I’ve selected ten TV series that have intrigued me, moved me, and stayed with me for various reasons that touch on: abuse of justice, including eco-justice and environmental abuse; technology use and abuse; and the effects and horrors of climate change.
Some are well known; others not so well known. All approach storytelling with a serious dedication to depth of character, important themes, realistic world building, and excellent portrayal by actors. The world-building is extremely well done—in some cases rivalling Ridley Scott’s best—with convincing portrayals of worlds that are at times uncanny in their realism. Worlds that reflect story from an expansive landscape to the mundane minutiae of daily life: like the cracked phone device of Detective Miller in The Expanse or the dirty fingernails of engineer Juliette Nichols in the Down Deep of Silo. Stories vary in their treatment of important themes from whimsical and often humorous ironies to dark and moody treatises on existential questions. In my opinion, these TV series rival the best movies out there, often reflecting large budgets (but not always) and a huge commitment by producers. The ten TV series I’ve selected in this series come from around the world: Brazil, Germany, France, Norway, Canada and the United States.
In Part 2, I focus on five TV series that explore issues to do with resource allocation, adaptations to climate change and corporate / government biopolitics.
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SILO: An Underground Murder Mystery & an Engineer’s Search for the Truth
This science fiction thriller is a dark cautionary tale based on Hugh Howie’s bestselling trilogy Wool, Shift, and Dust about a population living in an underground silo, humanity’s last refuge from a toxic outside world. Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) is a humble and gutsy engineer in the Down-Deep who is relentlessly motivated in her journey to seek the truth. When Juliette inexplicably lands the job of sheriff of the Silo, she treats her new position as a tool to seek the truth about the suspicious death of her lover, George—a collector of illegal relics (artifacts from before the rebellion which precipitated the destruction of all information prior to it). In fact, no one seems to recall anything about before the rebellion some 140 years ago.
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Juliette fixing the huge generator that keeps the Silo working
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At her own peril, Juliette pulls on threads that ultimately reveal a greater conspiracy surrounding the Silo. For instance, why technology is restricted, why relics from the past forbidden, and why all behaviour is closely surveyed and judged through “the Pact,” the arcane bible written by the founders. Questions leading to more questions. For instance, who built the Silo and for what reason? Does it have to do with why it is so toxic outside? Questions point to the egregious actions and tragic circumstances that led to its origin. Actions and circumstances of the ‘before times’ that ultimately point to political intrigue, biological warfare and social oppression.
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Farm level in the Silo
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Juliette’s literal and metaphoric rise from the Down-Deep to the Up-Top is a feminist’s journey that transcends intersectional barriers as she battles small-minded men of power and maintains her integrity by refusing to abide by the inhumane Up-Top rules of order. By the end of Season 1, I sensed a victory for humankind through womankind, as Juliette’s relentless search for the truth disclose lies at all levels of Silo society. Juliette and others who join her unravel a horrific tale of deception, self-serving manipulation, power abuse and genocide that is relevant to the present day we are experiencing now.
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Market in the Silo
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Authentic world building, rivalling the best of Ridley Scott, is matched by superlative acting by a very talented cast. Main character Juliette was played by Rebecca Ferguson with incredible nuance and genuineness as both vulnerable and heroic, shy and assertive, kind and bossy. Silo demonstrates through every scene a meticulous attention to detail that commands a sense of reality. We truly experience the grubby machine room of the Down-Deep, the bustling cafeteria in the Mids, or the posh interior of Judicial chambers in the Up-Top. Reflecting the vertical class hierarchy, characters are dirty, wear worn and repaired clothing, and are attentive to recycling and conservation as befits an enclosed society with limited resources.
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Juliette Nichols
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As with Snowpiercer (another enclosed environment), the people of Silo live highly conscious of their limited space and supplies. Everyone is convinced that they or their group is ultimately most important in maintaining the Silo. Freedom Day, which celebrates freedom from the last rebellion (which existentially threatened the Silo with threats to open the doors to the outside), is followed by Forgiveness Day, in which citizens are encouraged to turn in illegal relics (e.g. any technology, books, or other artifacts from the ‘before times’) without reprisal. But, like a hamster on a wheel—or the generator in the down deep—eventually a wobble is introduced, threatening to crash the silo and put all in perpetual darkness with eventual flooding. It is no coincidence that, before taking on her role as sheriff, engineer Juliette (who refuses to use a band-aid approach) imposes a temporary black out to fix the generator to prevent the Silo’s eventual destruction.
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Lukas Kyle and Juliette Nichols wonder at the stars
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In that one act, her archetype is cemented: she is the herald of change, a disruptive force that, though at some cost, will reveal the greater truth for the greater good. Like a good catalyst hero, she stirs everyone and everything up to dig up the truth. She delivers the call to adventure to Lukas Kyle, who refuses at first, but finds his way. She inspires an entire population to seek the truth.
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Juliette warily seeks the truth
One of the truths Juliette finds at the end of Season One
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Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
I’ve selected ten TV series that have intrigued me, moved me, and stayed with me for various reasons that touch on: abuse of justice, including eco-justice and environmental abuse; technology use and abuse; and the effects and horrors of climate change.
Some are well known; others not so well known. All approach storytelling with a serious dedication to depth of character, important themes, realistic world building, and excellent portrayal by actors. The world-building is extremely well done—in some cases rivalling Ridley Scott’s best—with convincing portrayals of worlds that are at times uncanny in their realism. Worlds that reflect story from an expansive landscape to the mundane minutiae of daily life: like the cracked phone device of Detective Miller in The Expanse or the dirty fingernails of engineer Juliette Nichols in the Down Deep of Silo. Stories vary in their treatment of important themes from whimsical and often humorous ironies to dark and moody treatises on existential questions. In my opinion, these TV series rival the best movies out there, often reflecting large budgets (but not always) and a huge commitment by producers. The ten TV series I’ve selected in this series come from around the world: Brazil, Germany, France, Norway, Canada and the United States.
In Part 2, I focus on five TV series that explore issues to do with resource allocation, adaptations to climate change and corporate / government biopolitics.
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EXTRAPOLATIONS: A Journey into A Climate Changed Future
Extrapolations is an intelligent and vividly filmed mini-series of eight interconnected moral tales told over thirty-three years that extrapolate how our planet’s changing climate will affect family, work, faith, and—ultimately—our survival. Each episode focuses on the perspective of a few key characters whose choices often have significance consequence: from the myopic exploitation of greedy corporate moguls and feckless concessions of bureaucrats to the solidarity of common folk breaking the law to survive and scary solutions of eco-terrorists with messianic complexes. Emotions run raw and these characters you will either love or hate.
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Rebecca Shearer (Sienna Miller) braves a wildfire in “A Raven Story”
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Each episode adds its own installment of personal choice and tragedy. The first episode takes place a decade from now and is named “A Raven Story.” This first installment sets the tone of the entire series with an unsettling tirade of self-serving human actions to a sweeping tide of brewing climate disasters. What follows is a bleak procession of climate change calamity from growing wildfires and powerful hurricanes to sea level rise, melting glaciers, species extinction, and acidifying oceans. A few characters, trying to address environmental disaster, struggle with choices to either gamble the present for the future or gamble the future for the present. In the last scene, a climate activist Carmen Jalilo (Yara Shahidi) sums up the trajectory of the entire series. “What does an increase in global temperatures by two degrees Celsius mean to you and to me? It means that when the temperatures go up, our imagination must increase even more. It means that when the sea level rises we must rise up as well. It means that when forest fires obscure the horizon we must look toward each other and find our way forward. We cannot give up and go home for one simple reason. We already are home; this is our only home.”
Each episode in the procession of climate change is both a literal and metaphoric fable of our relationship to our environment, the creatures that live with us—our nonhuman relatives—and to each other: the real cause—and potential solution—to the calamities of climate change.
Episode 2, “Whale Fall”, features a beautiful heartfelt interaction between marine biologist Rebecca Shearer (Sienna Miller) and the last humpback whale in 2046. It is a solastalgic dirge on the sixth extinction event. When the whale asks the biologist “how might it be different” Shearer answers simply: “It will only change if we do, if we stop lying about the world, if we stop expecting the ones who come after us to fix it because we did not.”
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Gurav (Adarsh Gourav) buys a puff of clean air in Mumbai
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Episode 4, “Nightbirds”, oozes with such vivid visuals and angles, you can almost smell the stink in the air of Mumbai in 2056. Venders on the streets sell oxygen masks by the puff and real rice doesn’t exists; just the “synthetic, processed crap.” Driver Gurav (Adarsh Gourav) and handler Neel (Gaz Choudhry) flout the daytime curfew to transport illegal cargo (stolen seeds free of corporate branding) and a crazed geneticist to where they can be used in Varanasi. The drive becomes a nightmarish journey that touches on many aspects of ordinary life under the heel of climate change and the lengths that people will go to simply survive.
In Episode 6, “Lola”, the metaphors continue as this episode in 2066 explores the devastating memory loss of a main character through vascular dementia brought on by excessive carbon dioxide and heat. In the end, he has forgotten enough to forget that it even matters.
In 2017, I wrote an article about environmental generational amnesia. A term coined by Peter Kahn, professor of psychology at the University of Washington to explain how each generation can only recognize—and appreciate—the ecological changes they experience in their lifetimes.
In witnessing the collapse of large fish populations on the west coast, University of British Columbia fisheries biologist, Daniel Pauly observed that people just went on fishing ever smaller fish, resulting in what he called a “creeping disappearance” of overall fish stocks. He called this impaired vision “shifting baseline syndrome,” a willing ignorance of consequence based on short-term gain. This is because we are not connected. And because we aren’t connected, we simply don’t care. Environmental generational amnesia is really part of a larger amnesia, one that encompasses many generations; a selective memory driven by lack of connection and short-sighted greed.
Extrapolations ends in 2070 as Crypto mining has radically increased carbon output, higher temperatures are killing and disabling people en masse, and the weight of water in the higher oceans has altered the tectonic plates. While an element of hope glimmers in each episode, even if just through personal triumph and resilience, it is particularly notable in the last episode for reasons you need to watch to understand.
Each episode showcases an intimate personal journey woven into the larger story and strung in an anthology driven by a relentless changing climate and unruly environment. Make no mistake; the planet Earth, in the throws of climate change, is the main character here. This ambitious series dared to be more than human-centric, transcending beyond anthropocentric and androcratic worldviews in an attempt to elicit empathy for our entire world particularly the non human world. The series pointed to a more eco-centric view of this precious and beautiful world we live in. As a result, it suffered criticism.
Extrapolations was generally panned by critics and viewers alike as less than potent or even uninteresting and “flat” because it apparently traded character depth for scientific extrapolation and exposure. I couldn’t disagree more. I was gripped from the start by this large story. Characters throughout the episodes provided a panoply of understated archetypes to represent a cross section of humanity in the throws of climate catastrophe. Characters I either loved or hated or wanted to smack to wake them up. And I couldn’t help cheering when a certain miserable cruel human was offed by, of all things, a walrus mother protecting her pup.
I found the series incredibly potent for its realistic portrayal of a tortured environment at the hands of human apathy and fecklessness. I felt solastalgia creep into my bones as I witnessed this bleak future. There was something utterly tragic about a young corporate executive escaping her stressful job by retreating to a pretend autumn forest in a virtual chamber—when the real thing was no longer available. The loss of our wildlife and trees. Pure fresh air. Blue skies. Healthy oceans and freshwater. These are all things most of us still take for granted or don’t even care about.
Individual scenes lingered long after they were gone: people wearing galoshes to attend a drowning synagogue in Miami; two seed smugglers defying day curfews against overwhelming heat and noxious air quality to deliver contraband seeds to farmers in Mumbai; a news reel listing the extinction of the Polar Bear and the African Elephant as a young boy cuddles his stuffed animal version. I cried for these majestic creatures, fallen at our hands. And I cried for us at our great loss.
Ultimately, this series is all about the choices we make for this planet and our survival on it. Extrapolations makes it clear that choices, any choices, can be key to saving life on this planet. This series is not just a clear clarion call but a heartfelt exhortation for us to be brave and act now. In any way we can.
Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
I’ve selected ten TV series that have intrigued me, moved me, and stayed with me for various reasons that touch on: abuse of justice, including eco-justice and environmental abuse; technology use and abuse; and the effects and horrors of climate change.
Some are well known; others not so well known. All approach storytelling with a serious dedication to depth of character, important themes, realistic world building, and excellent portrayal by actors. The world-building is extremely well done—in some cases rivalling Ridley Scott’s best—with convincing portrayals of worlds that are at times uncanny in their realism. Worlds that reflect story from an expansive landscape to the mundane minutiae of daily life: like the cracked phone device of Detective Miller in The Expanse or the dirty fingernails of engineer Juliette Nichols in the Down Deep of Silo. Stories vary in their treatment of important themes from whimsical and often humorous ironies to dark and moody treatises on existential questions. In my opinion, these TV series rival the best movies out there, often reflecting large budgets (but not always) and a huge commitment by producers. The ten TV series I’ve selected in this series come from around the world: Brazil, Germany, France, Norway, Canada and the United States.
In Part 2, I focus on five TV series that explore issues to do with resource allocation, adaptations to climate change and corporate / government biopolitics.
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SNOWPIERCER:Capitalism is a Perpetual Motion Train in a Frozen World
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Snowpiercer is an American post-apocalyptic dystopian thriller that reboots the 2013 film Snowpiercer by Bong Jooh-ho. Snowpiercer is a perpetually moving train that circles the globe carrying the remnants of humanity seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland, thanks to a botched climate fix. The train is divided up by class – first class, where all the wealthy people live; second and third class where the workers reside, and the tail – the end of the train, where the poor starve, live in total darkness, and are exploited for sex and labor.
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Passengers in the tail of the train
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The train, of course, serves as a metaphor for class struggle, elitism and social injustices. The train’s self-contained closed ecosystem is maintained by an ordered social system, imposed by a stony militia. Those at the front enjoy privileges and luxurious living conditions, though most drown in a debauched drug stupor; those at the back live on next to nothing and must resort to savage means to survive. The TV show, as with the film, isn’t so much about climate change—as a study on how society functions—or rather copes—within a decadent capitalist system, based on an edict of productivity: serve the machine of “life” and keep the order at all cost. Chief of Hospitality Melanie Cavill (secretly chief engineer of the train) as much as tells this to homicide detective Andre Layton (from the back of the train) when she enlists him to solve the first murder in the elite section of the train.
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Melanie Cavill, head of Hospitality, enlists Andre Layton as detective to investigate a murder on the train
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The TV show diverges from the film in several important ways.
My original review of the movie touched on style and political agenda:
Bong Joon-Ho’s 2013 motion picture Snowpiercer is a stylish post-climate change apocalypse allegory. A dark pastiche of surrealistic insanity, welded together with moments of poetic pondering and steam-punk slick in a frenzied frisson you can almost smell. Joon-Ho casts each scene in metallic grays and blues that make the living already look half-dead. The entire film plays like a twisted steampunkish baroque symphony. Violence personified in a garish ballet.
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Poster for the movie version of Snowpiercer
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I drew on Aaron Bady’s commentary on the film in The New Inquiry which discussed reform capitalism* to conclude that the movie “Snowpiercer is about hard choices and transcendence. Save humanity but at the consequence of our souls? Or transcend the machine that has robbed us of our souls at the expense of our mortality? The film continually questions our definition of what life is and what makes life worth living … Ultimately, Bong Jung-Ho’s message with the ending of this baroque political allegory is the vindication of a choice against reform capitalism for something new, that there is indeed “Life after Capitalism”, not easy but worth living…”
The Snowpiercer TV series takes a different approach to the end of the world and capitalism metaphor, weaving in more intrigue in its plot (a murder) with elements of detecting by the only homicide detective left on the train and in the world—a self-styled revolutionary from the back of the train. Much of the entertaining tensions arise from the interactions of Detective Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) and Hospitality head Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly) and second in command Ruth Wardell (Alison Wright); there are also strong performances by the train’s Breakman, Bess Till (Mickey Sumner) and later Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) who was supposedly running the train but had been secretly thrown off the train by head engineer Cavill.
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Snowpiercer crew prepare to encounter another train in the freeze
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The focus of the TV show has been more on the potential survival of a handful of what’s left of humanity with competing agendas on how this is best achieved, whether the freeze is indeed unfreezing and some part of the world has become hospitable or at least livable. Trading the film’s baroque metaphors to capitalism for a more literal approach to climate change and living in a post climate change world, the TV series focuses more on real questions facing this ragtag of humanity. How to keep it together when rifts naturally form based on unequal resource allocation and space in the limited ecosystem of the train. Given that the show plays out in several seasons, there is room to expand and further explore socialism, democracy, fascist rule and environmental activism. Class divisions are explored through a large cast of morally ambiguous characters, each with a plot arc, and more opportunities to explore not just first class but second and third class, showcasing more nuanced and varied elements to the class struggle and ambitions of people.
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*Reform Capitalism: “Reform and revolution are shibboleths that distinguish liberals from radicals,” explains Aaron Bady of The New Inquiry. “While liberals want to reform capitalism, without fundamentally transforming it, radicals want to tear it up from the roots (the root word of “radical” is root!) and replace capitalism with something that isn’t capitalism…If you’re the kind of leftist who thinks that the means of production just need to be in better hands—Obama, for example, instead of George W. Bush, or Elizabeth Warren instead of Obama, or Bernie Sanders instead of Elizabeth Warren, and so on—then this movie buries a poison pill inside its protein bar: soylent green is people.”
Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
I’ve selected ten TV series that have intrigued me, moved me, and stayed with me for various reasons that touch on: abuse of justice, including eco-justice and environmental abuse; technology use and abuse; and the effects and horrors of climate change.
Some are well known; others not so well known. All approach storytelling with a serious dedication to depth of character, important themes, realistic world building, and excellent portrayal by actors. The world-building is extremely well done—in some cases rivalling Ridley Scott’s best—with convincing portrayals of worlds that are at times uncanny in their realism. Worlds that reflect story from an expansive landscape to the mundane minutiae of daily life: like the cracked phone device of Detective Miller in The Expanse or the dirty fingernails of engineer Juliette Nichols in the Down Deep of Silo. Stories vary in their treatment of important themes from whimsical and often humorous ironies to dark and moody treatises on existential questions. In my opinion, these TV series rival the best movies out there, often reflecting large budgets (but not always) and a huge commitment by producers. The ten TV series I’ve selected in this series come from around the world: Brazil, Germany, France, Norway, Canada and the United States.
In Part 2, I focus on five TV series that explore issues to do with resource allocation, adaptations to climate change and corporate / government biopolitics.
This Brazilian dystopian thriller was created by Pedro Aguilera and directed by Cesar Charlone. It is set in the near future after the planet has fallen into a divided haves and have-nots through some calamity. Three percent of the population live well on an island in the Atlantic Ocean, called Offshore (Mar Alto). The remaining 97% struggle Inland with poverty and scarcity. A selection process lies between them.
Every year the 97% send their 20-year olds to undergo The Process, a grueling Hunger Games-style contest run by the Offshore elite to replenish their numbers. Only 3% of the candidates will be considered worthy. They must pass psychological, emotional and physical tests to earn a place in Mar Alto. Candidates cheat in self-service; others violently impose Darwinian entitlement and survival of the fittest; yet others rely on reciprocal altruism.
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Candidates undergo a test in The Process
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By the time Season 1 is over, candidates will have committed a full range of desperate and unsavory acts to make the cut—the stakes are high, after all: secure a position in the 3% elite or die in squalor and poverty. After being eliminated during the interview process, one youth throws himself off the balcony of the testing centre.
Inland is valued by the elite only for its reserve of youth to recruit Offshore’s strictly controlled population (you only find out how in the last show of Season 1). As for what personality and fitness The Process tests for is also uncertain. “You each create your own merit,” says Ezequiel, who runs The Process, to the candidates. “No matter what happens … you deserve this.” The corollary is that if they don’t have merit—value, as determined by Ezequiel’s Process—they don’t deserve to move Offshore. There is, of course, a resistance to The Process, called The Cause. They cause stirrings of unrest and may even be responsible for the first murder in Offshore in over 100 years—which puts Ezequiel’s Process under question. Ezequiel dismisses The Cause by suggesting that it operates “in the name of a false or hypocritical equality.”
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Ezekuiel speaks to the candidates
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There is no inherent equality or fair entitlement in a land of scarcity; there is only proof of merit to a limited resource. This meritocratic notion—and the need to prove one’s worth to be accepted—is so ingrained in society that not even the poor question it. It was American writer John Steinbeck who argued that socialism would never take off in America because the poor see themselves as “temporarily embarrassed capitalists.”
“3% is a brutal commentary on the world’s rising income inequality and the lengths we’re all willing to go to improve our lot,” writes Matthew Gault of Motherboard. “It’s a world of extreme income inequality where techno-fascists rule with an iron fist.”
With each episode, 3% examines the motivations and paradoxes of heroism and villainy, sometimes turning them on their sides until they touch with such intimacy you can’t tell them apart. At its deepest, 3% explores the nature of humanity—from its most glorious to its most heinous—under the stress of scarcity and uncertainty. How we behave under these polarizing challenges ultimately determines who we are.
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Two 3% candidates navigate the slums they are trying to escape with The Process
Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
I’ve selected ten TV series that have intrigued me, moved me, and stayed with me for various reasons that touch on: abuse of justice, including eco-justice and environmental abuse; technology use and abuse; and the effects and horrors of climate change.
Some are well known; others not so well known. All approach storytelling with a serious dedication to depth of character, important themes, realistic world building, and excellent portrayal by actors. The world-building is extremely well done—in some cases rivalling Ridley Scott’s best—with convincing portrayals of worlds that are at times uncanny in their realism. Worlds that reflect story from an expansive landscape to the mundane minutiae of daily life: like the cracked phone device of Detective Miller in The Expanse or the dirty fingernails of engineer Juliette Nichols in the Down Deep of Silo. Stories vary in their treatment of important themes from whimsical and often humorous ironies to dark and moody treatises on existential questions. In my opinion, these TV series rival the best movies out there, often reflecting large budgets (but not always) and a huge commitment by producers. The ten TV series I’ve selected in this series come from around the world: Brazil, Germany, France, Norway, Canada and the United States.
In Part 2, I focus on five TV series that explore issues to do with resource allocation, adaptations to climate change and corporate / government biopolitics.
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.
INCORPORATED:A Post-Climate-Change Corporate Scrabble for Resource & Power
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This American science fiction thriller offers a chilling glimpse of a post-climate change dystopia. Created by David and Alex Pastor and produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Ted Humphrey and Jennifer Todd, the show (filmed in Toronto, Canada) opens in 82 °F Milwaukee in November 2074 after environmental degradation, widespread famine and mismanagement have bankrupted governments. We learn later that Milwaukee Airport served as a FEMA climate relocation centre that resembles an impoverished shantytown. In the wake of the governments demise, a tide of multinational corporations has swept in to control 90% of the globe and ratified the 29th amendment, granting them total sovereignty.
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Spiga CEO talks to her employees
Corporations fight a brutal covert war for market share and dwindling natural resources. Like turkey vultures circling overhead, they position themselves for what’s left after short-sighted government regulations, lack of corporate check and FEMA mismanagement have ‘had their way’ with the planet. The world is now a very different place. There is no Spain or France. Everything south of the Loire is toxic desert; New York City reduced to a punch line in a joke. Reykjavik and Anchorage are sandy beach destinations and Norway is the new France—at least where champagne vineyards are concerned. Asia and Canada are coveted for their less harsh climates.
Corporates live in a world isolated from the real world of poverty
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Those who work for the corporations live in privilege behind the sentried walls of the Green Zones. The rest fend for themselves with scarcity in the contaminated slums of the Red Zones.
Incorporated is an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ mixture of realizable technological advances, gadgetry and thrilling—if not chilling—consequence: like self-driving cars, intelligent writsbands, surrogate pregnancies and remote deliveries, genetic testing of ‘inferiors’, DNA theft, and malware sabotage.
Like a Seurat painting, the subtle details of the show change with perspective and build into a subliminal realism you can’t shake: from the food porn in the opening scene to eating rats in climate relocation camps or drinking dirty Red Zone water that costs $5. In Cost Containment we learn that Spiga competitor Inazagi is developing salt-tolerant crops that, like the mangroves, will thrive on irrigated seawater in the deserts left by an exploitive short-sighted America: Iowa, Missouri, Kansas—all the dust storm states. In a later episode, a murdered corporate executive is found by two dowsers on the dried lakebed of Missouri’s Lake Lotawana. We hear about the “oil wars” in Capetown.
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A Spiga employee caught with malwear
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The first episode (Vertical Mobility) opens to a corporate ‘traitor’ being dragged into “the quiet room”, rumoured to be a torture chamber run by taciturn head of security Julian Morse (Dennis Haysbert). The scene shifts to the Green zone suburban house of corporate climber Ben Larson (Sean Teale). As he prepares to go to work, the news streams of hurricanes breaching levies; Canada building a wall to stem the tide of illegal American climate refugees–12 million already there; offshore oil rigs in the waters of the former Arctic ice cap; and finally to the “terrorist” bombing of the R&D lab of biochemical giant Spiga, where Ben works. Spiga, we later learn, plays the same games as Monsanto and Nestle to ensure profits at the expense of well-being.
FEMA camps for climate refugees sprout everywhere
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Aaron Pruner of Screener TV asks, “Could climate change push us into a collapsed society, informed consistently by the ongoing threat of class warfare? Will we eventually be separated by electric fences and really big walls [like Incorporated]? Are fear and greed going to be the currencies of our reality? These burning questions should sound far-fetched and silly, but as we watch tale of Incorporated unfold, it’s hard not to wonder what our own future will bring.” Far-fetched and silly? Is it any more far-fetched and silly than voting in a president who claims that the Chinese invented climate change to make American manufacturing non-competitive?
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Climate refugee camp
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Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
I’ve selected ten TV series that have intrigued me, moved me, and stayed with me for various reasons that touch on: abuse of justice, including eco-justice and environmental abuse; technology use and abuse; and the effects and horrors of climate change.
Some are well known; others not so well known. All approach storytelling with a serious dedication to depth of character, important themes, realistic world building, and excellent portrayal by actors. The world-building is extremely well done—in some cases rivalling Ridley Scott’s best—with convincing portrayals of worlds that are at times uncanny in their realism. Worlds that reflect story from an expansive landscape to the mundane minutiae of daily life: like the cracked phone device of Detective Miller in The Expanse or the dirty fingernails of engineer Juliette Nichols in the Down Deep of Silo. Stories vary in their treatment of important themes from whimsical and often humorous ironies to dark and moody treatises on existential questions. In my opinion, these TV series rival the best movies out there, often reflecting large budgets (but not always) and a huge commitment by producers. The ten TV series I’ve selected here come from around the world: Brazil, Germany, France, Norway, Canada and the United States.
In Part 1, I look at five TV series that touch on ethical issues we are facing today; issues that reach far into existential questions of what it means to be human. These TV series explore synthetic biology, cloning and gene editing, and justice in space colonization and exploitation.
This stylish and intelligent science fiction TV series is set 200 years in the future when humanity has colonized the moon, Mars and the Asteroid Belt to mine minerals and water. Humanity has split three ways culturally, ethnically and even biologically: Earth is currently run by the United Nations; Mars is an independent state, devoted to terraforming with high technology; and the Belt contains a diverse mix of mining colonies, settlers, workers and entrepreneurs. Belters’ physiology differ from their Earth or Mars cousins, given their existence in low gravity.
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Ceres mining colony
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The series, based on novels by James S.A Corey (aka Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) follows three main characters: U.N. Deputy Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasaraia (Shohreh Aghdashloo) on Earth; police detective Josephus Miller (Thomas Jane) a native of Ceres (in the Belt); and ship’s officer Jim Holden (Steven Strait) and his crew as each unravels a piece of a conspiracy that threatens peace in the solar system and the survival of humanity. The only person who may stand a chance of figuring out the big picture is Chrisjen Avasarala, a brilliant 23rd-century Machiavelli. She will stop at nothing in her search for the truth, including gravity torturing a Belter or playing her friends and contacts like chess pieces to find answers. Chrisjen is a complex and paradoxical character. Her passionate search for the truth together with unscrupulous methods, make her one of the most interesting characters in the growing intrigue of The Expanse. The Expanse further dignifies itself with subtle nuances of multi-layered social commentary—sewn into virtually every interaction.
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Chrisjen Avasaraia (Shohreh Aghdashloo) attends a conference with Mars delegates on Earth
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The subtle details and rich set-pieces of The Expanse universe rival the best world building of Ridley Scott. I was reminded of the grit and immediacy of Bladerunner. The Expanse is SF without feeling like SF; it just feels real. Powerful storytelling—from judicious use of slow motion, odd shot angles, haunting music and background sounds, to superlative acting—draws you into a complete and realizable world. This even translates into the speech used by the various groups; with belters having their own Creol speech.
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Detective Miller meets with terrorist leader Anderson Dawes on Ceres
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The Expanse is a sophisticated SF film noir thriller that elevates the space opera sub-genre with a meaningful metaphoric exploration of issues relevant in today’s world—issues of resource allocation, domination & power struggle, values, prejudice, and racism. I found the music by Clinton Shorter particularly appropriate: subtle, edgy, haunting, and deeply engaging. Like the story, characters and world. Amidst the unfolding intrigue of war, corruption and secrecy, a rich tapestry of characters take shape: from an agoraphobic detective born on Ceres to an Earther ship’s captain looking only for an escape from his home.
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James Holden and Naome Nagata aboard their ship
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Onboard the MCRN Donnager, Martian Lopez asks his prisoner Holden if he misses Earth and Holden grumbles, “If I did, I’d go back.” Lopez then dreamily relates stories his uncle told him about the “endless blue sky and free air everywhere. Open water all the way to the horizon.” Then he turns a cynical eye back on Holden. “I could never understand your people. Why, when the universe has bestowed so much upon you, you seem to care so little for it.” Holden admits, “Wrecking things is what Earthers do best…” Then he churlishly adds, “Martians too, by the look of your ship.” Lopez retorts, “We are nothing like you. The only thing Earthers care about is government handouts. Free food, free water. Free drugs to forget the aimless lives you lead. You’re shortsighted. Selfish. It will destroy you. Earth is over, Mr. Holden. My only hope is that we can bring Mars to life before you destroy that too.”
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Julie Mao trapped in a holding cell of a pirate ship
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The message is clear. Cherish what you have. Cherish your home and take care of it. We’re reminded time and again that we aren’t doing a good job of it. As the seasons progress and the rift grows between those who hold power and those who don’t, issues of sovereignty arise that spark inevitable violence and war.
Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
I’ve selected ten TV series that have intrigued me, moved me, and stayed with me for various reasons that touch on: abuse of justice, including eco-justice and environmental abuse; technology use and abuse; and the effects and horrors of climate change.
Some are well known; others not so well known. All approach storytelling with a serious dedication to depth of character, important themes, realistic world building, and excellent portrayal by actors. The world-building is extremely well done—in some cases rivalling Ridley Scott’s best—with convincing portrayals of worlds that are at times uncanny in their realism. Worlds that reflect story from an expansive landscape to the mundane minutiae of daily life: like the cracked phone device of Detective Miller in The Expanse or the dirty fingernails of engineer Juliette Nichols in the Down Deep of Silo. Stories vary in their treatment of important themes from whimsical and often humorous ironies to dark and moody treatises on existential questions. In my opinion, these TV series rival the best movies out there, often reflecting large budgets (but not always) and a huge commitment by producers. The ten TV series I’ve selected here come from around the world: Brazil, Germany, France, Norway, Canada and the United States.
In Part 1, I look at five TV series that touch on ethical issues we are facing today; issues that reach far into existential questions of what it means to be human. These TV series explore synthetic biology, cloning and gene editing, and justice in space colonization and exploitation.
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Prime Ministerial bodyguard Hans Martin Djupbik (Eldar Skar) chases a would-be assassin
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OCCUPIED: A Real and Present Threat
In 2016, Occupied (Okkupert), Norway’s most expensive television production to date captivated viewers across Europe. A political thriller about a Green prime minister, committed to renewable energy, overthrown by close neighbour Russia to control his country’s abundant natural gas and oil reserves gripped many viewers, left on the edge of their seats when episode 10 failed to resolve the deadlock. In a review entitled “Bear Lurking in the Fjords” Mark Melton of Providence noted that the first episode of Occupied broke the channel’s rating records as more than 50% of viewers aged 20 to 49 watched, and the show went on to Netflix with English subtitles.
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The Norwegian Prime Minister Jesper Berg (Henrik Mestad) faces hard decisions in Occupied
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Melton shares the intriguing premise. “Sometime in the near future, civil wars prevent Middle Eastern countries from exporting enough oil to meet global demand. Energy independent due to shale gas, an isolationist United States no longer sees a need to have a global presence and pulls out of NATO [shades of the present!] Meanwhile, global warming has become so rampant that a hurricane hits Norway and kills over 600 people. In response, Norwegians elect environmentalists who halt all oil production to help stop climate change. Without Norway’s oil, the European Union falls into a crippling recession. Because the Norwegian Prime Minister refuses to budge, the EU asks Russia to occupy Norway and restart oil production.”
What follows is a captivating three season political action-thriller that explores potential real-life questions for leaders throughout the world. When the first season of Occupied aired, the Russians were a fictional threat. Now, it seems, reality has caught up to fiction.
Melton writes that when Jo Nesbø, a well known Norwegian crime novelist, first pitched the story, people told him the idea was far-fetched. Then the real-world Russian invasion happened on the day the show started shooting, adding tremendous relevance to the fiction envisaged. Given the post-Crimea tensions (and what is now happening in the Ukraine), it is not surprising that the Russian government is not pleased with Occupied adds Melton. Before the show aired, the Russian ambassador in Oslo complained that the show would frighten “the Norwegian audience with a non-existing threat from the east.”
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The three season series moves at a swift pace with Season One quickly instating the Russian occupation as the Norwegian PM Jesper Berg (Henrik Mestad) sells Norway’s future to prevent bloodshed from its Russian aggressors. Resistance flares up and intrigue rises from all quarters including the Russian occupiers with some Norwegians profiting from the occupation and others arming themselves and doing sabotage.
Hans Martin Djupbik (Eldar Skar) stops an assassination
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I found Prime Ministerial bodyguard Hans Martin Djupbik (Eldar Skar), who at one point saves the life of Russian Ambassador Irina Sidorova (Ingeborga Dapkunaite), one of the show’s most intriguing characters. Eventually becoming head of state security, Hans Marin plays a difficult balancing act between Norwegian and Russian interests in the conflict between principle and realpolitik. Ultimately, this unsustainable position impacts him on several levels, including his personal life, as forces literally pull him apart.
Melton notes that Hans Martin first appears as an archetypal hero who uses his position in security and intelligence to help save democracy. And viewers, says Melton, have many opportunities to cheer for him. However, given his unique position and relationship with the Russian occupiers, his actions at times become morally ambiguous and this catches up with him in season three, which is a heartbreaker. I wasn’t happy with how it ended for Hans Martin, who, in my opinion was not just a main protagonist, but also the show’s chief casualty and archetype for integrity and even innocence. It was hard to watch as the relentless political machinations seized him in a vicious spider web of nefarious intrigue even as he tried so hard to play fair throughout. Given the show’s trajectory, the shocking end of season three seemed inevitable and necessary; for in his final and tragic act, Hans Martin re-affirmed his integrity and archetype as hero for democracy and freedom.
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In a ruthless war for resources and sovereignty, Hans Martin—like heroic integrity—becomes the main casualty.
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Hans Martin Djupbik (Eldar Skar) follows a lead
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Given the current situation today, Occupied appears frighteningly prescient and possible. “Democracy is a key value that becomes a rallying cry for the resistance,” writes Melton. “Without a strong NATO these characters struggle to preserve their freedoms and democracy. Norway spends more on its military today than it did at the end of the Cold War (adjusted for inflation), but other NATO countries provide equipment and personnel necessary for Norway’s defense. It is easy to understand why Norwegians may fear a world without the alliance. Occupied has reminded European audiences what Russia has already done,” and what it may yet do…
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The Norwegian PM and his aide discuss next moves
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The intriguing machinations of geopolitics aside, Occupied is foremost an environmental thriller about the specter of climate change. In 2020, Taylor Antrim of Vogue writes: “Occupied is the most relevant thing on TV right now, a hyper-entertaining drama that treats the climate emergency with the seriousness it deserves.” In his review entitled, “Occupied is the Climate-Crisis Thriller You Should Be Watching,”Antrim tells us that “Norway is one of those hyper-progressive, enlightened countries that should be free of the world’s social ills—but what unfolds on Occupied is a cheat sheet of all the disquieting trends of our time. First, the country becomes gripped by nativism, with ‘Free Norway’ activists turning on ordinary Russians living within their borders. Then there are escalating acts of domestic terrorism and violence. And by season three, in which climate warriors turn to guerrilla cyber tactics and Free Norway activists commit grotesque acid attacks on accused Russian collaborators, Berg has been transformed from an idealist into a power-mad operator. The brilliance of the show is you never know whom to root for. The stalwart and handsome head of the security services? The crusading Marxist journalist? The steely Russian diplomat who understands realpolitik better than anyone?”
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Russisn diplomat Irina Sidorova and head of Norwegian Security Hans Martin talk deals
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In the end, Antrim exhorts: “Occupied may be entertainment, but the extreme measures its young eco-activists are fighting for (an entirely renewables-based energy system) no longer seem extreme. This is a show that understands that we are marching toward a tipping point, and by the climactic end of the season a desperate, riven country is demanding that the world change its path at any cost.”
Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
I’ve selected ten TV series that have intrigued me, moved me, and stayed with me for various reasons that touch on: abuse of justice, including eco-justice and environmental abuse; technology use and abuse; and the effects and horrors of climate change.
Some are well known; others not so well known. All approach storytelling with a serious dedication to depth of character, important themes, realistic world building, and excellent portrayal by actors. The world-building is extremely well done—in some cases rivalling Ridley Scott’s best—with convincing portrayals of worlds that are at times uncanny in their realism. Worlds that reflect story from an expansive landscape to the mundane minutiae of daily life: like the cracked phone device of Detective Miller in The Expanse or the dirty fingernails of engineer Juliette Nichols in the Down Deep of Silo. Stories vary in their treatment of important themes from whimsical and often humorous ironies to dark and moody treatises on existential questions. In my opinion, these TV series rival the best movies out there, often reflecting large budgets (but not always) and a huge commitment by producers. The ten TV series I’ve selected here come from around the world: Brazil, Germany, France, Norway, Canada and the United States.
In Part 1, I look at five TV series that touch on ethical issues we are facing today; issues that reach far into existential questions of what it means to be human. These TV series explore synthetic biology, cloning and gene editing, and justice in space colonization and exploitation.
Shot in and around Toronto, Ontario, the series focuses on Sarah Manning, a fringe-dweller with questionable friends, who assumes the identity of her clone, cop Elizabeth (Beth) Childs, after witnessing her suicide and stealing her stuff. In Season 1 alone, seven clones are revealed. Those still alive include suburban housewife Alison Hendrix, university evolutionary biologist Cosima Niehaus, corporate mogul Rachel Duncan, and crazed sociopath Helena.
Toronto is filmed brilliantly in a vague every-city pastiche that combines the look of London’s eastside, NYC and northern Europe all in one. Like its characters, the show is both sparsely existentialist and baroque funk. Besides Sarah’s own diverse clones there is foster brother Felix and his various friends or cronies who add significant colour to this film-noir set. Unsavory antagonists not only add intrigue but provide significant texture from sophisticated and subtle to the banal and truly terrifying. And like biology itself—perhaps the true main character here—all the characters are shape-shifters, looking for balance in a shifting world where “normal” keeps chasing itself.
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Sarah Manning at the train station where she meets her first clone (image by Orphan Black)
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Orphan Black is a slick, sophisticated and edgy exploration of human evolution that raises issues about the moral and ethical implications of bio-engineering and genetic tampering—specifically human cloning (currently against the law), personal identity, and intellectual property. Manson and Fawcett enlist symbols and clever metaphor to enrich the story with layers of depth—no item is free of meaning: from the seemingly innocuous naming of a transit station (Huxley Station) in the show’s premiere, or Delphine’s passing reference to “a brave new world” to a terse discussion between a religious extremist and a restaurant proprietor over the merits of factory-farmed eggs: “They’re not normal,” the extremist complains. “They’ve been interfered with.” There is nothing normal about Orphan Black.
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Cosiima meets Dr. Aldous Leaky of Neolution, a transhumanist organization about self-directed evolution
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Episode titles in Season One quoted parts of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary text On The Origin of Species. Titles like “Natural Selection” (series premiere) and “Parts Developed in an Unusual Manner” elucidate concepts of evolution and survival of the fittest. Season 2 adopts the works of Sir Francis Bacon, reflecting the ethical and moral implications of scientific pursuit in a world of contrasting philosophies and values.
In Orphan Black, The Dyad Institute, a biotech corporation with arcane connections to invisible powers and eugenics, patented the clones as theirs to do with as they please—which might be anything. The ownership of the clones’ genomes by The Dyad Institute would be lawful if all the clones’ DNA was entirely synthetically made. The company would also have exclusive rights to study the clones’ genome, effectively placing the clone Cosima under copyright infringement if she decided to study and apply her research (on herself) outside of the Dyad Institute. If the clones were synthetic, like the DNA created by scientist Dr. Craig Venter, then the Dyad Institute would be in a unique situation with regards to ethics and newly emerging considerations of human rights yet to be determined. For instance, how much of the clones really belong to the company that made them? What even constitutes a person?
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Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
I’ve selected ten TV series that have intrigued me, moved me, and stayed with me for various reasons that touch on: abuse of justice, including eco-justice and environmental abuse; technology use and abuse; and the effects and horrors of climate change.
Some are well known; others not so well known. All approach storytelling with a serious dedication to depth of character, important themes, realistic world building, and excellent portrayal by actors. The world-building is extremely well done—in some cases rivalling Ridley Scott’s best—with convincing portrayals of worlds that are at times uncanny in their realism. Worlds that reflect story from an expansive landscape to the mundane minutiae of daily life: like the cracked phone device of Detective Miller in The Expanse or the dirty fingernails of engineer Juliette Nichols in the Down Deep of Silo. Stories vary in their treatment of important themes from whimsical and often humorous ironies to dark and moody treatises on existential questions. In my opinion, these TV series rival the best movies out there, often reflecting large budgets (but not always) and a huge commitment by producers. The ten TV series I’ve selected here come from around the world: Brazil, Germany, France, Norway, Canada and the United States.
In Part 1, I look at five TV series that touch on ethical issues we are facing today; issues that reach far into existential questions of what it means to be human. These TV series explore synthetic biology, cloning and gene editing, political justice, and justice in space colonization and exploitation.
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BIOHACKERS: When Synthetic Biology Meets Ethical Intrigue
This fast-paced techno-thriller created by Christian Ditter has at the very centre of its intrigue synthetic biology. In the journal Science Dov Greenbaum describes this German TV series as “a fictional tale centred around the sociotechnological movement known as do-it-yourself (DIY) biology, in which amateurs, professionals, anarchists, and civic-minded citizens push the boundaries of mainstream biology.” The show centres on Mia Akerlund (played by Luna Wedler) a secretive med-student prowling for answers to the death of her twin brother and her antagonist, the enterprising Machiavellian and narcissistic Professor Tanja Lorenz (Jessica Schwarz). But the real star of the show is biohacking: human enhancement or augmentation to improve health, performance, or well-being. Biohacking ranges from efforts to improve brain function to faster weight loss. Some are relatively safe to try at home; others may pose health risks. Among others, the show features glow-in-the-dark mice, gene-modded weed, underwater pills that extend your ability to hold your breath, and payment microchips in your hand.
The series lent a critical realism to the story by using accurate world building, real sets and equipment from genetics labs and university settings. Dov Grenbaum’s article in the journal Scienceentitled “Biology’s brave new world” celebrates the show for its accurate representation of complex laboratory equipment and procedures and how it accurately represents the intricacies, motivations and ethical issues of biohacking from sophisticated big-business gene therapies to DIY homespun biology.
Biohackers opens with a disturbing scene of bioterrorism on a train headed to Berlin. All passengers suddenly choke and fall unconscious—except for young med student Mia Akerlund, who tries to help and fails. From that explosive flash-forward scene, the show jumps back to two weeks prior, as college freshman Mia settles into Freiburg University’s prestigious medical school, and betrays a particular interest in synthetic biology, biohacking and genome editing. We soon learn that she is obsessed by celebrated professor and geneticist/entrepreneur Tanja Lorenz (who runs a biopharmaceutical company and has an entire building dedicated to her research with huge neon logo of her name). Both women are connected by a dark secret to do with Mia’s twin brother who mysteriously died when still a boy. Mia quickly gains a position working for Lorenz, which plunges her into the dangerous intrigue of illegal genetic experiences.
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Lorenz and her grad student Jasper discuss experiments in their sophisticated lab (image from Biochackers)
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An early, rather enlightening, scene of the first episode is of Mia’s first introductory biology class given by celebrated gene therapy tycoon Professor Lorenz. Not only does the scene introduce the controversial subject of synthetic biology; it reveals a disturbing sense of what’s at stake and the danger of scientific hubris. Tall, svelte and confident in a smart haircut and tailored suit, Lorenz struts like a self-proclaimed goddess in front of a student-crowded lecture hall and preaches the benefits of synthetic biology. When she asks the class “What is synthetic biology?” and a student replies “with the help of synthetic biology, we can alter existing life forms or create new ones,” Lorenz prickles beyond her already frosty demeanor and impatiently berates the students for their lack of vision. She challenges them to think bigger: “Synthetic biology transforms us from creatures into creators. It’s not just the future of medicine, but of humankind. We can cease entire infections before the outbreak … We eliminate genetic disorders. But if we don’t do our work exceedingly well, it could end our species. It is on us to find a way; this is your future. Your responsibility. You are the creators of tomorrow. We make God obsolete…”
Science, academia and intrigue are skillfully woven in an intelligent mystery-thriller that not only represents science accurately but delivers commentary on the ethical and moral questions of this highly dynamic and rapidly evolving field of science.
Biohackers touches on several ethical and moral questions, such as genetic modification of stem cells, access to advanced gene therapies, and privacy and consent surrounding genomic data. Synthetic biologist Elsa Sotiriadis warns that, “this topic will likely become an ethical minefield in the coming years. On the one hand, we need large and diverse datasets to train medical AI and develop therapies. But on the other, there’s nothing as personal as your literal blueprint. Unlike stolen credit cards, you can’t change your genomic data. I like that Biohackers brings this up.”
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Lorenz does a throat swab for DNA on a candidate in her experiment as Mia looks on (image from Biohackers)
Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
When I was first tantalized by the high-speed head-smashing trailor for the Paramount motion picture, Aeon Flux, directed by Karyn Kusama (Girlfight) and released in late 2005 (now on DVD), I was blissfully unaware of its history: that it was based on the darkly irreverant and raunchy 1995 MTV Liquid Television animated SF series created by Korean American animator, Peter Chung. The series achieved cult status among a select audience of imsoniacs (it played at midnight on MTV, if that tells you anything). This may have worked in my favour. I had no expectations or preconceptions, except for a hair-flying ride. As a result, when the content (written by Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay) had merit as social commentary, I counted it as a bonus. But, then there was the matter of the reviews that emerged between the trailors airing and my seeing the film.
Aeon Flux, animated and movie character
Unfortunately for the motion picture, Paramount’s lack of press-screenings (and subsequent press reaction because of those lack of screenings) may have predisposed critics to dislike it. And many provided negative, though conflicting, reviews; as if they couldn’t all agree on why they didn’t like the film. Kieth Breese (Filmcritic.com) found the film “gorgeously surreal and vacuously arty.” According to Jami Bernard (New York Daily News), “in the dystopian future [of Aeon Flux], apparently, women will be bendable Barbies in leather scanties, and everyone will speak like brain-dead robots…a silly live-action movie.” Justin Chung (Variety.com) decided that AeonFlux portrayed “the future [as] alternatively grim and hysterical…a spectacularly silly sci-fier.” A.O. Scott of the New York Times said that Aeon Flux was “flooded with colors and chilly effects [but was] drained of emotional interest, to say nothing of narrative coherence.” And, finally, William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer called it “too somber and cerebral for the young action crowd.” Silly or too cerebral? In truth, this disappointment is because the Aeon Flux movie was wrongly perceived (and wrongly marketed) as an action thriller; it is more aptly described as a dystopian political thriller—not the brazen cry of V for Vendetta—but a subtle cautionary tale of the consequences of complacency, greed and living in absence of—and trying to cheat—nature.
Trevor Goodchild played by Marton Csokas)
In typical dystopian fashion, we join the Aeon Flux story roughly four hundred years after an industrial-related virus has killed 99% of the world’s population. Scientist, Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas) has developed a cure and the Goodchild dynasty secures a home for the five million survivors in the last city on Earth, Bregna, a paradise walled off from the unrestrained wilderness that ever-threatens them. Dystopias, like Bregna, often appear utopian on the surface, exhibiting a world free of poverty, hardship and conflict, but with some fatal flaw at their core. A dystopia (“dys”=bad; “topos”=place) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. It is usually characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government or some kind of oppressive, often insiduous, social control. Other examples that depict a range of distopian societies in literature and film include: 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, TheHandmaid’s Tale, Metropolis, THX-1138, Blade Runner, and V for Vendetta. Built from scientific premise and intended only as a temporary measure, the technocratic society of Bregna continues long after its intended span as the Goodchilds attempt to deal with an internal and enduring glitch (infertility) of the “cure”. Like most imposed provisional governments, this solution to a problem (cloning) has created yet another problem (fugitive memories from the previous clone’s life).
It is now 2415 and the walled society of Bregna appears utopian—clean and organized, beautiful, rich and spacious; but beneath the laughter and contentment, stirs an uneasy disquiet. Bregnans are losing sleep, having bad dreams, and are plagued by memories that don’t belong to them. Rebels who call themselves the Monicans challenge the Goodchild regime, run by Trevor and his brother Oren, and among the rebels is a highly competent and ruthless assassin, Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron), whose tools include whistle-controlled ball-bearing bombs, drugs that allow her to meet people on higher planes of existence, and interchangeable eyeballs. She is aptly named, as she serves a true agent of discord to Goodchild, the guardian of order and all that he naïvely believes is good.
“Some call Bregna the perfect society,” Aeon tells us in the opening scenes of the motion picture, “Some call it the height of human civilization…but others know better…We are haunted by sorrows we cannot name. People disappear and our government denies these crimes…But there are rebels who…fight for the disappeared. They call themselves the Monicans. I am one of them.” Several critics disliked the narrative introduction. I found that it particularly worked, by adding a reflective literary quality to the motion picture. It is noteworthy that in the original animated series, Trevor Goodchild often frames each episode with his reflections; only fitting that Aeon gets her chance in the film version. The reflective narrative of the motion picture is meant to enlighten its audience that this is not your ordinary action thriller. What follows is a fast-paced yet thoughtful story, with elements of romance, that explores notions of longevity, social structure and connection, faith and greed.
Aeon fights an opponent inside Goodchild’s fortress
Twitchfilm.net aptly called the motion picture “biological science fiction”. Trevor’s treacherous brother Oren says: “We’ve beaten death. We’ve beaten nature.” The film’s clean organic high-tech look faithfully captures the “sense of biotech gone wild” of the TV series by exploring several paradigms inherent in a society that lives deliberately in the absence of nature’s chaos. Indeed, the lack of connectivity resonates throughout the motion picture in its exploration of friendship, family, loyalty, and purpose. When her sister is murdered in the beginning of the film supposedly by Trevor’s men (but in actuality by his scheming brother, Oren), Aeon’s mission becomes personal: “I had a family once. I had a life; now all I have is a mission.” We never learn what the animated Aeon’s motives are.
Various scenes of Aeon Flux motion picture
The film truly launches into stylish action and intrigue when Aeon gladly accepts a mission to assassinate Trevor, thinking that this violent act will make it all better. Instead, it unravels her, beginning with when she confronts him; finding him uncomfortably familiar and alluring, she hesitates and decides not to kill him. “What do you want?” Trevor asks her. “I want my sister back. I want to remember what it’s like to be a person.” It is indeed he—or rather what he knows—that holds the key to who she is. The key is that she, like he and all those in Bregna, is a 400 year-old copy of someone before the virus. Four hundred years ago she was the original Trevor’s wife.
Trevor and Aeon on the run
Filmed in Berlin, the movie is visually stunning, from the opening shot on the steps of Sans Souci to the labrinthine wind canal used by the Nazis. Displaying an eclectic mixture of spareness and mid-century design the film is acted out in a fluid dance to Graeme Revell’s (Sin City) haunting score. The action is rivetting and seamless with both plot and underlying theme of bio-tech gone awry. Early on we are treated to a thrilling sequence of Aeon and her biotech-altered rebel colleague negotiating the security of Goodchild’s sanctuary that consists of a beautiful but deadly garden, guarded by patches of knife-sharp blades of grass and poison dart-spitting fruit trees.
Wind canal in Berlin serves as entrance to Goodchild’s fortress
Aeon champions moral ethics and single-handedly destroys the relicor, the supposetory of the clone DNA, pursuing honour at the expense of loyalty (to Goodchild) and heralding in a new age of “mortality”. The movie ends as it begins, with Aeon’s narrative: “Now we can move forward. To live once for real and then give way to people who might do it better…to live only once but with hope.” This is truly what Aeon Flux represents and what her very name embodies.
The relicor, repository of Bregna’s clone DNA flies overhead
Keeper of the precious DNA storage in the relicor
The term Aeon comes from the Gnostic notion of “Aeons” as emanations of God. Aeon also means an immeasurably long period of time; the Suntelia Aeon in Greek mythos symbolizes the catastrophic end of one age and the beginning of a new one. This is apt for our heroine, who, at least in the movie version, pretty well single-handedly destroys an old corrupt world, and heralds in a new age. Aeon was “emanated” after four hundred years by the gentle oracular Keeper of the relicor, whose original version saved her DNA and kept it hidden and safe until the right moment.
Aeon Flux captures a fly in her eyelashes
Fans of Peter Chung’s baroquely violent animated Aeon Flux will recognize some similarities between Kusama’s 2005 film adaptation and the original MTV cartoon. While admitting that the motion picture version was only based on Peter Chung’s characters (check the credits), Karyn Kusama intended to “honor [the cartoon version’s] wierdness in spirit and…pay homage to its esoteric boldness and…strange energy.” Homages to the animated series include: Aeon’s signature fly-catching with her eyelashes, demonstrating a woman extremely in tune with her body; Monican anarchists (though in the film they are subversives within Bregna rather than from an adjacent society); a virus that kills off most of the population and assassination attempt on Goodchild (Pilot); the harness worn on the torso that transports the wearer to another dimension (Utopia or Deuteranopia?); passing secret messages through a french kiss (Gravity); issues of cloning and two colleagues crossing a weaponized no-man’s land together (A Last Time for Everything). Original and movie adaptation also share at their core the exploration of the consequences and ambiguities of choices in life and the role that nature plays, subversive or otherwise.
Aeon Flux stands at the wall into Bregna, ready to scale it
Although they share recognizable motifs and characters, the 2005 movie adaptation contrasts in some important ways from the six 5-minute shorts of 1991 and 10 half-hour episode TV series that aired in 1995. Chung’s avante garde series is set mostly in a surrealistic dark future Earth (presumably) where two communities, Bregna and Monica, are juxtaposed but separated by a wall (not unlike East and West Berlin). Bregna is a centralized scientific-planned society and Monica is Bregna’s ‘evil twin’, an anarchistic society. Chung’s innovative use of “camera angles” reminiscient of cinematography, together with a spare, graphic choreography, portrays a sprawling Orwellian industrial world. Peopled with mutant creatures, clones, and robots, it features disturbing images of dismemberment, mutilation, violent deaths and human experimentation as Chung explores post-modern notions of cloning, mind and body manipulation, and evolution through a series of subversive aggressively non-narrative pieces. On the subject of his cloning experiments (A Last Time for Everything) Goodchild says to Aeon: “My work offends you. Why? Human beings aren’t so unique, just a random arrangement of amino acids.” To which Aeon retorts, “These people you’re copying are already superfluous. You’re trafficking in excess.”
The title character in the animated version is a tall, scantily-clad anarchist (featuring the sultry voice of Denise Poirier) skilled in assassination and acrobatics, who infiltrates technocratic Bregna from the neighbouring revolutionary society of Monica. As with the movie character (elegantly portrayed by Theron), the animated Aeon is a stylish dance; completely in tune with her body. Says Chung of his creation: “The way she’s dressed, the way she looks, the way she moves was tailored to seduce the viewer to watch more, even though they may not understand at every moment what was happening.”
Despite their similar intelligence, physicality and drive, the two Aeons depart as characters. For instance, one of the major differences between original animation and adapted film is the ongoing relationship between Aeon and her nemesis/lover, Trevor Goodchild (John Rafter Lee). The sexual and intellectual tension between Flux and Goodchild is far more palpable in the TV series and does not explain itself or resolve itself like it does in the movie. The opening of the animated series describes their odd relationship, which suggests that their destinies are bound together: Aeon: “You’re out of control.” Trevor: “I take control. Who’s side are you on?” Aeon: “I take no side.” Trevor: “You’re skating the edge.” Aeon: “I am the edge.” Trevor: “What you truly want only I can give.” Aeon: “You can’t give it, you can’t even buy it and you just don’t get it.”
Goodchild and Aeon interacting
The Gnostic “Aeons”, emanations of God, come in male/female pairs (aptly represented by Flux and Goodchild). As with the Gnostic “Aeon pairs”, Flux and Goodchild make up inseperable parts, the yin/yang (complementary opposites) of a whole, and represent the paraxical oxymoron of chaos in order. Long-limbed and continually in fluid motion, Flux dances through Goodchild’s rigid scientific world of order with an ease that stirs both his fascination and his fury. He, in turn, enthralls her and ensnares her with his intellectual hubris. The Gnostic “Aeon” male/female pair (called syzygies) of Caen (Power) and Akhana (e.g., Love) closely parallel Goodchild and Flux as they flirt with each other in a complex dance of power and love. Their attraction/antagonism mimics the characterizations of Eris (Greek goddess of discord) and Greyface (a man who taught that life is serious and play is a sin) in the Discordian mythos. Like Eris and her golden apple, Aeon Flux stirs up trouble for Goodchild’s complacent technocratic regime, constantly challenging his hubristic notions of human evolution, perfection and even love.
Aeon and fellow Monican discuss tactics
The cartoon Aeon Flux—and Trevor Goodchild, for that matter—are also far more compelling than those depicted in the movie. Headstrong, foolish and selfish but also dedicated and deeply compassionate and honourable, Chung’s Aeon Flux is a paradox. She scintilates with passionate self-defined notions against an industrial tyranny, while nurturing a naïve desire for personal love; the target of both being found in one man, Trevor Goodchild. Often cruel at times, she shows moments of selfless consideration, compassion and humour. Despite her violence, perverted fetishes and lustful obsessions, she is as appealing as she is strange; a discordant rock tune, which often enough hits a resonating note that draws out one’s interest and captures one’s empathy.
Chung’s Aeon Flux on a mission
Kusama’s Aeon Flux being targeted by another Monican
In contrast to the super-hero competence and aloofness of the movie Aeon, the animated Aeon is wonderfully flawed; she is a complex paradoxical character, who makes mistakes, blundering often due to over-confidence and poor decisions (usually connected with her feelings for Trevor). Chung’s Goodchild is equally complex, and is, unlike the naïve and rather feckless scientist of the movie, a true equal to Flux’s energetic and often misplaced heroics. Kusama’s Goodchild is neither menacing nor diabolical; rather, he is a well-intentioned and watered-down version of the Machiavelian scientist that Chung created. And, though quite appealing, he is also less compelling as a result. Chung’s Goodchild is a visionary pedant, who often spouts twisted Orwellian diatribe: “That which does not kill us makes us stranger.” “The unobserved state is a fog of probabilities…” “There can be no justice without truth. But what is truth? Tell me, if you know, and I will not believe you.” Flux cuts through Goodchild’s dogma with her own one-liners—“Trevor, don’t trouble me with your thin smile”—and usually shuts him up with either a smack or a kiss.
Aeon dispatches masked baddies
The animated series is far more gritty and edgy than the movie version, featuring twisted eroticism and dark humor amid scenes of graphic violence. It oozes with a delicious perversity that the movie version abandoned in favour of cohesive narrative (and a PG-13 rating). Showing a healthy and irreverent disregard for that very narrative continuity, Chung’s animated series successfully makes commentary on various societal notions and behaviours through his uniquely disjointed and liberating form. Chung asserts that this plot ambiguity and disregard for continuity were meant to satirize mainstream film narratives. I think it does far more than this as art form, by providing a journalistic style of reporting the nuances and filigrees of life that gives it an immediacy hard to overlook. Chung’s apparent intention was to emphasize the futility of violence and the ambiguity of personal morality. This is best shown in his six 5-minute shorts and pilot, created in 1991. The shorts commonly featured a violent death for the title character, sometimes caused by fate, but more often due to her own incompetence.
Chung’s Aeon Flux
The TV Aeon Flux flows like a subversive movement; punctuated by a series of abstract, often garish, statements on various themes of soulless biotechnology. Each episode is a vignette that explores singular questions of integrity, honour, loyalty, belief and love using the clever platform of the kiss/kill dynamic of Aeon and Trevor.
Their interactions scintillate with clever wordplay, often amid physical-play that usually involves a pointed weapon: Aeon: “You’re psychotic. You no longer have a common conscience with your fellow man.” Trevor: “I understand the will of evil…[it] is like an iron in a forge…conscience is the fire.” Aeon: “you’ve lost the substance by grasping at the shadow.” The underlying question of connectivity and what it is to be human filter through his discordant series primarily through the twining of his two main characters, both loners with little connection to anything except to one another (which they both seek and abhor). The motion picture version pursues through a more structured and lengthy narrative, the same theme of connectivity (with nature, with others of our society, with family, and our beliefs) and the consequence of living a life with out meaning, though on a far more simple level. At the end of Kusama’s movie, Aeon challenges Trevor’s assertion that cloning is their only answer for survival: “We’re meant to die. That’s what makes anything about us matter…[otherwise] we’re ghosts.” In contrast, at the end of Chung’s episode, Reraizure, Trevor closes with these words of reflection: “We are not what we remember of ourselves. We can undo only what others have already forgotten. Learn from your mistakes so that one day you can repeat them precisely.”
Aeon and Trevor come to terms
Kusama’s film version chose narrative coherence to make its statements by sacrificing character for story and challenging its audience cerebrally. Chung’s cartoon version challenges us more deeply, at a visceral level, through the interplay of his characters where cohesive narrative doesn’t matter. In the final analysis, the motion picture version pursues the same questions posed by Chung’s original animated version. Only, Chung isn’t so eager to provide answers, leaving both interpretation and conclusions to the individual. Both versions are mind-provoking and a celebration of excellent art. While the film’s moralistic tale resonated and lingered like a muse’s long forgotten poem, the subversive kick of the comic series (which I thankfully saw later) struck deep chords and left me breathless with questions.
Enforcers attack Monicans
Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
Nina Munteanu Writing Coach 