Published: 2016-12-24

Several remarks on the presence of animals in science‑fiction film and literature

Agnieszka Nieracka Logo ORCID

Abstract

 One of the most essential topics of science-fiction literature and film is the encounter of a human being with the other, an alien being. Not only does the meaning of this encounter point to the dilemmas of anthropocentrism, but it also emphasizes the loneliness of a human being in the face of other, non-human beings. Animal studies and imagined worlds of science-fiction share basic questions about the possibility of communicating with the representatives of other species. Therefore, in this paper I analyze selected texts of science-fiction literature and films that consider the consequences resulting from the encounter of the human being and the animal. I indicate the primacy of feminist thought in this field of technoculture (Donna Haraway) and, at the same time, I present the examples of bio-technological animals in cyberpunk. I also evoke the figure of King Kong, which is emblematic for the fantasy film genre, in order to accentuate the presence of feminist discourse in this “encounter of Beauty and the Beast”.

Citation rules

Nieracka, A. (2016). Several remarks on the presence of animals in science‑fiction film and literature. Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies, (2), 107–117. Retrieved from https://journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/ZOOPHILOLOGICA/article/view/6172

No. 2 (2016)
Published: 2016-12-24


ISSN: 2719-2687
eISSN: 2451-3849
Ikona DOI 10.31261/ZOOPHILOLOGICA

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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