Obsessed with “The End” and What Comes After

Post-apocalyptic stories like the Fallout franchise focus on the end of civilization as we know it and what comes afterwards. These stories embody the anxieties of the cultures in which they were created and can serve both as a simulation of what might happen in the future and an allegory for present tensions and struggles. This chapter considers the various ways that philosophers and social scientists have approached understanding the appeal of post-apocalyptic stories. Ultimately, we argue that these stories provide audiences with both challenges and opportunities to explore general human concerns with potential threats to psychological needs that people must have fulfilled to be both psychologically and physically healthy. We also argue that these stories can provide audiences with an opportunity to engender hope, an important emotion in helping people both navigate personal traumas and take action to reshape their environments in ways that they value.