J'adore le Genre: Minimalist Disaster Film

Disaster films have the distinction of being one of the most popular film genres of all time. Starting at the beginning of the century with films like Fire! and Night and Ice, to the mid-20^th century with films like War of the Worlds and King Kong, and on to more recent titles like Independence Day, The Road, and Melancholia, this genre has done its job of captivating audiences on a global level.

But I’m not going to talk about disaster films.

Today I will tackle another lesser known genre lovingly-known as the Minimalist Disaster film. A Google search of this genre may return very few results so I guess before I go any further I should mention…I made this genre up.

My reasoning for creating this genre was two-fold.

Fold One: I got tired of people referring to certain films as disaster films and lumping them into the same category as those mentioned at the beginning of this post when they are clearly different in many ways.

Fold Two: The films included in this niche category are some of my all-time favorite films and therefore I felt a need to segregate them and honor them with their own specific genre.

I think the best way to describe these films is to name some rules that a film must adhere to in order to be considered a true Minimalist Disaster film. These rules are non-negotiable and all must apply in order for a film to be considered a true Minimalist Disaster.

Official Rules of a Minimalist Disaster Film:

1.       The number of persons affected by the disaster is less than 10*

2.       The characters are trapped in a small place unable to move or, trapped in an area that has no visible escape.

3.       The demise of characters is slow and agonizing.

4.       Communication from outside world is limited or non-existent

5.       The sanity of characters plays a central role in the plot

As you may have noticed, nothing catastrophic has to happen on a grand scale, no paranormal activity is required, nor does a vicious animal need to be present. Although these elements may be present in a Minimalist Disaster film, they are not mandatory.

All of the disaster films listed above as well as others you may have thought of while reading this have one or more qualities that do not correspond with these rules. For the most part, they all fail at rule #1 because the number of victims is too high. There can be a lot of characters in a Minimalist Disaster film but when the disaster strikes, the victim count must be down to no more than ten.

A great example of this is Open Water. The film starts out as a typical vacation film with main characters and a fair sprinkling of extras. Hotel crew, island locals, and tourists make up the supporting cast that assist in moving the story along. But when the disaster hits, only the main two characters are affected. Open Water also adheres to the remaining 4 rules of this genre and can therefore be considered a perfect example of a minimalist disaster film.

Other Minimalist Disaster films worth mentioning are Frozen, 127 hours, The Blair Witch Project, Castaway, Black Water, Prey and The Cube.

Within the film community, a lot of these films tend to get poor reviews and I am here to implore you to give them a shot. Yes, they are not worthy of accolade when it comes to screenwriting or cinematography, but I have a visceral reaction whenever I am presented with one of these films. Why? Because the likelihood of the scenario happening to me is much more probable than the scenarios presented in the more popularized disaster films; I could get trapped under a rock…I could get left behind on a scuba diving excursion…I could be in a plane crash that lands me on a deserted island. It’s not probable, but it’s definitely possible. And, because I know that these scenarios are possible, I begin to ask the question: What would I do in this situation? And what would you do?

(I used to call these films What Would You Do films, before I decided to change it to Minimalist Disaster)

We live in an uncertain world and constantly take for granted that we all live to see another day - day after day - when all along something could happen to put our lives in danger and potentially end it all. These films get me to stop and think, it could all be over and the cause could be some senseless tragedy that has no one to blame.

Perhaps the revered critics of film will never agree with me and I am fine with that. They can have Citizen Kane, I’ll take Frozen or Black Water any day of the week. And with it, all of the ridicule to boot.

*OK, so this rule is important but the number of less than 10 can be negotiated in rare circumstances such as Alive. This film has more than 10 characters that survive the crash but for all intents and purposes, it should be considered Minimalist Disaster because the disaster is limited to just the passengers, they are stranded on a mountain side, the characters have a slow demise and communication is cut off completely. It is important not to get hung up on the number of characters, unless it becomes an excess of an entire community or population. Then, it must be ruled out.