Between green paradise and bleak calamity: Elysium & Avatar

Abstract

Literary utopias and dystopias reflect a wide variety of concerns, from class and gender issues to the environment. These works not only reflect current social matters but also provide a glimpse of possible futures and a warning of perils to come. This article analyzes two science fiction films that have been in the spotlight during the last decade: Elysium (Neill Blomkamp, 2013) and Avatar (James Cameron, 2009). The two films depict disparate, dystopian visions of humanity’s future, yet both center on the themes of colonialism and the exploitation of the natural environment and offer ambiguous, open-ended conclusions. Focusing on these themes, this study applies postcolonial ecocriticism to expose the relationship between colonialism and ecocriticism and to show that the subtexts of both films deliver messages about the irrevocable destruction of the natural environment as an unconditional result of colonialism, impressing upon viewers the urgent need to adopt and implement an ecocentric mentality that will lead humanity to a peaceful and sustainable future.