Divenire-kaijū. Il gotico e i mostri dell’Antropocene

Andrea Suverato

doi:10.13125/2039-6597/6391

Andrea Suverato Università degli Studi di Milano, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/6391

Keywords: Gothic, Anthropocene, Ecocriticism, Becoming-Animal, Kaijū, Godzilla, Ray Bradbury, Kim Fu

Abstract

The paper aims to demonstrate how the stylistic features and tropes of the Gothic mode provide an aesthetic representation of Anthropocene phenomena. Drawing on the contrast between «landscape» and «environment» as outlined by Niccolò Scaffai’s ecocritical proposal in Letteratura e ecologia (2017) and the «becoming-animal» theory developed by Deleuze and Guattari in Mille plateaux (1980), the article analyzes a series of texts in which the figure of the kaijū serves as a means to reflect on the anthropogenic impact on nature and the relationships with various living species. As it will result from the analysis, this process leads to an exploration of alternative ethical models deviating from the dominant one. Special attention will be given, in particular, to the Godzilla film franchise and the short stories The Fog Horn (1951) by Ray Bradbury and Bridezilla (2022) by Kim Fu.

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Author Biography

Andrea Suverato, Università degli Studi di Milano, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna

Dottorando in Studi Letterari e Culturali presso il Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Moderne (LILEC) dell'Università di Bologna.

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Filmografia

Godzilla: King of the Monsters, dir. Michael Dougherty, USA, 2019.

Gojira, dir. Ishirō Honda, Giappone, 1954.

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Willard, dir. Daniel Mann, USA, 1971.