This guide is designed to cover the main points of the genre of Disaster Movies, which is the designated topic until summer 2012 for the WJEC GCSE in Film Studies for Paper 1 Exploring Film and to explain what you are likely to be asked in the examination
Defining the genre, what is a disaster movie?
Like all film genres, disaster movies are recognisable because of the presence of certain key elements which we would expect to see in a film belonging to a genre. However, before looking at these, it is perhaps a good idea to chart a history of the genre.
A brief history from the 1970s
1970s
Boom time for the genre, the birth of the classic disaster movie, (The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Airport, etc.)
Irwin Allen was the man credited with establishing the classic seventies disaster movie since he was the producer of many of the most famous examples.
One of the key features of the classic disaster movie is the feeling that the disaster could happen at anytime to anyone.
1980s
Period of decline, other more ‘exciting’ action, sci-fi and horror films offered more.
Elements of the disaster genre more likely to be found in other films than in a bona-fide disaster film.
For example, the film Die Hard and its first sequel, feature some of the elements which could be identified as originating in the disaster genre.
