Seeking a film for the end of the world

McHugh, Kathleen

doi:https://doi.org/10.3828/sfftv.2015.21

McHugh, Kathleen

Science Fiction Film & Television (2015), 8, (3), 297–319.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/sfftv.2015.21
Language: English
Pages: 23

Abstract

This article examines several 2011 art/indie films that feature depressed protagonists, their families and homes, in science-fictional end-of-the-world scenarios. Along with locating their narratives in personal and domestic frameworks, these films alter sf’s conventional scale and shift its epistemological orientation from the scientist to the depressive. They thereby revise the genre according to neoliberal logic wherein all issues come down to the individual and family. At the same time, the looming world’s end suspends any credible reference to neoliberal values of utility and instrumentalism. With no future, there is no utility. A trenchant critique of neoliberal futurity thus emerges from the personal and domestic frameworks represented in these films.

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