up next, the stream. we flock to the movies and turn on your tvs to gawk at an imaginary world. it's now big business off screen. so, here's the el t-plt o element of pop culture . the. >> so, are you ready for the apocalypse? millions of americans are spending half

millio spending $ 500, yo 500,000 every year to prep far disaster. these tell streugs shows are are seeing unmatched success by crowuating an imaginary apocalypse and the-year-old arounand the world aroundit. why are we interested in a future that looks so bleak? do we just enjoy the show? is there a part office that sees some truth in the fiction? he's keeping an eye on all of your comments coming in. watch me as this cull skhur culture think more about the possibility of catastrophe. >> elizabeth says:

nicholas says : holly says: >> all right. show. all your online contributions engages by using the twitter that shall tag. air. >> . here to breakdown the doom. author of the new book "the invisible hand" in pop culture. chris bake e host of wires original video series "angry nerds" looking angry there. >> owner of practical separates. he's also a consultant for the national tkpwao

ge geographic show. >> it's all entertainment. even though it's not meant to represent real life. i have to wonder how it's growth in the industry the reflective of real concerns. government shut downs. the collapse of the health this care system. is there any reality to this? >> oh, absolutely. they reflect from -- and i would say the apocalypse is the grand daddy of all government shut downs. my book that -- and zombies is rampage for the countryside. almost half of this government collapses and especially the federal government. >> people are real life to val dade this. >> and the experiment. they asked, what would happen with the last government?

and they had a really interesting answers. sometimes they suggested with the chaos and it's going against all and had to hold for some time to come back. but a lot of the show suggests the people are resilient and they actually can do pretty well on their own. walking dead is my favorite of all the shows. they think the army will protect them and in the first season they are going for disease control and protection thinking it's best draft and the people have to go out on their own and survive. same thing involves skies. same thing involves a revolution. what's interesting is people recreate the law of institution

and the falling skys is a very interesting thing. edge educational institutions are. >> you're an advisor to the show "doomsday prepers" those are some hard core folks. do they represent the estimated $3 to $4 million people who are really getting in to prepping? >> i would say half of the people than are on the show are really serious prep pers and there's the element that want to be on television. they bring the kraeu crazyness in the show. i'm in third season now so i've talked to and had hundreds oh of prepers and half of those on the show representing the preper community. unfamiliar. are they your tkaeufr folks?

>> they are average americans. they looking in to the future. they might be looking in to some of these shows and running scenarios. their own families or communities or something like that happened. so, they are every day-hardworking people. most of the people i deal with are very concerned about the economy and number two be behind -p that is an electro magnetic pulse whether that's caused by solar fair or cyber attack. >> a community is seeing a merger between pop culture here and real life. he says :

>> chris, i know you're critical here. are we seeing a shift that's seeing reflective in the pop culture? or is this an alarmist if you will? >> there is also one that has a zombie survival work out room now. >> i think these are popular cultures. it's the book of revelations. if you look back to the 197 oh 0s, there were zombie movies .

there's some that deal with how to survive and how to expact the pack in the world. you want to deal with the idea. they are scenarios and now people are actually -- in a world and in -- people are actually planning on how to survive. >> yeah, --

-- i do things that are -- things that will turn out in the past five years or so. they know when i septembe i separate my book that i start to think more about the end of the world. i think i thought that when i saw the books that maybe i would stop thinking about it but there's so much about the apocalypse and i still think about it all the time. >> we say it everywhere in terms of the commercialsation of it? >> yeah. i think the subject of pop culture. the hunger games. movies are interesting and books that it's reason that they were coming out in my book.

- you're going to be surprised about those cashing in on the hunger games. we will get them in the show just after the break. .

my name is jonathan betz. i'm from dallas, texas, and i'm an anchor for al jazeera america. >>my name is ranjani chakraborty, i'm from houston, texas. >>i'm kim bondy. >>nicole deford. >>and i'm from new orleans. >>san francisco, california. when i was a little kid, i just really loved the news. >>news was always important in my family. >>i knew as a kid that was exactly what i wanted to do. >>i learned to read by reading the newspaper with my great-grandfather every morning. >>and i love being able to tell other people stories. >>this is it, i want to be a part of this. >>this is what really drove me to al jazeera america.

that's all i have an real money. victoria azarenko

if you want to learn more about prep being for the apocalypse. how's that working out for you? >> it's great. we just released it. >> we developed the app. pit has a checklist and a tracker to see how far along you are. it actually has a fun report card that mirrors the doom's day prepers so you can score yourself and see where you are right now and begin prep egging and see how you progress. >> i been looking here. aps. prerps died apps. look at this, this is nice. doom's day preppers.

husband and wife wearing a gas mask. these nice. >> don't look at that one. this one says: >> i think it is far culture

the. >> okay. one of our guest has extra audio coming in. there it goes. watch the sound with all your mics open. scott, i want to go back to you . >>fy went to costco this weekend and tried to do so, i would probably fail. i would not have too much of something. do the preppers orle some of them do it wrong. is there an art to this? >> the more i get to see the more data i gather. i try come up w-p a system on what i need to do for water. you need to store water. you need to have a resent bi-plan and need the to have a way to filter that water. >> one of the most over looked things is sanitation. and this video is me showing

somebody how to make hot water off the grid. so a lot of my you tube videos will tell you how to get water an find water. three days without it, you will not do well at all. food. you need shelter and anyway to protect yourself. we can go in to a lot of it in each one of these. i find people might have a lot of guns and ammo but don't have any food. and the most of our food comes from 1400-miles away on average. >> great timing. you talk about water. we have a tweet:

>> these their things that are normally not done for all american television it is kind ofof extreme taste of the zombie that are able to raise questions that american television generally shied away from. i admire the writeers for taking up serious issues. the whole point is under these things, life does become more meaningful. the zombies represent a routine plotting existence. the the people who face the

alive. >> got about 30 seconds left. scott, why don't you wrap this -p up for us. tell us where you think this movement is going. >> well, i hope there's to a point where everyone is prepared to someone level. could you survive a sur a hurricane "sandy." today. there's no reason why someone cannot prepare. i don't care if it's three tkaoeurs a week. i hope people will take this serious. there's a lot of sensationalizing going on. you don't know what the scenario is going the to be. just prepare. >> all right. good advice. >> thanks to all of our guests, paul, chris, scott and anna and until next time. the we will see online. .

>> as african union troops call for more resources in somalia, a report that al shabaab base is attacked by western military force. hello i'm adrian finnegan in doha. the other top stories on al jazeera. more than 200 migrants are still missing after their boat sinks off the shores of the italian island lampedusa. plus. >> wanted debt or alive.