Tribalism and Closed Systems of Advancement: How Interstellar and Arrival Embody Anthropocentric Ideology
“Mankind was born on Earth, it was never meant to die here.”
Important Quotations
- Allyse Knox-Russell examines “futurity without optimism” in her analysis of the film Beasts of the Southern Wild. She defines this as “a futurity cleared of fantasies projected from the (patriarchal, anthropocentric) past and thus a futurity radically open to difference and change” (p. 218).
- Allyse Knox-Russell continues “disaster films like The Day After Tomorrow or Interstellar that follow a traditional linear plot line wherein the problem of global environmental collapse, represented through the emergence of a singular or contained series of spectacular events, is overcome by the end of the film. Such stories may affirm the ever-abundant resilience and ingenuity of humanity, but viewers are also sent the message that they have no reason to worry or take meaningful action. They are comforted, rather than spurred into action. (p. 215)
- February 6, 2020 Gallup poll that shows 90% of “Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in their personal life, a new high in Gallup’s four-decade trend. The latest figure bests the previous high of 88% recorded in 2003” (McCarthy).
- Mark Fisher claims “it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism” (p. 2).
- Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (9/29/2021)
Humans altered their habitat in a significant way, and we couldn’t or didn’t do enough to ultimately change the trajectory, before it was too late. But this moment as sobering as it is, can serve as a wakeup call our children and grandchildren will not know the earth as we do, unless we change the status quo. We’ve got to do better by this planet, and we need to do it now.” (Budryk)
Work Cited
- Budryk, Zack. “Here Are the 23 Species the Interior Department Declared Extinct.” The Hill. 29 Sept 2021. <https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/574510-here-are-the-23-species-the-interior-department-declared>
- Fisher, Mark. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Zero Books, 2009.
- Knox-Russell, Allyse. “Futurity without Optimism: Detaching from Anthropocentrism and Grieving Our Fathers in Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Affective Ecocriticism: Emotion, Embodiment, Environment, edited by Kyle Bladow and Jennifer Ladino, U of Nebraska P, 2018, pp. 213-232.
- McCarthy, Justin. “New High of 90% of Americans Satisfied With Personal Life.” Gallup. 6 Feb 2020. < https://news.gallup.com/poll/284285/new-high-americans-satisfied-personal-life.aspx>