Alien and Storytelling in the Anthropocene: Evolutionism, Creationism and Pseudoarchaeology in Science Fiction

Authors

  • Uroš Matić Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
  • Sonja Žakula Institute of Ethnography, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v16i3.3

Keywords:

Alien, science fiction, anthropocene, storytelling, evolutionism, creationism, pseudoarchaeology

Abstract

This paper analyses the change in the metanarrative of the Alien franchise initiated by the movie Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, and continued with a series of three sequels. The franchise was revived in 2012 with the prequel Prometheus. The story of the first four movies is set at the end of the anthropocene, and it deals with the horror of alien life forms, offering an evolutionist approach to the development of the human species. However, the revival of the franchise with the movie Prometheus changed the metanarrative from evolutionism to a creationist and pseudo-archaeological metanarrative with Biblical motifs. This paper points to the dangers of popularizing creationist and pseudo-archaeological narratives in science fiction. Responsibility for life on Earth and in outer space, lacking evidence to the contrary, remains in the hands of humans collectively and not alien Others.

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Filmography

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Published

2021-11-16

How to Cite

Matić, Uroš, and Sonja Žakula. 2021. “Alien and Storytelling in the Anthropocene: Evolutionism, Creationism and Pseudoarchaeology in Science Fiction”. Etnoantropološki Problemi Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology 16 (3):677–698. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v16i3.3.

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 3 (2021): Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology: Thematic Issue - Archaeology

Section

Thematic Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Uroš Matić, Sonja Žakula

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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