A Study Of Post-apocalyptic Landscapes In Western Science Fiction Films In An Eco-critical Perspective

Science fiction films,as a unique category of cinema,are naturally wrapped up in philosophical reflections on the fate and future of mankind.The realities of energy depletion,viruses and other ecological crises have forced anxious human beings to think more deeply and imagine possible future disasters.In the perspective of ecocritical theory,disaster movies(or apocalyptic movies)are mentioned many times,but disaster movies are mostly limited to the sensory experience of the moment of disaster.And some films go a step further-focusing on constructing a post-apocalyptic landscape,that is,a future Earth-like state that is no longer fit for human existence and the state of existence of the surviving humans at that time.The crumbling ruins and deserts,and the mutated spirits,are naturally the two major divisions in the post-apocalyptic landscape.The former expresses its thoughts and worries about the ecological environment with extreme depictions under the visual and cultural symbols of different styles such as cyberpunk and waste-earth aesthetics;the latter re-enchants the nature that has been disenchanted by modern science,exploring the unknown universe from a rigorous sci-fi perspective with elements of a sense of wonder and beauty,while being alert to the transformation of nature by artificial technology,which not only reflects and critiques the human but also contains unique ecological aesthetic concepts.