1. On The Beach
One of the seminal reads in post-apocalyptic fiction, On The Beach tells the story of the aftermath of World War III, where the entire northern hemisphere have blown each other up with nuclear warheads. The resulting radiation has left only the most southerly points of the world able to sustain life, but not for much longer as the radiation drifts toward them. The novel was adapted into a film in 1959 which for the most part shared its origin storys themes of hopelessness, impending doom and peoples reactions to it, with a plot centring on a mysterious distress beacon coming from America. The film itself is excellent, on a rare foray into humanist science fiction featuring Hollywood stars such as Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins, and sees truly adult themes such as euthanasia, denial and traumatic shock explored in great detail. Theres a lot to be said about leaving a classic alone, but a counter-argument can be that these stories need to be experienced by a new generation. Granted, they can always pick up a copy of the original, but I think and of course, this is only my opinion that the society of 50 years ago is too far removed from the contemporary world to carry all the resonance it possibly could. A potential reboot would sole this problem at a stroke, as- importantly the themes explored in the book and film are universal and can be easily transposed onto any context. I myself would love to see it happen with notable exceptions, the apocalyptic genre seems to have stumbled into an action cul-de-sac, and its character-based stories such as this which could really stand out among the crowd. Agree or disagree? Can you think of any more? Feel free to comment!