WHAT IS ECOCRITICISM?

Over the past two decades, countless collections of essays have dealt with the subject of horror and monsters, and serious critical monographs focusing on the so-called “eco-horror” have appeared on the market at about the very time when it became generally accepted that the Holocene had ended and that we were now living in the Anthropocene.

The chapter shows how the werewolf has been transformed from a symbol of the shameful animal aspects of human existence to an icon of peaceful coexistence with nature and sustainability.

Like shapeshifters, vampires can also carry ecological messages: they represent the exploitation of natural resources, while in Twilight they have become sympathetic characters precisely because they feel guilty and try to do something about it.

In the ‘typical’ contemporary zombie narrative, the repulsive undead represent the most underprivileged sections of society; they are associated with those excluded from the system of care, and sometimes the zombie plague is even perceived as the threat of ‘migration’.

One of the ways in which modern monsters are created is through mutation, which in the past was often presented as a consequence of chemical contamination, but is now increasingly seen as a side-effect of infection, or the result of some kind of biotechnological intervention to overcome the biological limits of human existence.

The chapter examines films the monsters of which in some way represent the ecological problems posed by the accumulation of trash and inappropriate waste management.

The problem of the climate crisis was introduced into the Marvel’s superhero universe rather unexpectedly with the appearance of Thanos in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, who threatens to halve the population of the universe for ecopolitical purposes.

The chapter analyses recent plant-themed films, in which the vegetal nation shows a curious ability to communicate.