Hollywood knows it's coming

Movies and film have gone gaga for the end-of-the-world trope. If this thing doesn't happen in 2012 as the Mayans predicted, the entertainment industry is going to be practically disappointed. The hottest movie and TV franchises — think Twilight (oh, Edward!) — feed our obsessions with death. 2011, with releases like Melancholia, Super 8, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, was yet another big year for the apocalypse and alien invasion movie trend that has been building for five years. This includes I Am Legend, 28 Days Later, Cloverfield, War of the Worlds, Children of Men, The Book of Eli, The Road, and of course, 2012. On television, we're watching shows like Falling Skies (alien attack), The Walking Dead (zombies), True Blood (vampires), and The Vampire Diaries (self-explanatory). All we want to see is the end of the world. Even business flicks know it: this year's two biggest, Too Big to Fail and Margin Call, were also, in a sense, movies about the end of the (financial) world.

好莱坞成了末日先知

世界末日的隐喻席卷了整个影视界。如果世界末日最终没有象玛雅人预测的那样发生如期而至，演艺界将会失望透顶。最热门的影视作品 ——如《暮光之城》（Twilight）——总是让我们想到死亡。随着《惊悚末日》（Melancholia）、《超级8》（Super 8）和《猩球崛起》（Rise of the Planet of the Apes）的上映，2011年是末日和外星人入侵题材的又一个丰收之年。此前的五年中，这种题材日趋火热，电影作品包括《我是传奇》（I am Legend）、《惊变28天》（28 Days Later）、《柯洛弗档案》（Cloverfield）、《世界大战》（War of the Worlds）、《末代浩劫》（Children of Men）、《艾利之书》（The Book of Eli）、《末日危险》（The Road），当然还包括《2012》（2012）。电视作品包括《陨落星辰》（Falling Skies）（外星人入侵）、《行尸走肉》（The walking dead）（僵尸）、《噬血真爱》（True Love）（吸血鬼）和《吸血鬼日记》（The Vampire Diaries）（一目了然）。不管我们想看什么，看到的所有东西都是世界末日。就连商业电影也有所涉猎：2011年的两部大片《大而不倒》（Too Big to Fail）和《利益风暴》（Margin Call）从某种角度来说也属于（商业）世界末日电影。