In most of these apocalyptic tales, whether they’re books or movies or TV shows, we find a recurring desire for simplicity and solitude, for a reconnection with the self and the land, for a private chance to determine what one needs to survive and what can be left behind. The characters rarely choose to join a large community and cooperate peacefully within its boundaries and bylaws for the common good. Because as long as it’s all fantasy, why subject yourself to the same compromises and restrictions you tolerate in real life? What kind of an imaginative exercise is that?
