From the climate crisis, to the breakneck pace of technological change, to the threat of further pandemics, there’s no shortage of reasons one could find to throw up one’s hands and proclaim ‘the end is nigh’. But what’s the actual likelihood of a societal collapse? Further, what would that even look like? And, in the meantime, what’s the best way to channel the creeping feeling that the world as we know it might be coming to an end?
In Everything Is Going to Be Fine, the San Francisco-based filmmaker Ryan Malloy goes in search of answers on how he ought to prepare for the worst, and, more pressingly, how he should handle his doomsday anxieties in the meantime. Embarking on a journey that includes an interview with Ian Morris, an archaeologist and professor of Classics at Stanford University, sessions with a therapist, and time spent with ‘preppers’, Malloy’s approach is fretful yet lighthearted, ultimately landing on a note of optimism. Shot in 2011, the ideas the film explores are as relevant as ever, lending credence to the idea that widespread pessimism about humanity’s trajectory is a truly timeless feeling.
Director: Ryan Malloy
video
Animals and humans
What happened when one woman raised an abandoned squirrel as her own
8 minutes
video
Art
The female Abstract Expressionists of New York shook the world of art
15 minutes
video
Life stages
At 14, Asal is excited about her engagement. Her relatives all have their own opinions
33 minutes
video
Archaeology
From Roman pots to glass eyes, the shore of the river Thames teems with surprises
8 minutes
video
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
Pondering the peculiar one-sided intimacy of the client-therapist relationship
3 minutes
video
History of science
Bat-people on the Moon – what a famed 1835 hoax reveals about misinformation today
8 minutes
video
Human rights and justice
Thirty years after one teenager shot another, is it time to forgive?
28 minutes
video
Family life
Fifty years ago, a train collided with Jack and Betty’s car. Here’s how they remember it
9 minutes
video
Medicine
What is it like to be a paramedic, navigating human emergency?
17 minutes