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1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: Kenneth Tan Sin Kwang
STUDENT ID NO: 0322482
FILMS SELECTED: Disaster- Adventure Film ( Poseidon and World War Z)
WORD COUNT: 955 words
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE– CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: GOPIGHANTAN MYLVAGANAM
SUBMISSIONDATE: DECEMBER4TH
2015

2. Differences between Poseidon and World War Z
What is genre? Genre is normally used for movies to describe the general term that used to break
down into different categories such as disaster, adventure, thriller, action and others. Disaster films
refer to that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disaster
included natural disaster and accidents such as flood, earthquake, shipwrecks and crashes. While for
the adventure films are films with exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic locales. Adventure
films are designed to provide an action-filled, energetic experience for the film viewer I had chosen
Poseidon as the disaster film where it was released in the year 2006 while for the adventure film is
World War Z that was released in the year 2013. In fact,I found out that these two films are
interesting as they have severaldifferences based on their plot, tragedy, solution ways from the
tragedy and setting.
First of all, let's look at the differences of both movies in terms of the plot. Poseidon is basically a
story about a luxury ocean liner. During new year eve, a cruise ship named ' Poseidon' is making a
transatlantic crossing at the open sea capsizes in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. One of the
passengers on board named Richard Nelson felt depressed while desperately waiting for a midnight
phone call from his ex- lover. While waiting for the call, he saw an approximately 150 metre high
huge rogue wave heading towards their ship as most of the passengers are still unaware about the
danger as they are enjoying their New Year Eve celebration in the ballroom. After the luxury ship had
been capsized by the waves,small groups of started allies to battle for their lives.( Pereyra. (2006).
In contrast, In World War Z, when a former U.N. investigator named Gerry Lane and his family
members was trapped in a urban gridlock. He sense that it was not an ordinary jam and suddenly the
city erupted into confusion. Virus spread tuning people into unthinking and feral. As the disease
started to spread,Gerry quickly did a global research on how to halt the spread. ( Garcia.(2013).
On the other hand, both movies also have two different type of tragedy. In the movie Poseidon, the
tragedy was caused by the impact of the huge rogue waves. It is known as the killer waves that are
relatively large that occur far out in open water. The wave strikes at the starboard side of the ship
killing severalofficers and passengers on board. Besides that, the strikes of the wave is the factor that
caused the ocean liner to capsizes. Turbulent sea water flew into through the crack and holes of the
ship caused it to sink slowly.
In contrast,In World War Z, the tragedy was caused by an infectious disease which is known as the
rabies-like infection. The diseases acute inflammation of human brain and turning healthy people into
feral or vicious. The symptoms of the diseases are confusion, loss of consciousness and unthinking.
Infected human are called zombies. Human crowd were affect and will be turned into zombies after
severalsecond after being bitten. This caused the zombies outbreak to flare up throughout the whole
world.
In addition, both movies also have different ways to resolve problems from the tragedy. In
Poseidon, some survivors team up and started to battle up for their lives by finding ways to escape
from the ocean liner. Dylan found a nitrogen tank and threw it towards the propellers creating
explosion for them to escape. They jumped out from the ship and swims toward the inflatable raft.
Then they fired up the flare into the air, helicopter arrived and save the survivors. While in World
War Z, Gerry Lane travelled to South Korea together with the virologist to develop the vaccine. When

3. they arrived, they were attacked by the zombies, unfortunately the virologist panic and died in the
fatal accident. He also observes that diseases has not infected people who are terminally ill. Moreover,
he volunteer to inject himself with the terminal to see if his idea works. After his works was proven
correct as the zombies enter the vault but does not attack him, allowing him to walk back with safety
as the rest of the zombies just run past him. Human offensives begin against zombies and finally
treated for the diseases.
Last of all, the most obvious differences between both movies are the setting. Poseidon used the
studio in Burbank, California where each main room were built in separate sets. The upside down
ballroom was build on top of a water tank in a sound stage so that it could be filled with water. The
exterior and interior scene that shows the ship rolling were constructed by using computer generated
imagery. On the other hand for the movie World War Z, the scene where Gerry Lane on the speedboat
and running up to the beach into arms of his family were shot Lulwoth Cove, England. Royal Fleet
Auxiliary ship was turned into the USS Madison which involved stenciling a new pennant number on
to the funnel, as well as adding some "Americanism" to the superstructure. ( Max. (2013).
In conclusion, different genre movies showed different type of aspects that made it interesting to
attract all viewers. Both movies are interesting but they come with different plot, tragedy, resolution
ways and setting. I really enjoyed watching both movies and watch it over and over again because
they come with interesting plot even though they are different. Lastly, I have learned what is the best
way to prevent ourselves in danger when faced the similar tragedy because it may happen to us
anywhere and anytime.
( 955 words)
ReferencesLink :
Pereyra,A. (2006). Poseidon Plot Summary. Retrieved November 25, 2015, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409182/plotsummary
Garcia,G.(2013). World War Z Plot Summary. Retrieved November 25, 2015, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/plotsummary
Max,B. (2013). The World War Z, Retrieved November 25, 2015, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/locations