Wasted lives and expulsions. A study of Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin

The author analyzes the mutual determinants of the ecological and social crisis. The starting point is Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of wasted lives and the concept of expulsions proposed by Saskia Sassen, referring both to activities destroying specific areas and the communities inhabiting them....

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Main Author: Grażyna Gajewska
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Adam Mickiewicz University Press 2023-01-01
Series:Images
Subjects:
Online Access:https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/i/article/view/36932
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author Grażyna Gajewska
author_facet Grażyna Gajewska
author_sort Grażyna Gajewska
collection DOAJ
description The author analyzes the mutual determinants of the ecological and social crisis. The starting point is Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of wasted lives and the concept of expulsions proposed by Saskia Sassen, referring both to activities destroying specific areas and the communities inhabiting them. This frame includes films showing various scenarios of a dystopian future in which individual characters or entire groups have been consumed and expelled by the aggressive Capithalocene and doomed to live in the dustbin of contemporary civilization. The article focuses on the production Beasts of the Southern Wild directed by Benh Zeitlin. The author looks at the reality and, at the same time, the symbolism of the film’s wall/dam; communities living on both sides of it, relationships between nature and culture, or rather (in posthumanist terms it is written as one word – natureculture); the methods and consequences of excluding and expelling human and non-human beings used by the mechanisms of late capitalism.
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publishDate 2023-01-01
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spelling doaj-art-da790b5cd11246c9bd2a779d1563e80d2025-08-20T02:28:32ZengAdam Mickiewicz University PressImages1731-450X2720-040X2023-01-01314010.14746/i.2022.40.04Wasted lives and expulsions. A study of Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh ZeitlinGrażyna Gajewska0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5293-6757Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland; Institute of Film, Media and Audiovisual Arts The author analyzes the mutual determinants of the ecological and social crisis. The starting point is Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of wasted lives and the concept of expulsions proposed by Saskia Sassen, referring both to activities destroying specific areas and the communities inhabiting them. This frame includes films showing various scenarios of a dystopian future in which individual characters or entire groups have been consumed and expelled by the aggressive Capithalocene and doomed to live in the dustbin of contemporary civilization. The article focuses on the production Beasts of the Southern Wild directed by Benh Zeitlin. The author looks at the reality and, at the same time, the symbolism of the film’s wall/dam; communities living on both sides of it, relationships between nature and culture, or rather (in posthumanist terms it is written as one word – natureculture); the methods and consequences of excluding and expelling human and non-human beings used by the mechanisms of late capitalism. https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/i/article/view/36932ecopathywasted livesexpulsionsecofictionecocriticism
spellingShingle Grażyna Gajewska
Wasted lives and expulsions. A study of Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
Images
ecopathy
wasted lives
expulsions
ecofiction
ecocriticism
title Wasted lives and expulsions. A study of Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
title_full Wasted lives and expulsions. A study of Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
title_fullStr Wasted lives and expulsions. A study of Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
title_full_unstemmed Wasted lives and expulsions. A study of Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
title_short Wasted lives and expulsions. A study of Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
title_sort wasted lives and expulsions a study of beasts of the southern wild by benh zeitlin
topic ecopathy
wasted lives
expulsions
ecofiction
ecocriticism
url https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/i/article/view/36932
work_keys_str_mv AT grazynagajewska wastedlivesandexpulsionsastudyofbeastsofthesouthernwildbybenhzeitlin