Preppers (ATOM Study Guide)

Between climate change, economic catastrophe, terrorism, pandemics, meteor strikes, hostile AI, nuclear proliferation, and alien invasion, it looks almost certain that the end is nigh. Preppers is a narrative comedy series that follows Charlie (Nakkiah Lui), a young Aboriginal woman, who after suffering her own personal cataclysmic event when her life crumbles around her, escapes the fallout finding herself at the centre of a mismatched community of ‘preppers’ planning for the apocalypse at Eden 2. 

Founded by a wizened old Indigenous man called Monty (Jack Charles), Eden 2 is a refuge for Aboriginal people, and a few suckers that Monty has conned into footing the bill. Doomsday prepping ain’t cheap. Joining Monty are Lionel (Chum Ehelepola) and Kelly (Ursula Yovich); a relentlessly optimistic, born again religious, mixed-race couple; Kirby (Eryn Jean Norvill), the mysterious host of the conspiracy podcast ‘Agent of Truth’; Guy (Meyne Wyatt), a macho Aboriginal survivalist obsessed with self-image; and finally, Jayden (Aaron McGrath), a woke millennial who sees the apocalypse as the ultimate opportunity for Aboriginal self-determination. 

With nowhere else to go, Charlie reluctantly joins the preppers and is eventually won over by the rag-tag bunch of misfits as she tries to come to terms with the dissatisfaction, loneliness and alienation she’s always felt trying to find her place in a White Australia. By gaining a sense of purpose, becoming an unlikely leader and confronting the generational trauma of colonisation, Charlie will ultimately realise that she isn’t as powerless or vulnerable as she thinks, that maybe... just maybe... the end of the world might be her best chance at a new beginning?

Curriculum Links:

Preppers can be linked to the following subject areas within the Australian National Curriculum:

• Humanities and Social Sciences
• English and Media studies
• Health and Physical Education