In a Hell, but in It Together: The Social Split Between TV and Movie Dystopias | New York Times | October 2014
Dystopian parables like “The Walking Dead,” where zombies rule the
earth, are an increasingly fashionable genre of entertainment, but the
degree of apocalyptic pessimism is very different depending on the size
of the screen.The dividing line between television and movies seems to be class conflict.
Television shows posit a hideous future with a silver lining;
survivors, good or bad, are more or less equals. Movies like
“Divergent,” “Snowpiercer” and “Elysium” foresee societal divisions that
last into Armageddon and beyond and that define a new, inevitably
Orwellian world order that emerges from the ruins of civilization.