Description
The representation of climate change such as to alter the configuration of the landmass and the liveability of large regions of the planet is not new (see Ballard's climate novels, for example, which date back to the 1960s). In the last two decades, however, narratives centred on the topic have multiplied, so much so that some critics have spoken of a ‘new’ narrative genre: Climate Fiction (cli-fi). Compared to traditional climate-based science fiction, the novelty of the genre consists not only in the anthropogenic nature of the change, but also in the degree of scientificity of the explanations offered. Regardless of the diversity of the phenomena represented (drought, rising sea levels, wild storms) or the consequences on the landscape (which can become arid or ice-covered, or see entire cities submerged), the texts of the genre are united by a strong environmentalist message. Moving beyond the message, Ecocritical Geopolitics investigates discourses of power and entanglements around the environment, interrogating the relationships between human beings and everything animate or inanimate around them. From a (geo)political point of view, cli-fi often defaults to a conservationist and primarily anthropocentric articulation of mainstream environmentalism. Thus, climate change is to be avoided because it endangers the quality of life of human beings, disrupts human systems of planetary dominance, and reduces the resources available to the species. Consequently, limited concern is expressed about non-human animals or other forms of life, which are barely represented, or seen as a menace and a factor of estrangement. "In this paper, I will examine two feature films that are classics in terms of their depiction of climate change (The Day after Tomorrow & Mad Max: Fury Road) and the presence/absence of non-human animals in them.
