping spree with their newly won lottery money Magdalena obvi

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Ultimately there is enchantment here in Hartleys film. Heinfuses the normal world of urban grit, sleazy lawyers, and downon-their luck barflies with the eternal contest between good and

evil. The supernatural invades the natural. Who will triumph?Will Jesus fulfill Gods plan to bring on the apocalypse? WillSatan be out of a job? And what about Magdalena? When thenew year arrives, Jesus announces that each day[is] crowded

with possibility: the possibility of disaster and the possibility ofperfection. Jesus throws the Powerbook in the Hudson RiverThe group (Jesus, Magdalena, Satan and the others) make a

champagne toast. Life goes on.

The End of Nostalgia

The supernatural stays largely out of Canadian director DonMcKellars take on the End of Everything. In his film, Last NightMcKellar plays Patrick Wheeler, a man who is dealing with the

immanent end of the world. Wheeler declares to his family, Itsnot the end of the world theres still six hours left. The filmfollows several people through these last six hours in TorontoCanada. Some people have already left the city in order to spendtheir last hours in natural surroundings. Of the United Churchof Canada group that have decided to be on canoes in the middleof a lake at the end, Patrick comments sarcastically, Imagineending it all singing Kum Ba Ya. There is no explanation givenabout the cause of the apocalypse; there is only certainty that theEnd will occur at midnight on the night of the summer solstice

The film opens with a Christmas celebration scene, or at leasta reenactment of a traditional Christmas in Patricks family. Hisneurotic mother sets up a tree with presents for her two grownchildren; the presents are rewrapped toys from their childhoodChristmases stored in the attic. In a desperate attempt to cramll f mil m m i i t th l t d f i t P t i k m th

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friend Craig explains, Women these days are right for the pick-ing. The woman employee at the gas and electric company isunable to express her true feelings to her boss. They work al-

most to the end calling customers, assuring them that the com-pany is doing everything possible to keep the utilities runningup to the end. At the other extreme Patricks friend Craig hassex with as many categories of women as possible in the twomonths leading up to the end. He keeps a tally of his escapadeson his kitchen wall: a list of all types and forms of his sexualfantasies he wants to experience before he dies. Patrick decides

to abstain from sex and responds, I dont want to risk havingbad sex today. I dont want it to be the last thing on my mind.He makes a judgment on Craigs activities, What I do find pa-thetic is people who, as soon as they hear that the world isending, they rush out and try to hook up with someone like it

was closing time at Studio 54. But Craig answers cavalierly, Ifyou gotta goyou might as well be coming.

The central female character, Sandra, is played by Sandra Oh.She is a woman who stops in a grocery store to pick up some

wine to take home for the ending ceremony that she and herhusband plan. The almost empty store has already been looted,but Sandra examines two bottles of wine and puts one back onthe shelf. When she emerges from the store her car has beenoverturned in the anarchy on the streets. She meets up with

Patrick as she is trying unsuccessfully to get across the city tospend the last hours with her husband. Patrick decides to curtailhis plans of spending the last minutes alone and to help her.Sandra and her husband have decided to commit suicide to-gether before the End at midnight. She wants some control overthe uncontrollable events and explains, I am not just going tolet this earth take my life away. But the last hours prove to bechaos, and the only way to negotiate the anarchy is by real hu-man connection

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lay upon the altar of the End. There is a certain equalizing of sinand redemption distributed among the sexes in this film. The

women are as or less desperate than the men as they face the last

hours: they despair, they loot, they choose strangers for sexualencounters, they maintain long relationships, they form last-minutefriendships. Neither a man nor a woman can save the planet, sothey live out their lifetime joys and sufferings and desires (forgood and bad) until the bitter end.

Fairy Tale EndingsThe world never ends in fairy tales. There might be personal

struggle, wars, dire poverty, family dysfunction, dangerous animals, even more dangerous monarchs, poison, death, trickerymagical transformations, and the like, but the world goes on inmore just ways at the end of the tale. Only the unjust suffer ordie. Some of the tales are based on unjust premises: the good

mothers (or fathers) often die, leaving evil stepmothers to lordit over only stepdaughters. The good female characters are toooften passive recipients of male rescue. It has taken the rewritingof traditional fairy tales into feminist tales to disrupt the sexismand misogyny of the old tales, even though the old tales con-tinue to have staying power in Western society. The twisted fairytale of apocalypse does tell the end of the world, with greatbravado and repetition. The numerous versions of this biblicaltale often tell of an averted apocalypse, the end of the worldpostponed by human actions. Even the biblical apocalypse ispostponed, held off by the need to tell the story, and the teasing

waiting game of God.The Book of Lifeand Last Nightboth tap into a human need to

fixate on beginnings and endings. Some current examples ofthis need include the ongoing debates of intelligent design ver-

l ti i h l d l t k ili d t ti f

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view. Psychoanalyst and historian Charles Strozier notes that Christian fundamentalism, energized by the apocalyptic, has movedthe endist impulse into the center of our culture, where it works

directly on large numbers of Christians and spills over in unpre-dictable ways into other cultural forms (159). These two filmsupend such connections by re-reading the End, biblical or not,as unreasonable and unethical. Any deity caught in the cross-fireof their endtime vision (as in The Book of Life) is destined toreceive bad reviews.

Fairy tales lack deities but retain the supernatural through the

world of fairies or magic. There exists what Tatar calls thepedagogy of fear in fairy tales, as well as in apocalyptic litera-ture. The stories lure the reader into scary territory before push-ing them out into life again. Strozier calls the Christian visionsof finality a remarkable myth of violence, revenge, and renewal(2). Like fairy tales, apocalyptic fantasies offer a mythic journeyinto and through violence. The hop over the final violence and

eternal punishment is only promised if one is obedient to thevalues described in the tale. With Jack Zipes (following FredricJameson), fairy tales are social acts, and the tales are full ofideology and possible interpretations. The directors of these twoapocalyptic films lead us down a more complicated road, withmore complex social realities. Even with the mimicking of thegood versus evil narrative of the Apocalypse of John, The Book ofLifeshows how even the supernatural characters break the divinesocial and supernatural boundaries.

In my evaluation, no one, male or female, fares well in anyapocalyptic narrative. Because of biblical apocalyptic, and espe-cially the monolithic Apocalypse of John in Western culture, Ido think women bear the worst of this twisted fairy tale. Marie-Louise von Franz offers in her Jungian reading of fairy tales: Wehave, then, to start with a paradox: feminine figures in fairy talesare neither the pattern of the anima nor of the real woman but

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Lesbian Apocalypse

Part of my commitment in my course, The Politics of Apoca-

lypse, is to include a study of utopias and utopianism. I take thestudents on a quick tour of historic utopiasboth social movements and literary utopias. A few times in the past I have usedas examples of utopia Charlotte Perkins Gilmans feminist uto-pia, Herland, from the early twentieth century, the film Metropolis, and Monique Wittigs lesbian apocalypse/utopia, The LesbianBody. This tour of twentieth century apocalypses and utopias is

chronological and ends with the more difficult and controversialutopian vision. Students enjoyed reading Herland, and the bookgenerated feminist discussion even among the reticent in theclass. This novel and the film Metropolis are fairly straight-forward(pun intended) ways into discussion of the interstructured op-pressions of race, class, gender, religion, and sexualities. TwiceI have taught the class I have used Wittigs book, and we struggled

through reading and discussion. I used Wittig last in the termas a way to introduce a different kind of apocalyptic and utopianvision. The discussion of this book began even before the semester, as students stand in the bookstore contemplating what textsto purchase. The response is mixed; my openly lesbian and bisexual students are thrilled with having the L-word in a titlesome other students are sure there has been some mistake, and

a few may be convinced this book is a sign of the apocalypse.Wittig offers her own twisted fairy tale. The Lesbian Body (Les

corpes lesbien, 1973) is a postmodern lesbian apocalypse of sexualdifference (see McGee 1992). It sets the readers on edge anddoes not fit into neat categories of meaning in the commonapocalyptic sense of the dualities of male and female. For

Wittig, lesbian is not woman and is a third gender which

does not fit into the categories determined by man and patri-archal culture. Her materialist lesbian approach to understanding

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For Wittig, J/e is the symbol of the lived, rending experiencewhich is my writing, of this cutting in two which throughoutliterature is the exercise of a language which does not constitute

m/e as subject. J/eposes the ideological and historic question offeminine subjects (1986:10-11). The subject is split, loosenedfrom its mooring in patriarchal dualistic thought to become itsown subject, its own gender.

Wittig sets up a world in which the lesbian body is central. Thebody is described graphically in its fragments, and these partsare liberating. Wittig is rewriting a feminist Song of Songs and

myth of Osiris (see McGee 1992:196). Certain pages scatteredthroughout the book explode with body parts:

THE LESBIAN BODY THE JUICE THESPITTLE THE SALIVA THE SNOTTHE SWEAT THE TEARS THE WAXTHE URINE THE FAECES THEEXCREMENTS THE BLOOD THE (1986:28)

These dissective hymns to the body appear throughout, cir-cling back to the beginning:

INSTEPS THE GROINS THE TONGUETHE OCCIPUT THE SPINE THEFLANKS THE NAVEL THE PUBISTHE LESBIAN BODY. (1986:153)

At one point a body is reassembled: Your body is in fragments

here, I pick up your hair in handfuls, your nose is at some dis-tance, your face is all dispersedI yearn for you with such mar-

vellous strength that all of a sudden the pieces fall together, youdont have a finger or a fragment missing. ThenIbegin to breatheinto your half-open mouth into your nose your ears your vulva (1986:114-15).

I used this novel as a way into the topics of postmodern apoca-

lypse. I set up the discussion with a mini-lecture on poststruc-turalism: with Roland Barthes idea of the plural text Julia Kristevas

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In other words, Wittigs goal is deconstructive. The body isalso central, providing the geography and space of the actionBut there is a commonality in this novel that turns toward an

individuality in The Lesbian Body. I use the comparison of her twonovels to enter into a conversation with feminist postmodernismI also use a chapter in Jennifer Burwells Notes on Nowhere(1997)entitled, Acting Out Lesbian: Monique Wittig and ImmanentCritique, for my background notes on the debate over WittigThe comparisons of Wittig with Hlne Cixouss criture feminineand the critiques of Judith Butler and others are too numerous

and complex to spend much class time evaluating. Instead, Ihave students read two short selections: one from Burwells chapter

where she discusses The Lesbian Body (1997:195-202) and PatrickMcGees chapter on Wittig, Apocalypse and Sexual DifferenceMonique Wittig in the Poststructuralist Context (1992:187, beginning with the last full paragraph, to 203) as they read Wittigsnovel. Even though the course is an upper-level course, for most

students these readings are their first encounter with feministcritical theory.

The common dictum is that utopias (and apocalypses) arealways exclusive along some lines; the classic ones are racistclassist, or (hetero)sexist. The future vision is always ideologicala marked text of political and cultural agendas. By subvertingthe patriarchal claim on present and future life, Wittig creates a

new vision, a new language. As McGee notes, every languageexplodes when its apocalyptic tone is heard (1992:200), and

Wittig explodes language and bodies and subjects and gendersHer book is very problematic, hard to read, difficult to understand. Wittigs rather graphic and obscene fragmenting of thebody shakes the foundations of the normal apocalypse.

Exploding Underworlds

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transformed. Evil is represented by the CEO of Metropolis (JohFredersen) who keeps the class divide firm until a teacher in theunderground, Maria, begins preaching non-violent revolution.

She has seen the garden, and Fredersens playboy son Freder,and knows there is something else to their life below ground.

In many ways Metropolis is both a dystopian and utopian fairytale. Both cities seem eerily cold and dangerous in different

ways. The underground world comes close to total destructionby flood when the workers revolt and refuse to work. By connec-tion the above-ground city loses power (in several ways) when

the power plant floods. We watch the heroes, Freder and Maria,enter the depths before emerging. Transformation comes espe-cially to Freder, who in his pursuit of Maria finally sees theinjustices of the class struggle and grows to respect Marias teaching.Maria has the knowledge of a just society, but in the end it takesa man to front the movement for societal change. At the heartof Marias prophetic message is her critique of those who built

the unjust system:We shall build a tower that will reach to the stars! Having conceivedBabel, yet unable to build it themselves, they had thousands to build it forthem. But those who toiled knew nothing of the dreams of those whoplanned. And the minds that planned the Tower of Babel cared nothing forthe workers who built it. The hymns of praise of the few became the cursesof the manyBABEL! BABEL! BABEL! Between the mind that plans andthe hands that build there must be a Mediator, and this must be the heart.

Here she announces the coming Mediator; he must descend intoand be (re)birthed from the womb of the underground city.

In many ways this Maria (named for the Virgin Mary) is aCinderella waiting patiently for her Prince. At least that seems tobe her role when we first encounter her as a schoolteacher. Sheexudes virginal purity, the opposite of the corrupt, tainted, above-ground world. But her lesson plan includes class consciousness;Maria looks with both desire and disdain on the playboy anticsof Freder Maria is more than a potential rich girl in this film

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The evil twin is a cyborg, created by the evil scientist Rowangat the direction of Joh Fredersen. They capture Maria and hookher up to a machine that copies her flesh and voice to the

cyborg. Maria has become too powerful and wise; they almostdestroy her to create their own vision of woman. The artificialMaria looks real and fulfills the male fantasy of appealing totheir worst, destructive instincts.

In her exploration of cyborgs Donna Haraway explains, Themain trouble with cyborgs, of course, is that they are the illegiti-mate offspring of militarism and patriarchal capitalism, not to

mention state socialism. But illegitimate offspring are often ex-ceedingly unfaithful to their origins. Their fathers, after allare inessential (150). Haraway sees more positive potential incyborgs in a postmodern context: Cyborg imagery can suggesta way out of the maze of dualisms in which we have explainedour bodies and our tools to ourselves. This is a dream not of acommon language, but of a powerful infidel heteroglossia (181)

Haraways cyborgs transgress the boundaries of the human andanimal. They can hold utopian possibilities. Like Wittig, Harawayreveals the masculinist domination over women that can bereimagined by re-forming and re-dreaming the female body.

However, Langs cyborg vision of 1927 was grounded in misogynist visions of scientific re-creations of woman. Evil begetsevil, and the Maria cyborg is the ultimate femme fatale, stirring

the crowds of men, above and below ground, into a destructiveorgiastic frenzy. When the crowds burn her at the stake, herflesh melts off revealing the machine, and thus her connectionto the capitalist controllers. Mans ultimate fantasy woman has tobe destroyed by man in the end. She is much too dangerouslyseductive in her Salome-like dance. The hope for the future forLang lies in overturning the systems of dehumanizing laborunfortunately, the symbol is ultimately the female body, and ithas to be burned at the stake to rid the world of these demons

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Conclusion: Once Upon a Time, Again

Once upon a time, there was a world that only dreamed of

beginnings. Whenever any part of this world suffered or wasthreatened, everything in this world joined together to thinkthrough solutions for improvement. When there was natural death,they mourned. At such times they met to retell their own mythsof beginnings. Stories of a chaotic end to their world did notexist; thus, they did not have the need to build instrumentstoward that destruction. They desired a future that continued in

even better ways, towards more new beginnings.In this start of an anti-apocalyptic fairy tale, I am sounding abit social gospel movement and more than a bit Marxist utopian.I have also knocked a main feature out of fairy tales and apoca-lyptic literaturethat of the descent into hard times and strugglebefore the ultimate transformation. Will the world come to anend before what cosmologists call the big crunch? And if so

will it end by human (nuclear war or other environmental de-struction), natural (e.g. asteroid hit), or supernatural (deity-in-duced apocalypse) activity? These are the questions that plaguedthe directors of these films. Unlike the Apocalypse of John, thesefilms offer open-ended explanations; some even offer hope thatthe world will survive the near-apocalypse. The warrior women ofthe apocalypse are a mixed groupsome idealized male ver-

sions, some independent, others in between. They all bear theviolence, visible or not, on their bodies and in the twice-toldstories and twisted apocalyptic fairy tales.

Abstract

The roles of women in the Apocalypse of John have been much debated inrecent years. Even the good women do not triumph. Contemporary apocalyp-tic films vary in their presentation and involvement in warding off the End In

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Bibliography

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Kolbenschlag, Madonna1979 Kiss Sleeping Beauty Good-Bye (New York: Bantam Books).

Lang, Fritz, dir.1927/ Metropolis (Kino International).2003

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