IMAGINING THE FUTURES OF CAPITALIST SOCIETY: CROSS-PERSPECTIVES FROM CINEMA AND TELEVISION

New forms of nihilism, religious fundamentalism, and populism have sprung up from the core of the capitalist society. Capitalist dynamic has generated an unprecedented crisis of the environmental conditions of society itself, which has led scholars to characterize the current age as “capitalocene” (Moore 2017; 2018; Altvater et al., 2016; Bonneuil and Fressoz, 2017). The permanent revolution of technological capitalism is throwing into question the very concept of the human pointing towards a post-human society. The spectre of dystopia is thus haunting the social imaginaries in the capitalocene engendering new apocalyptic myths and narratives. And yet the landscape of social imagination is plural and divided: the AI, robotics, neuroscience, biogenetics, and evolutionary theory is breathing new life into eschatological and salvation myths (Harari 2017; Taylor 2007; see Atwood 2010 on “ustopias”). In this situation of historical crisis and openness, artistic imagination and its capacity to read possible futures into the “signs of times” is a privileged site of experience and reflection. After the fashion of postmodern fragmentation and playful fictionalization, there has been a flourishing of (grand) narratives drawing on scientific-technological inventions and socio-historical ideas in order to anticipate and reflect the coming post-human society. In particular, the predicament of capitalist society has generated a wave of filmic insights and interpretations that envision possible future developments from the seeds of the present — e.g. Black Mirror, Ex Machina, Interstellar, Humans, Westworld, Handsmaid’s Tale or 3%.

The aim of this special issue is to use the tools of cinema and television to engage questions regarding the diagnosis of the current crisis of capitalist society and its consequences: what forms of narrative and representation are used today in cinema and television to account for the present crisis of capitalism? Are new forms of nihilism emerging today, and how are these linked to new forms of religiosity? How are current myths (apocalyptic, salvationist, etc.) interpreted and constructed through cinema and television, and what it the role of techno-scientific narratives? How are the futures of capitalist/post-capitalist society represented in these types of narratives?

We invite papers on cinema and television that reflect on the following themes in an interdisciplinary way (i.e. by including literature, philosophy, social theory, etc.):

— Capitalism, the techno-scientific revolution, and new forms of religion
— Old and new myths in times of crisis: between utopia and dystopia
— “Ustopias” (Atwood) in filmic speculative fictions
— The post-human body, capitalism and the desire for immortality
— Gender, post-gender and the future of capitalism
— Socio-natural relations in the capitalocene
— Ethics and myths of work: capitalism, post-capitalism
— Towards a post-human or neo-human society?
— Capitalism and the present/future of cinema and television


Papers can be comparative studies or case studies and can analyze artists and filmmakers from any geographical and cultural locations.


Languages: English, Catalan, and Spanish.


Submission of articles:

— Size: 2000-6000 words
— The texts shall be submitted in a Word file and via email to comparativecinema@upf.edu
— For reference style and other submission details, please consult:

http://www.ocec.eu/cinemacomparativecinema/in dex.php/en/article-submissions.

Deadline for abstracts: 30th September 2018 (please accompany the abstract with a 100-150 bionote)

Deadline for the proposed articles: 7th February 2019



Special editors:

Camil Ungureanu
Department of Social and Political Science (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
camil.ungureanu@upf.edu

Sonia Arribas
Department of Humanities (UPF)
sonia.arribas@upf.edu

Rebecca Anne Peters
Department of Humanities (UPF)
rebecca@rebeccaapeters.com