San Andreas and Family Kayla Valender College

Unlike the spectacle and indiscriminate destruction of early disaster films, modern disaster films take a more personal and internalized look at disaster. Films from the golden age of disaster, like Guillermin’s The Towering Inferno, set the standards for the extravagance of disaster films, as a group of individuals try their best to escape the flaming tower unscathed. As the genre progressed, focus of the films shifted. While the spectacle of the disaster was still vital to the plot, it became more of an instigator for another, more important plot point. As Matthew Sorrento mentions, Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours is an excellent example of this trend of “character-disaster” (Sorrento) in disaster films. While the disaster itself (the boulder falling, and trapping Franco) is the instigator of the plot, the climax and focus of the film is Franco cutting off his own arm. Though a less drastic topic, the same can be said for Brad Peyton’s San Andreas and the importance of family.

San Andreas was released in the summer of 2015. The film tells the tale of Ray Gaines, a member of the Los Angeles Fire Department Air Rescue, and his broken family. His wife, Emma has filed for divorce, and is planning to move in with her new architect...