Catastrophism and Nature’s Revolt: Ecological Monstrosity in Popular Media Narratives

Наука телевидения. 2023. Vol. 19. No. 3. P. 97–120.

Vereshchagina N., Kompatsiaris P.

This article examines the cinematic transformations of monstrosity within the context of a growing ecological awareness and the Anthropocene. The authors argue that these transformations reflect a posthumanist shift in popular culture ethics, suggesting that human nature is intertwined with the natural world, indigenous cultures should be protected, and our relationships with other beings should be nurtured. The blockbuster film franchise MonsterVerse illustrates similar shifts occurring in the portrayal of movie monsters. It creates new narratives for cinema’s most iconic monsters, the Japanese Godzilla and American King Kong. The authors analyze the types of monstrosities presented in the franchise, the narratives they are placed in, and whether the media franchise reflects posthumanist trends in contemporary culture by constructing images of monsters. In the MonsterVerse, Godzilla and American King Kong are reimagined as ecological monsters of the Anthropocene era that represent nature’s rebellion, the urgency to save the planet, and popular posthuman perspectives on ecology. MonsterVerse thus becomes one of the popular manifestations of posthuman ethics.

Keywords: human, posthumanism, non-human, Anthropocene, monstrosity, monster, film franchise, Godzilla, King Kong, nuclear narrative, ecological narrative, ecological monster