Darwin’s Monsters: Evolution, Science, and the Gothic in Christian Alvart’s ”Pandorum”

Katarzyna Pisarska

Abstract


This article analyses Gothic tropes in the science fiction film Pandorum (2009, dir. Christian Alvart), through the lens of such concepts as evolution and science, which are presented in the film as inherently monstrous. Key to the analysis is the notion of the return of the repressed (or abjected) past which invades the future, disrupting biological, social, and moral borders of the human. This Gothic return, facilitated by advanced science and technology, turns the future into a site of humanity’s confrontation with their animal instincts, highlighting the fragility of our civilisation and proving our subjection to evolutionary processes.


Keywords


Gothic, Darwinism, evolution, science, monstrosity

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/lsmll.2019.43.2.157-166
Date of publication: 2019-07-03 11:00:45
Date of submission: 2018-07-15 20:27:33


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