Patriarchal post apocalypse

Odradek

The Road

Nier

Sweet Tooth

The Last of Us

The Dark Tower(kinda)

Zombieland(kinda)

After Earth

Why so many dads in post-apocalyptic fiction? Why always dads?

Klinotaxis

Apocalypses take us back to a simpler time, when men could be men, and hideous psychic mutants could be hideous psychic mutants

Imipolex G

the collapse of civilization means a resurgence of Manly values such as beating the shit out of zombies etc.

Sredni Vashtar

Serious answer: It plays on the distinctly adult male fear of failing to live up to the over-hyped masculine ideal of being a great protector and provider when that actually means something. Which is to say, when the pressure is justified, you might not be able to live up to it and help or save the ones that you love. This is added to with the fact that such situations tend to erode the ability of men to deliver on the emotional side of this stereotyping: That they be stoic and emotionally firm; that they not show fear or pain. One is trapped in a kind of hell, and expected too much of past what is actually important.

Imipolex G

that's a pretty good answer

Sredni Vashtar

Thanks.

I think it's sort of the same reason why certain kinds of horror in contemporary settings focus on mothers, particularly single parents from middle or working class backgrounds. It's about how the narrator is forced to confront their failure to live up to an ideal and how they manage to move past that and survive or, conversely, be consumed by either their own doubts or their actual, deeper failings (which may or may not be one in the same).

Hexartes

Whoa man

Obā-san

my boyfriend is a smart and thoughtful sorta guy