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Introduces a new subgenre of film that reveals how film can teach us to reimagine and survive our unsettled age.

Focusing on the fragile, immediate aftermath of global events, before any new social order or rules for living have formed, Stephen Lee Naish’s latest book introduces an emerging subgenre: post-catastrophe film. Positioned between disaster movies, which depict humanity facing large-scale collapse, and post-apocalyptic films, where new societies and rules have already taken hold, this subgenre captures a unique threshold of survival amid change. Through lively case studies of selected popular films, Naish not only offers close readings of cinematic narratives but also explores deeper themes that emerge in the aftermath of disaster, including the role of artificial intelligence and cyborgs, cosmic survival and colonization, and the tensions between individual isolation and life with others. Ultimately, Naish shows how post-catastrophe films speak to our present reality.

In an age shaped by pandemics, climate crisis, and the uncertainties of postmodernity, cinema persists as a resilient mythmaking machine—mapping scenarios of global destruction while offering anxious viewers ways to envision alternative modes of being before a true “post-catastrophe era” arrives. Written in an engaging style and grounded in accessible examples from popular films, this book appeals to scholars, film enthusiasts, and anyone seeking to better understand our uncertain times.
 

Screen Captures: Film in the Age of Emergency offers a vibrant and accessible collection of essays that explore how films and changes in the media industries reflect and influence our political, cultural, technological, and ecological moment. Critic Stephen Lee Naish reveals what lies just out of frame: the climate crisis, the ongoing Disney-fication of franchises, the audience's active participation in the rewriting and reproduction of their attention, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the movie theaters. Screen Captures explores these tensions from the rebooted Star Wars franchise to the dominance of superheroes, the pop cultural memeification of Nicholas Cage to the artistic worlds of David Lynch, the failing American Dream in the American Pie franchise, and the female interpretation of toxic masculinity on screen and in public life. Naish argues that film isn’t merely escapism and entertainment—it’s a political space that bleeds into our daily lives. Appealing to pop culture fans and film critics alike, these essays challenge the reader to question, critique, and go beyond passive consumption of what we see on our screens.