Post-Apocalyptic Love Triangles: The World, the Flesh and the Devil / The Quiet Earth
Sat 10/12/2024 • 7:30PM - 10:40PM PDT
Billy Wilder Theater
Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.
A post-apocalyptic Earth is the ideal setting for romantic yearning and rivalry. The World, the Flesh and the Devil and The Quiet Earth each feature a male protagonist (Harry Belafonte, Bruno Lawrence) finding himself in familiar surroundings, but missing a population after living through an environmental catastrophe. Adjusting to the loneliness of their last-manstanding status, these heroes are elated to encounter the second-lastperson, a beautiful woman. In both films, the novelty of being the only couple creates a euphoria as the pair romp around their respective ghost towns enjoying free rein in deserted department stores and cruising empty streets in abandoned vehicles. Although traffic laws cease to exist, social hierarchies are inflamed when a third survivor appears and a love triangle forms.
Notes by Maya Montañez Smukler