Dystopias Go Global: The Transnational Reorganization of Territories and Societies in Elysium

Abstract

This article argues that at the turn of the twenty-first century science fiction (SF) cinema has begun to show particular interest in transnational interactions and cosmopolitan concerns. The article focuses on one of the most representative groups of this trend: dystopias that explore the transnational systems that shape deeply unequal societies. The first part of the article provides an overview of the different transnational issues that contemporary dystopias deal with. The article then presents the film Elysium (Neill Blomkamp, 2013) as a representative example of this trend. The analysis of Elysium sheds light on several socioeconomic and territorial processes that are shaping the development of neoliberal globalization in the twenty-first century: extraterritorial operations, market incorporation, and the reorganization and superposition of borders. The article concludes that Elysium and similar films at first appear to criticize a set of structures and practices that prevent large numbers of people from living in decent conditions, but eventually reproduce the same circumstances and hierarchies that they appear to denounce.Keywords: science fiction film; globalization; cosmopolitanism; territory; borders; welfare; markets Globalizacija distopij: transnacionalna reorganizacija ozemlja in družb v filmu ElizijPOVZEtEK Članek obravnava trend, ki pomembno zaznamuje znanstvenofantastično filmsko produkcijo zadnjih let, in sicer izrazito zanimanje za transnacionalne interakcije in kozmopolitsko problematiko. Študija se osredotoča na distopije, ki raziskujejo transnacionalne sisteme, odgovorne za oblikovanje skrajno neenakopravnih družb, kot eno najbolj reprezentativnih skupin tega trenda. Prvi del članka ponuja pregled različnih transnacionalnih problematik, ki jih obravnavajo sodobne filmske distopije. Sledi predstavitev filma Elizij (Neill Blomkamp, 2013) kot značilnega predstavnika tega trenda. Analiza filma Elizij osvetli številne socio-ekonomske in ozemeljske procese, ki usmerjajo razvoj neoliberalne globalizacije v 21. stoletju: ekstrateritorialne operacije, inkorporacije trgov ter reorganizacija in superpozicioniranje meja. Članek zaključuje ugotovitev, da čeprav Elizij in podobni filmi na prvi pogled kritizirajo strukture in prakse, ki večini človeštva onemogočajo solidne življenjske pogoje, se prej ko slej izkaže, da ti filmi reproducirajo pogoje in hierarhične ureditve, kot so tisti, ki jih na videz zavračajo.