Survival film

The survival film is a film genre in which one or more characters make an effort at physical survival. It often overlaps with other film genres. It is a subgenre of the adventure film, along with swashbuckler films, war films, and safari films.[1] Survival films are darker than most other adventure films which usually star a single hero. The films tend to be "located primarily in a contemporary context" so film audiences are familiar with the setting, meaning the characters' activities are less romanticized.[2]

Thomas Sobchack compared the survival film to romance: "They both emphasize the heroic triumph over obstacles which threaten social order and the reaffirmation of predominant social values such as fair play and respect for merit and cooperation."[2] The author said survival films "identify and isolate a microcosm of society", such as the surviving group from the plane crash in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) or those on the overturned ocean liner in The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Sobchack explained, "Most of the time in a survival film is spent depicting the process whereby the group, cut off from the securities and certainties of the ordinary support networks of civilized life, forms itself into a functioning, effective unit." The group often varies in types of characters, sometimes to the point of caricature. While women have historically been stereotyped in such films, they "often play a decisive role in the success or failure of the group".[3]

List of films

The following survival films are listed alphabetically.

Film Year Ref.
54 Days 2014
127 Hours 2010 [4]
A Hijacking 2012
Alive 1993 [5]
All Is Lost 2013 [6]
Apocalypto 2006
Apollo 13 1995
As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me 2001
Beyond 1921
The Book of Eli 2010
Buried 2010 [4]
Carnage Park 2015 [7]
Captain Phillips 2013 [8]
Cast Away 2000 [4]
Cold Mountain 2003
Come and See 1985
Countdown 1968
Dark Hour, TheThe Dark Hour 2007
Daylight 1996 [9]
Deliverance 1972 [5]
Dersu Uzala 1975
The Divide 2012
Edge, TheThe Edge 1997 [5]
Escape from Alcatraz 1979 [10]
Essential Killing 2010
Five Came Back 1939
Flight of the Phoenix, TheThe Flight of the Phoenix 1965 [3]
Flight of the Phoenix 2004
Frozen 2010 [11]
Gravity 2013 [8]
Grey, TheThe Grey 2012 [11]
Hell in the Pacific 1968
The Hunted 2003
I Am Legend 2007
Impossible, TheThe Impossible 2012 [12]
Inferno 1953
Interstellar 2014
Into Thin Air: Death on Everest 1997 [13]
Into the Wild 2007 [4]
The Last Voyage 1960
Life of Pi 2012 [14]
Lifeboat 1944 [15]
Lone Survivor 2013
Marooned 1969 [15]
Man in the Wilderness 1971 [15]
My Favorite Wife 1940
Naked Prey, TheThe Naked Prey 1965 [15][16]
Omega Man, TheThe Omega Man 1971 [15]
On the Beach 1959 [15]
Open Water 2003 [4]
Pandorum 2009 [15]
Panic in Year Zero! 1962 [15]
Pitch Black 2000
Planet of the Apes 1968 [15]
Poseidon Adventure, TheThe Poseidon Adventure 1972 [3]
Quest for Fire 1981 [4]
Rabbit-Proof Fence 2002 [4]
Rescue Dawn 2006 [4]
The Road 2009
Sanctum 2011 [17]
Sands of the Kalahari 1965 [15]
Scenic Route 2013
Seven Waves Away 1957
Savage Is Loose, TheThe Savage Is Loose 1974 [15]
The Snow Walker 2003
Soylent Green 1973 [15]
Stagecoach 1939
Survival Quest 1989 [5]
Swiss Family Robinson 1960 [11]
Teenage Cave Man 1958 [15]
Touching the Void 2003 [4]
Pianist, TheThe Pianist 2002 [18]
Ultimate Warrior, TheThe Ultimate Warrior 1975 [18]
Wall, TheThe Wall 2012
War Game, TheThe War Game 1965 [15]
Way Back, TheThe Way Back 2010 [4]
World, the Flesh and the Devil, TheThe World, the Flesh and the Devil 1959 [15]
World Trade Center2006
Zero Population Growth 1972 [15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sobchack 1988, p. 12
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sobchack 1988, p. 14
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Sobchack 1988, p. 15
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 Staff (January 23, 2012). "The 10 Best Survival Movies". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Ferguson, Lee (November 12, 2010). "127 Hours and five other great survival movies". CBC News. Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  6. ↑ Savage, Sophia (August 7, 2012). "First Look at J.C. Chandor's 'All is Lost' with Robert Redford". indieWire. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  7. ↑ Carnage Park
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Roeper, Richard (October 10, 2013). "‘Captain Phillips’: Tom Hanks outdoes himself as a bold man of the sea". Chicago Sun-Times (Sun-Times Media Group). Retrieved October 10, 2013.
  9. ↑ Daylight (film)
  10. ↑ Vanhala, Helena (2011). "International Terrorism and the Commercial Hollywood Film Industry". The Depiction of Terrorists in Blockbuster Hollywood Films, 1980-2001: An Analytical Study. McFarland. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-7864-3662-0.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Guzman, Rafer (January 27, 2012). "Survivor films: Which live, which die – and why?". The Sacramento Bee.
  12. ↑ Topel, Fred (November 6, 2012). "AFI 2012 Review: The Impossible". CraveOnline.com (CraveOnline Media, LLC). Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  13. ↑ The New York Times http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/178032/Into-Thin-Air-Death-on-Everest/overview. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ↑ Holden, Ed (December 19, 2012). "Life of Pi review". MSN Movies (MSN). Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8 15.9 15.10 15.11 15.12 15.13 15.14 15.15 Yacowar, Maurice (2003). "The Bug in the Rug". In Grant, Barry Keith. Film Genre Reader III. University of Texas Press. pp. 281–282. ISBN 978-0-292-70185-4.
  16. ↑ Stafford, Jeff. "The Naked Prey". Turner Classic Movies. Turner Entertainment Networks. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  17. ↑ Burr, Ty (February 4, 2011). "Sanctum". The Boston Globe.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Shapiro, Jerome F. (2001). Atomic Bomb Cinema: The Apocalyptic Imagination on Film. Routledge. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-415-93660-6.

Bibliography

[1]

  1. ↑ http://www.54daysthemovie.com/about-54days/