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Stranger than (Science) Fiction: Environmental Dystopia in Hollywood Sci-Fi

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Landscape and the Environment in Hollywood Film

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Abstract

This chapter examines three films within the science fiction genre that focus on different types of environmental disaster: in Interstellar , the problem is hinted to be overpopulation, soil depletion, and loss of biodiversity; in Children of Men , it is suggested to be pollution; in Allegiant , it is radioactive fallout that has devastated the land. The chapter focuses on the potential causes for environmental problems while also placing these issues in environmental and political context, including Zika, Brexit, climate change, and nuclear disasters like Chernobyl. All three films contain heavily dystopian perspectives about environmental damage. but also glimmers of optimism , which is consistent with the science fiction generic form.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA, USA

    Ellen E. Moore

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  1. Ellen E. Moore
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Correspondence to Ellen E. Moore .

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E. Moore, E. (2017). Stranger than (Science) Fiction: Environmental Dystopia in Hollywood Sci-Fi. In: Landscape and the Environment in Hollywood Film. Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56411-1_5

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