Post-Colonialism and Sci-Fi as Pedagogy: Film as a Vehicle for Understanding

A Ficção Científica como Ferramenta Pedagógica Pós-Colonial

Abstract

Post-Colonialism has proved to be challenging for students studying the Global South especially in the United States. Books like Edward Said’s Orientalism have proved difficult to read. Bringing in Sci-Fi movies would assist students in their search for understanding. This article hopes to illustrate the Post-Colonial themes in three movies: Soylent Green, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Planet of the Apes. These movies discuss the process of colonisation and decolonisation: invasion, domination, exploitation, self-governance, and then revitalisation. The movie Planet of the Apes shows the process of colonialisation through dehumanisation. For instance, the character Taylor is given the name ‘Bright Eyes’, a name you give to a pet. Here, the colonizer alters the environment, culture, beliefs, and identity of the colonized through a process of dehumanisation. Similarly, in the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, humans must join the alien race as a way to advance themselves. This ‘civilization process’ is the justification for colonisation and leads to the destruction of earth’s entire indigenous population by destroying their identity. Lastly, Soylent Green is about the recovery of self, exercising cultural revitalisation through ceremony. Specific scenes that display this is the sharing of a meal using ingredients from a past life as well as Saul’s assisted suicide. Recalling the past in this manner helps to find, and then retain, an identity ostensibly lost to changes in power relations brought on by colonialisation. Thorn, the main character, then exposes the fact that soylent, the main food supply for the poor, is human meat. Hence, revitalisation and resistance are tied together, as working to recover a lost identity is a clear threat to the prevailing Eurocentric order. Thus, bringing in Sci-Fi movies might help facilitate the process of teaching Post-Colonial perspectives.

Keywords
science fiction; IR; Global; post-colonial; pedagogy

Resumo

O pós-colonialismo tem se mostrado um desafio para os alunos que estudam o Sul Global, especialmente nos Estados Unidos. Livros como Orientalismo, de Edward Said, têm se mostrado difíceis de ler. A inclusão de filmes de ficção científica ajudaria os alunos em sua busca por compreensão. Este artigo espera ilustrar os temas pós-coloniais em três filmes: Soylent Green, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Invasão dos Ladrões de Corpos) e Planet of the Apes (Planeta dos Macacos). Esses filmes discutem o processo de colonização e descolonização: invasão, dominação, exploração, autogoverno e, depois, revitalização. O filme Planeta dos Macacos mostra o processo de colonização por meio da desumanização. Em uma cena específica, o Dr. Zaius chama o personagem Taylor pelo seu nome verdadeiro em vez de “Olhos Brilhantes”, um nome que se dá a um animal. Aqui, o colonizador altera o ambiente, a cultura, as crenças e a identidade do colonizado por meio de um processo de desumanização. Da mesma forma, no filme Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Invasão dos Ladrões de Corpos), os humanos precisam se unir à raça alienígena como forma de progredir. Esse ‘processo de civilização’ é a justificativa para a colonização e leva à destruição de toda a população indígena da Terra por meio da destruição de sua identidade. Por fim, Soylent Green trata da recuperação do eu, exercitando a revitalização cultural por meio de cerimônias. Cenas específicas que mostram isso são o compartilhamento de uma refeição usando ingredientes de uma vida passada e o suicídio assistido de Saul. Relembrar o passado dessa maneira ajuda a encontrar, e depois a manter, uma identidade aparentemente perdida devido às mudanças nas relações de poder provocadas pela colonialização. Thorn, o personagem principal, expõe o fato de que o soylent, o principal suprimento de alimentos para os pobres, é carne humana. Assim, a revitalização e a resistência estão ligadas, pois trabalhar para recuperar uma identidade perdida é uma clara ameaça à ordem eurocêntrica vigente. Assim, trazer filmes de ficção científica pode ajudar a facilitar o processo de ensino das perspectivas pós-coloniais.

Palavras-chave
ficção científica; RI; Global; pós-colonial; pedagogia

Introduction

This paper makes pedagogical suggestions for the use of Sci-Fi films as a teaching tool in International Relations (IR), in particular the Post-Colonial perspective. Indeed, films are a useful pedagogical tool in IR (Swimelar 2013; Engert and Spencer 2009; Brandle 2020; Campbell 2022). Post-Colonialism seems to be difficult for western students seeing their occidental socialisation (Langer 2011). Building on this scholarship, this article connects Post-Colonialism and Sci-Fi to assist student understanding of the processes of colonialism and decolonialism. The article shows how films demonstrate canonical Post-Colonial concepts such as invasion, domination, exploitation, self-governance, and then revitalisation.

The article hopes to make a convincing case for the use of Sci-Fi movies in the teaching of Post-Colonialism. It does not provide any novel insights to the perspective or to colonialism, but to show the usefulness of Sci-Fi film to simplify Post-Colonialism to benefit student learning objectives. Specifically, the article aims to discuss the process of colonisation and decolonisation as a whole using the movies. In the writer’s experience, Post-Colonialism may be challenging for students, particularly American students, studying the Global South in the field of Global/International Politics (Persky and Viruru, 2015; Amos 2018). However, the article is not about proving the difficulty of Post-Colonialism, but rather showing that film may assist teaching the perspective (Persky and Viruru, 2015; Amos 2018). Within a pedagogical context, Sci-Fi helps simplify Post-Colonialism, promoting understanding and excitement over American-dominant perspectives like realism or liberalism (Langer 2011; Blaney & Tickner 2017; de Jong, Icaza and Rutazibwaet 2019). This article applies Post-Colonial concepts in three movies: Soylent Green, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Planet of the Apes.

Sci-Fi movies may assist students in understanding Post-Colonialism and its concepts. This article will be divided into four sections reflecting specific concepts. First, a short discussion linking Sci-Fi and pedagogical contributions to Post-Colonialism hopes to promote future discussion and further study. A brief overview of concepts will be provided followed by film analysis. Bringing in Sci-Fi movies might help facilitate the process of teaching Post-Colonial perspectives by providing stories, visuals, and sounds to assist in the application of abstract concepts. Specific films are better positioned to bring out the meaning of the concepts and simplify teaching. First, the movie Planet of the Apes shows the process of colonisation through dehumanisation. Secondly, in the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, humans must join the alien race as a way to advance themselves as an exploitative process. Thirdly, Soylent Green is about the recovery of self, exercising cultural revitalisation through ceremonial resistance. These films may help assist in the illustration of the listed concepts as students link the material to Sci-Fi.

Linking Sci-Fi and Post-Colonialism: pedagogical contributions

Post-Colonialism is an interdisciplinary field of study of the history and consequences of European imperialism and colonialism (power) over indigenous peoples around the world and their resistance to that power (Drebes 2016; Young 2016). It is not about a period of time, but rather ‘(…) bears witness to the unequal and uneven forces of cultural representation involved in the contest for political and social authority within the modern world order’ (Bhabha 1994: 71). Post-Colonialism exposes power by deconstructing race, class, and gendered discourse across the social sciences, exposing the continuing legacy of European domination (Geeta and Nair 2007: 8). One major example is Edward Said’s Orientalism. Orientalism as a framework is the quintessential Post-Colonial literary contribution, as it deconstructs the Eurocentric power structure still governing much of the Global South: ‘Orientalism can be discussed and analysed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient- dealing with it by making statements about it, authorising views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating restructuring, and having authority over the Orient’ (Said 1978: 11). Hence, by uncovering power structures generated by colonial legacies, those colonised will be able to recover lost memory, allowing for agency (Geeta and Nair 2007: 14-15). The domination versus resistance dynamic is fundamental to Post-Colonialism, but also to the films discussed in this article.

Unlike other more so-called ‘conventional approaches’ (Geeta and Nair 2007: 8), Post-Colonialism offers an interdisciplinary, flexible, and dynamic approach to literary analysis (Dube and Staley 2002; Sarkowski and Stein 2020). This special edition builds on the scholarship linking Post-Colonialism and Sci-Fi. Sci-Fi films serve as philosophical tools to underscore theoretical innovation (Langer 2011; Jamrozik 2017; Giuliani 2020). Giuliani (2020) sees the connection between western imaginaries of terrorism, migration, and climate disaster through Sci-Fi disaster films, deconstructing the genealogy of disaster and monstrosity through a self-other dichotomy. Sci-Fi films, Giuliani argues, and the futuristic nature of contemporary global issues, shape thoughts on the future of humanity. Similar work by Jamrozik (2017) connects Sci-Fi metaphors, such as alien abduction with the slave trade and the continuing destructive/exploitative colonialist project of global capitalism. Langer (2011) underscores the relation between Post-Colonialism and Sci-Fi as the interaction of ‘both the figure of the stranger, the Other, and the figure of the strange land in its many guises’ (Langer 2011: 9). Langer’s book discusses concepts discussed in this article including the material and epistemic violence of colonialism (chapters 1-3) and the eventual recovery of indigenous identity through cultural revitalization (chapter 4). Sci-Fi films may assist in teaching Post-Colonial theory due to its specific subject matter.

Sci-Fi is a genre of popular culture based on, but certainly not limited to, aliens, futurism, space, technology, artificial intelligence, etc. (Bould and Vint 2011: 1). Some, like Le Guin (1989), state that the genre is closer to fantasy than deserving its own category, while Suvin (1979) sees it as fundamentally different given the mix of hard and soft sciences. Heinlein (1959) sees the genre as imagining the future possibilities given scientific progress. The genre and definition remain fluid and contested like most concepts in the social sciences (Bould and Vint 2011: 4; Langer 2011: 8).

This paper follows an unorthodox approach by building on the Sci-Fi perspective of Edgar Allan Poe, the human interacting with sublime forces or fantastical powers that might seem supernatural (Bould and Vint 2011: 8). The sublime as Sci-Fi is not the dominant way of defining the genre, but sublime interactions involve experiences with beings of different qualities, eliciting feelings of terror or awe (Bould and Vint 2011: 8). Such encounters are fundamentally outside of reality but remain a possibility given the vastness of space and the untapped potential of technological advancement. Hence, the sublime may incorporate an alien invasion or a futuristic world order, space travel, or time travel. What is most relevant for the Sci-Fi genre is ultimately a departure from this reality into an imaginary world, in possibly another time or place, which fills the imagination with possibilities of the seemingly impossible (Bould and Vint 2011: 11). The definition of Sci-Fi is worth discussing to facilitate the pedagogical connection with Post-Colonialism as: ‘Post-Colonial science fiction utilizes these same generic conventions (…) to explore the ways in which western scientific discourse (…) has interacted with colonialism and the cultural production of colonised people” (Langer 2011: 9). This paper hopes to make a convincing argument for the joining of Post-Colonialism and Sci-Fi as a unique pedagogical technique of simplifying Post-Colonial concepts by utilising the visuals and stories Sci-Fi provides. For instance, when orient and occident meet, it is often like an interplanetary experience. When an individual from Earth meets an individual from another planet, each lack a frame of reference (Kubalkova 1998; Wendt 1999: 335). These individuals compare the new with the familiar. For instance, when Spanish Conquistadors first saw the Inca, they thought llamas were large sheep. The Conquistadors placed their own understanding upon objects and people. Edward Said states in Orientalism that ‘no one has ever devised a method for detaching the scholar from the circumstances of life, from the fact of his involvement with a class, a set of beliefs, a social position, or form the mere activity of being a member of society’ (Said 1978: 10). For this reason, the Conquistadors interpreted different animals, ways of life, etc. based on preconceived notions (Goss 2017). However, what is significant is the power by which certain narratives prevail over others. For Said, no study of society is absent of power: ‘The relationship between Occident and Orient is a relationship of power, of domination, of varying degrees of a complex hegemony (…)’ (Said 1978: 5). Said differently, (or simpler), regardless of pure intentions, scholars place upon a subject their own understandings based on preconceptions which ultimately do not reflect reality. For ‘(…) a European or American studying the Orient there can be no disclaiming the main circumstances of his actuality; that he comes up against the Orient as a European or American first, and an individual second (…) that one belongs to a power with definite interests in the Orient” (Said 1978: 11).

Sci-Fi and Post-Colonialism describe the basis for the power dynamic when two very distinct worlds collide providing a fascinating entry point for students. Sci-Fi provides a wonderful vehicle illustrating the central importance of the concepts described in this paper. This makes Sci-fi an excellent teaching tool simplifying the Post-Colonial perspective. The films discussed in this paper provide a unique lens, fleshing out the meanings behind the concepts. As such, this paper suggests the use of Sci-Fi movies in the teaching of the Post-Colonial perspective.

This paper applies Post-Colonial concepts to Sci-Fi movies as a way to teach the perspective to students. The first is epistemic violence is the act of silencing a group to distinguish between an accepted, dominant group, and an inferior, subordinate group. Spivak (1988) explains it is a purposeful act, ‘the remotely orchestrated, far-flung, and heterogeneous project to constitute the colonial subject as Other’ (Spivak 1988: 280). This concept is best represented by Planet of the Apes, where Taylor is dehumanised, treated as inferior within the Ape society. Linking the dehumanisation concept to the Planet of the Apes film provides a visual to show the illustrative power of the concept.

The second film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, illustrates several significant Post-Colonial themes important to the pedological understanding of the colonial experience. Material violence underscored by the imperialist experience, defined as ‘(…) domination and subordination and the concrete ways in which the sovereignty of lesser political bodies can be infringed may be manifested in very dissimilar manners as direct and visible as in colonialism, or as complex and diffuse as in a system of international relations of dependency which distorts the economic development of nations’ (Palma 1978: 882). In the film, as in the history of much of the Global South, the imperial practices of foreign forces (aliens and Europeans nations), led to the almost complete destruction of indigenous cultures through colonialism and the exploitation of local population and environments. Fundamentally, the film teaches students how indigenous peoples are used as commodities, or dispensable objects rather than individuals with histories, cultures, and practices of their own.

The third film, Soylent Green, explores cultural revitalisation as a ‘a conscious and deliberately orchestrated process of restoring a cultural experience that has been lost, disrupted or diminished’ (Merton 1949; Wallace 1956; Palma 1978: 553). We see this hope and celebration is the movie Soylent Green. Through celebration and memory of the past, Thorn and Sol act in defiance against the economic and political status quo. By examining one particular scene in the movie, we can see the power of cultural revitalisation brought forth in the power of emotion: happiness through living well. Living well within one’s own culture thought lost is the ultimate act of resistance against a Eurocentric world.

Film as a teaching tool illustrates the power of Post-Colonial literature to describe the Global South experience. Admittingly, some scholars in the Post-Colonial and post-positivist perspectives write in a very complex way. From my lived experiences working with students, Post-Colonial classics like Edward Said’s Orientalism have proved difficult for students (both undergraduate and graduate), in particular American students, to read and understand. This may be due to the complexity of its language and subject matter as well as a lack of exposure to different languages, ideas, and cultures (Persky and Viruru 2015). In 1994, only 10% of Americans had passports; today, the number is around 42% (Amos 2018). Bringing in Sci-Fi movies may help excite students to seek out foreign interactions as film adds an element of fun and excitement into the study of International Relations/Global Politics (Engert and Spencer 2009; Swimelar 2013; Brandle 2020; Campbell 2022).

In the author’s experience teaching American students, Post-Colonialism and other post-positivist theories and readings are at times difficult to understand. Films are oftentimes a wonderful tool to convey and illustrate the meaning of concepts. The films discussed in this paper visualises Post-Colonial concepts making the literature more accessible to students.¹ The challenge is thus to make post-positivist theories and perspectives simple to understand. This special issue on Sci-Fi films and Post-Colonialism hopes to make Post-Colonial literature and concepts clear to students so that they might continue reading and researching these aspects. As a pedagogical tool, films provide a fun and innovative approach to the teaching and learning process (Engert and Spencer 2009; Langer 2011; Swimelar 2013; Brandle 2020; Campbell 2022). What is most interesting and valuable about this approach is that rather than taking a so-called ‘objective’ approach to social relations, we might adopt a subjective position, thinking about ‘whose view.’ Whose view as the centre of analysis discusses films based on the perspective of the character. Similarly in Post-Colonialism, scholars hope to deconstruct political thought, not from the Eurocentric view of the settler, but based on the viewpoint. Hence, by combining film and Post-Colonialism, we adopt a more nuanced approach, thinking about violence in a variety of ways. Such an endeavour takes on an active perspective. The viewer, or in the case of this article the reader, is not simply a consumer of the argument, but a participant.

Dehumanisation: Planet of the Apes and epistemic violence²

The Planet of the Apes movie describes a meeting between the powerful, the apes, their religious zealotry, and passion for scientific discovery, and the supposedly powerless human traveller Taylor. When the film opens, we find Taylor, along with three other space travellers, barrelling into space at almost the speed of light. Taylor sends a message to Earth, a planet 700 years older than when he left it given the speed of travel. He ends his message with a question: ‘is man, that marvel of the universe (…) still make war against his brother? Keep his neighbour’s children starving?’ The spaceship lands on what he supposes is a planet billions of miles away from Earth. The group finds the landscape desolate until they reach a beautiful waterfall. Eventually, they come across tribes of people on the planet that behave more like animals than humans. Taylor remarks: ‘If this is the best they’ve got around here, in six months we’ll be running this planet.’ This is a contradictory remark to the one stated prior, as Taylor hopes to rule over this tribe, exploiting them to make his life on this supposedly new planet easier. This is typical for what the Post-Colonial literature deems ‘settler’ behaviour (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 2007: 193). A more appropriate term, settler colonialism describes the permanence of invasion and Eurocentric transformation. Georges Balandier defines settler colonialisation as ‘the domination imposed by a foreign minority, racially (or ethnically) and culturally different, acting in the name of a racial (or ethnic) and cultural superiority dogmatically affirmed, and imposing itself on an indigenous population constituting a numerical majority but inferior to the dominant group from a material point of view’ (Balandier 1966: 54). Taylor hopes to continue the typical earthling behaviour he so disdains. These hopes are dashed as apes launch a raid, a hunt, with the desire to capture and breed humans. The apes kill one member of Taylor’s team and captures the other, while Taylor himself is shot through the throat and captured. He is carted off like an animal and is about to go through a process of dehumanisation and exploitation. Unable to speak, he cannot demonstrate that he is different, not part of the local race of humans but an intelligent being from another planet. Taylor is thrown into a cage, carried around by a leash, given sugar cubes to speak, and other humiliations. He is given the name ‘Bright Eyes’, a name that reflects his status as a lower life form.

The significant moment in the film is when Taylor tries to escape. When he is recaptured, he utters the famous line in view of ape citizens: ‘Take your stinky paws off me, you damn, dirty ape!’ This line is particularly powerful because it shows to the viewing ape population the possibility that man is not just an animal, but a rational being outside of their sacred scrolls. This fact threatens the entire social fabric of the ape society and had the elite orangutang religious and political class alarmed.

After many weeks, the orangutans organise a tribunal led by Dr. Zaius, Minister of Science and Chief Defender of the Faith. The first act of the tribunal is not to examine the evidence but rather to humiliate Taylor by first declaring to the court that he stunk, that his rags gave off an offensive odour. Taylor is stripped naked, left without dignity and without the ability to speak for himself. When he tries to defend himself, he insists on being called Taylor, to regain his lost identity. Taylor is then silenced. The aim is to subdue Taylor and to leave him completely dehumanised, his only choice is to cooperate with the orangutans and help preserve the sociopolitical hierarchy of ape society.

After the tribunal, Taylor is brought to Dr. Zaius’ office. It becomes clear to Taylor that he is a threat to the ape society’s stability as he presents an anomaly not addressed by the sacred scrolls. Dr. Zaius presents a choice: to be castrated and then experimented upon or be granted a reprieve if Taylor simply states that he is not a space traveller. Dr. Zaius treats Taylor like an animal, but acknowledges his identity by referring to him not as Bright Eyes, but as Taylor:

Dr. Zaius: I admit that where there’s one mutant there’s probably another. And another. A nest of them. Where’s your nest, Taylor? Where are your women?

Taylor:(pause)Thank you for calling me Taylor (…) Dr. Zaius, I know who I am. Who are you? How did this upside-down civilization ever get started?

Dr. Zaius: You may well call it upside down, since you occupy its lowest level. And deservedly.

The final line by Dr. Zaius shows the disdain he has for man’s supposed inferiority. He hopes to defend his civilisation from the disruption Taylor represents.

Planet of the Apes brilliantly illustrates the Post-Colonial perspective for two major reasons. Taylor enters the planet as a settler with colonial desires. A colonial settler seeks to transform, to conquer and to control, refusing to acknowledge the impact on any group such as the indigenous populations other than the settler (Loomba 1998: 1-2). Taylor’s justification is unclear, but it might be because he saw himself as a superior being enabling his exploitation and domination of local groups (Loomba 1998: 3). Unbeknownst to him, it is he that would be captured, experimented upon, and physically exploited. This domination and exploitation forms part of the settler/colonial project. The humiliation of referring to Taylor as ‘Bright Eyes’ is a case of epistemic violence; a form of violence based on the settler desire to transform and conquer (Spivak 1988). Although given this name by a sympathetic character Dr. Zira, she unknowingly destroys Taylor’s self-esteem and character as a proud, intelligent person. Renaming is an act of epistemic violence because it not only degrades Taylor, but it sets him apart as inferior from the more superior apes. By dehumanising Taylor, Dr. Zira shapes his character in her mind. She can talk to him like an animal, and justifiably, conduct experiments on him if necessary.

Epistemic violence is not simply a process of renaming; it is the destruction of indigenous knowledge system by creating in the mind of colonial settlers a sense of normalcy. This is described in the concept Eurocentrism. Eurocentrism is incorrectly understood by some as ‘from Europe’; it is rather the categorisation of a false dichotomy: normal or civilized versus the primitive, foreign, and uncivilized other. This confusion is because what is assumed normal is based on ‘Europeanness’ since Europeans colonised much of the Global South (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 2007: 84). This is reflected by the film when Dr. Zaius calls Taylor a mutant, something not fitting the normal categorisation reflected by the sacred scrolls and thus must be a freak of nature.

Planet of the Apes also does a wonderful job showing the impact of epistemic violence on the individual, specifically the renaming of the personal, and the resulting responses of resistance; sometimes manifesting itself in physical violence. In a scene, Taylor captures Dr. Zaius and leads him around with a leash:

Dr. Zira: Taylor! Don’t treat him that way!

Taylor: Why not?

Dr. Zira: It’s humiliating!

Taylor: The way you humiliated me? All of you? You led me around on a leash!

Cornelius: That was different. We thought you were inferior.

Taylor: Now you know better.

Taylor is reproducing the humiliation and violence done upon him by the apes. Most of his anger is directed against Dr. Zaius, probably because of his treatment of him during the trial and the threat of castration. Dr. Zira and Dr. Cornelius were sympathetic to Taylor and helped him escape. Because of this, they did not receive any adverse, aggressive treatment other than some snide remarks. By leading Dr. Zaius around on a leash, he reproduced power which fed into his lost self-esteem. Such a power dynamic is expressed in Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth:

[L]ife can only spring up again out of the rotting corpse of the settler…At the level of individuals, violence is a cleansing force. It frees the native from his inferiority complex and from his despair and inaction; it makes him fearless and restores his self-respect (…) (Fanon 1963: 93-94)

Thus, anti-colonial violence and the struggles for independence in Algeria, a conflict Fanon personally witnessed, was given an explanation. According to Fanon, epistemic and other forms of violence done to the Algerians formulated the environment that led to violent acts of terrorism committed against the French settlers during the war of independence. For Fanon and for Taylor, the idea was to ‘restore self-respect’. Hence, to Fanon, violence has a place in the anti-colonial struggle which explains the phenomenon of violence during the process of decolonisation. This is well demonstrated by Taylor’s actions throughout the film. Yet, the real form of resistance is not the violent type; rather it is simply staying alive.

Staying alive and living well is the ultimate act of resistance (see cultural revitalisation later). We see this in the movie’s ending with Taylor leaving the Apes with his new female partner. Dr. Zaius warns him that he will not like what he will see but trusts that Taylor will not return. As the two humans journey along, they come upon a bust of the Statue of Liberty. It is obvious that Taylor was on Earth all along, that humanity had been long destroyed by war, and the apes were a manifestation of some reverse evolution. All along, man and ape were a singularity as the Spanish Conquistadors and the Inca were. It was the settler mentality that drove the former to destroy the latter. This ultimately is the Post-Colonial lesson driven home by the film.

Planet of the Apes is a movie about resistance as subversion as Taylor’s existence delegitimised the ape society and destroyed the faith which makes it a perfect pedagogical tool for Post-Colonialism. The next film to be discussed, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, is about the material violence accompanied by settler colonialisation. Indigenous earthlings and their culture were destroyed and replaced by a socio-economic political system based on assimilation or utter destruction.

Exploitation: Invasion of the Body Snatchers and material violence3

In Invasion of the Body Snatchers, we find an alien race of plants seeking human bodies to feed on and then control. Written to describe the Cold War experience in the United States and the paranoia of McCarthyism (Mann 2004; Grant 2017), this film may also be useful to describe the Post-Colonial concept of material violence, specifically exploitation common to the colonial experience.

In Invasion of the Body Snatchers, aliens wait for a person to fall asleep, then attack, consuming their insides and turning them into duplicates. In the beginning of the film, one character, Elizabeth, takes these attractive flowers and places them in her bedroom. She lives with her boyfriend, an easy-going fellow named Geoffrey. The two-fall asleep and the alien attacks Geoffrey. When Elizabeth wakes up, she finds Geoffrey cold, unfriendly, and robotic. Elizabeth notices this change in Geoffrey’s behaviour. Throughout the movie, the characters try to avoid being duplicated by the aliens, a task that seems completely futile. They must avoid falling asleep at all costs. If anyone falls asleep, the aliens will take advantage of the opportunity to absorb and duplicate them. Other characters, like Matthew, struggle to keep awake and are nearly duplicated. Interestingly, the unassimilated characters can walk around freely with the duplicated as long as they do not show any emotion whatsoever: happiness, fear, or otherwise. A critical moment in the film is when a dog with a human face pops out of nowhere, completely shocking Elizabeth. One character, Nancy, a lovely, caring person who runs a mud salon, separates from the chaos. Viewers must assume most people have been duplicated with a small minority being able to survive as autonomous individuals free from alien forces as long as they hide their emotions. The final scene is the most disturbing of them all. We see an emotionless Matthew working in the same office as before. He walks like a zombie down the corridor with the other duplicates. Viewers assume that he is only pretending to be a duplicate. While walking in a town square, Matthew hears his voice being called in almost a whisper. It is Nancy, clearly happy to see him. She looks left and right, hoping no one spots her facial expressions. She looks gorgeous, wearing a beautiful, bright red outfit which stands out in dull, depressing looking environment. Matthew then points at Nancy and lets out a deafening scream alerting the other duplicates of her presence. Nancy shrieks in absolute horror, releasing several emotions simultaneously: terror, sadness, and everything in between. She covers her ears from the terrible sounds yet refuses to run, resigning to her awful fate.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a story of material, physical, violence necessary for colonialism, allowing students to understand its destructive nature.. Edward Said defines colonialism as ‘the implanting of settlements on distant territory’ (Said 1993: 8). In the film, we see this implanting into humans, and the transformation of behaviours and practices into something completely foreign to the human experience: the complete elimination of emotions and the commodification of an entire society. Like the earthlings in the film, the mere presence of indigenous peoples is fundamental to the imperial power’s colonial enterprise of increasing wealth and power. Patrick Wolfe sees the explicit connection, arguing that:

The primary object of settler-colonization is the land itself rather than the surplus value to be derived from mixing native labour with it (…) the logic of this project, a sustained institutional tendency to eliminate the indigenous population, informs a range of historical practices that might otherwise appear distinct – invasion is a structure not an event (Wolfe 1991: 163).

Like European settlers, the alien invaders in the film see humans as a commodity. European settlers enslaved indigenous peoples, using them principally to extract some material benefit. Individuals are destroyed as they succumb to the process of colonialisation. Thus, imperial powers practice colonialism to dominate a foreign land and its people.

Another important lesson the film provides Post-Colonialism is the supposed superiority of the invader. To succeed to become like the invader, leaving one’s own culture, history, and identity behind ultimately embracing the foreign. This is presented in the duplication of Elizabeth. During the film, we note the love Matthew feels for Elizabeth. When Elizabeth’s boyfriend is duplicated, we sense that it could be Matthew’s opportunity. He declares his love for Elizabeth, and Elizabeth returns that love. It is that love that viewers hope would allow the two to survive. However in one scene, Elizabeth falls asleep. Matthew tries to wake her up without success. He embraces her but she is already duplicated. Elizabeth’s body melts away and Matthew mourns her loss. Behind him, Elizabeth’s duplicate rises out of the bushes. She is naked, possibly hinting to the seduction of the ‘superior’ foreign, and states to Michael: ‘There is nothing to be afraid of. They were right: its painless. Its good. Come. Sleep.’ Here, we see that there is an inevitability of duplication due to the superiority of the aliens with their overwhelming power given the human need to sleep. This superiority is reflected in the Elizabeth duplicate’s seemingly comforting words to Matthew upon her first capture. In another scene, the duplicate of David Kibner, a friend of Matthew, is attempting to administer a sedative so the two might fall asleep to be ultimately duplicated themselves:

Elizabeth: I hate you.

David: We don’t have you. There’s no need for hate now...or love.

Elizabeth: I love you, Matthew.

Matthew: There are people who will fight you.

Elizabeth: They’ll stop you.

David: In an hour... you won’t want them to. Don’t be trapped by old concepts, Matthew you’re evolving into a new life. Come and watch. We came here from a dying world…We drift through the universe from planet to planet, pushed on by the solar winds. We adapt...and we survive.

A struggle ensues and Michael manages to kill David and another character, Jack. This scene is particularly important given the duplicate’s recognition of the superiority of the alien race. Since the aliens are superior given their ability of interplanetary travel and unemotionality, inferior earthlings must submit, evolving into a new being altogether. In other words, that which makes humans human, their emotions, must be destroyed for the sake of progress and evolution. This justification is similar to colonialisation’s rationalisation. Colonial powers see their superiority as a mandate over colonised people (Osterhammel 1997: 16) Colonisation was justified as a way to civilise non-Europeans. The Eurocentric project, that is an attempt at ‘normalising’ the entire world to conform to a western centric polity is justified by this narrative exportation. Lorenzo Veracini discusses this as a ‘transfer by assimilation’ defined as an effort by settler colonial powers to assimilate indigenous peoples away from their culture and heritage to the European polity (Veracini 2010: 37-38). This film allows professors to enhance student understanding of these occurrences within the Post-Colonial literature.

Assimilation is an effort led by a colonial power to get indigenous people to conform to settler norms and behaviours (Ellinghaus 2006; Veracini 2010: 37). The justification for assimilation is that becoming European means advancement or evolution; it is for their overall betterment and advancement from their backwardness (Veracini 2010). Assimilation was a manifestation of what was referred to as Social Darwinism, the idea that non-Europeans were not just genetically inferior, but genetically pre-determined to always be inferior (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 2007: 41). Such a belief system justified gross crimes against humanity such as slavery and residential schools in Canada. Slavery and residential schools were justified as natural and necessary for the survival of the superior race even if it led to suffering and extinction (Loomba 1998: 63). In particular, assimilation through residential schools in Canada through the education of indigenous children. The Indian Act passed in 1876 states that all Aboriginal lands and all aspects of Aboriginal life were to be given up and controlled by the state. This was done to make the Aboriginals obey the European settlers, to assimilate them in their own culture. It was not unusual for 25% to 50% of the children who were taken to residential schools to die there. In at least one school, the percentage of children who did not get out alive was approximately 75%. Survivors report extreme neglect such as denial of life-saving medical assistance, failure to quarantine children infected with deadly and severe malnutrition. Malnutrition was a deliberate policy in which experiments were conducted to determine the minimum amount of food that could be provided to the children to keep them alive. In addition to the neglect, the children were subjected to forced sterilisation, institutionalised sexual abuse, rape and severe beatings; and many children died from this abuse (Puxley 2015; Schwartz 2015). This abuse was altogether justified through the wider civilising mission based on Eurocentricism principles of the superior-inferior false dichotomy. We see this idea in a speech made by Rev. Samuel Rose, the principal of Mt. Elgin residential school in 1852:

[The education of these] youths have been regarded by me as the work of no ordinary character; an education solemnly important in his connection to the future, with the unborn periods of the time (…). These youths are to form the class whose histories is to be a most important epoch in the history of the nations to which they belong (…). This class is to spring a generation, who will either perpetuate the manners and customs of their ancestors, or being intellectually, morally and religiously elevated, take their stand among the improved, intelligent nations of the earth, their part in the great drama of the world’s doing; or off want of necessary qualifications, to take their place and perform their part, be despised and pushed off the stage of action and ceased to be! (Rev. Samuel Rose cited in ‘Facing History and Ourselves’2019)

In essence, the idea was that indigenous people had to assimilate, leaving their cultural traditions aside for European ones. If not, they were to be killed off completely. The horrific experience of residential schools was not an accident, but an essential part of the civilisation mission. Any resistance was futile⁴ as death was the only alternative to assimilation in many cases. Thus, the Sci-fi film makes a unique connection between the Post-Colonial perspective and the histories of indigenous peoples in a way that no other film genre can.

Assimilation as part of a Social Darwinian process of evolution of mankind leaves non-Europeans with a choice of joining or dying. We see this reflected in the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Throughout the movie, characters are chased down, cornered, and duplicated. We see vibrant individuals turned into shells of their former selves; their bodies remain yet their souls are gone. Similarly, when an indigenous person assimilates, their behaviours may be forever changed yet they still maintain outward aspects of their identity: their skin tone, an accent, facial structure, and so forth (Braithwaite 1971). The next section discusses resistance in greater detail through the concept of cultural revitalisation. For even though indigenous cultures are forever changed, there is still room to reveal and recover what was once thought lost; and this illustrates the pedagogical power of Sci-Fi for Post-Colonialism.

Cultural revitalization and resistance: Soylent Green and structural violence5

The previous films describe the colonial experience, that is, the aftereffects among the most terrible crimes against humanity as a way to teach Post-Colonialism. In some respects, Post-Colonialism is a theory without hope for a bright future by describing the power asymmetry between the dominant and dominated. However, there are spaces for optimism and resistance brought forth by simple acts of celebration, specifically acts that attempt to recall a pre-colonial past. The concept of cultural revitalisation is an awakening of a seemingly lost culture and language, which then awakens the nation itself (Shea et al. 2019). This is brought out well in Soylent Green and should be quite useful in teaching the Post-Colonial concept of cultural revitalisation.

Soylent Green is a movie about climate change, overpopulation, resource depletion, and the associated societal destruction. There are three classes of people in the film: the extreme wealthy, the struggling middle class, and the vast number of poor. The extremely wealthy can afford an apartment, indoor plumbing, air conditioning, women called ‘furniture’ used as sex slaves, and most importantly for our analysis, real food like beef, vegetables, and fruit. Everyone else relies on a cracker-like substance called soylent. Soylent comes in a variety of colours like red, yellow, and green. Water is hauled from public faucets, and people have to wait in long lines just to fill up their containers. The middle class might be fortunate enough to live in a small apartment, but the poor are limited to sleeping on stairwells and in poorhouses organised by the church. It is a disgusting existence, and viewers feel the misery.

Thorn and Sol are eking out an existence with the looming threat of being kicked out of their apartment. Thorn is a detective and Sol a former professor. They work together to solve crimes. When a rich person is murdered, Thorn is sent to investigate the apartment. He searches the apartment and opens the fridge finding fresh lettuce, steak, and fruit. He steals the food and shows it to Sol who is stunned. The sight of beef unlocked memories of the past. He laments: ‘Oh. My God...How did we come to this?...We’re doing lousy...just like when I was a boy. Nobody cares. Nobody tries…including me. I should have gone home long ago.’ When Sol says he should have ‘gone home’ he means to kill himself. This is not clear in the movie at that point, only after. Here, Sol remembers how good he had it as a child, that he had access to food and that there was clean air to breathe. However, no one cared about preserving the environment. Yet, by recalling the past, he is again transported to another time. The power of remembering here is key.

In another scene, we see Thorn and Sol having dinner. A first-time viewer may not understand the power of this scene. The two are not simply sitting down to have dinner, an act we take for granted (as Sol took for granted the clean environment). Thorn and Sol are acting out the idea of having dinner; and Sol is teaching Thorn how people used to have dinner. Sol serves the first course, a salad, while Thorn pours the drinks. Thorn is about to take a sip, but Sol stops him so he could do a toast with the phrase: ‘L’chaim’ Hebrew for ‘to life’. Sol then breaks out the silverware for Thorn while he uses the plastic utensils. They eat a salad which has an audible crunch signifying its freshness. Viewers may note that the lettuce is not chopped into smaller pieces to make it easier to eat but is served as whole leaves. This means that either Sol has forgotten to chop the lettuce, or he did not know. Thorn probably has never had a salad before, so he does not like it, but Sol is clearly enjoying it. One may assume he is recalling old memories of eating fresh vegetables. Then the real stuff, the meat course, is served: beef stew. The two eat heartily and then have an apple for dessert. Thorn is about to take a bite of the apple when he sees Sol wipe his on his shirt. Thorn does the same. The scene ends and another starts with Sol saying ‘I haven’t eaten like this in years’ meaning that this dinner scene was clearly repeating the lost ceremony of having dinner. Thorn replies, ‘I never ate like this’ and Sol retorts ‘And now you know what you’ve been missing.’ This exchange makes more sense during Sol’s euthanasia scene, where all the brilliant colours of nature, the trees, flowers, animals, are shown to allow Sol to die peacefully. Thorn tries to stop Sol, but it is too late as the euthanasia process had long begun. Thorn tries to break in and beats up the controller to get to Sol, but he stops to view the beautiful scenes of nature, scenes he never saw before. Thorn breaks down in tears. The following exchange takes place:

Thorn: Sol. Can you hear me?

Sol: Thorn?

Thorn: Yes.

Sol: Thank you for coming Oh, dear God. I’ve lived too long.

Thorn: No.

Sol: I love you. Thorn.

Thorn: I love you. Sol.

Sol: Can you see it?

Thorn: Yes.

Sol: Isn’t it beautiful?

Thorn: Oh. Yes.

Sol: I told you.

Thorn: How could I know? How could I...? How could I ever imagine?

The tenderness of this exchange is underscored by the beauty of a lost past. Recalling memories through visuals helps create joy, not simply by the viewing of the past, but by keeping memories alive. This is the central idea of cultural revitalisation: passing down memories, cultural practices, and language. Thus, Sol’s assisted suicide is the most interesting and relevant part of the film. Throughout the film, life and living is seen as an awful bother. The characters are confined to the city as overpopulation and resource over-exploitation creates a desert of the landscape. It is in dying that Sol can ‘experience’ life in its most natural and pure form, one that recalls his life before society’s downward spiral into dystopia.

These two scenes, the dinner and death scenes, are significant for teaching Post-Colonialism as performative acts. Performative acts present learning experiences that serve to keep alive traditions seemingly lost by time and by colonialism. This act, especially when aimed at good living, not just mere surviving, is the ultimate act of resistance. The concept cultural revitalisation describes notions of living well as resistance to violence from colonialism. Of course recalling past practices of indigenous culture might never be a fully authentic production, but only a reproduction given the experiences resulting from settler colonial interactions (Loomba 1998: 232). However, even in its supposedly creolised form, it is essential to the remembrance of a pre-colonial past.

Revisiting the past through performative acts celebrates the past aiming at cultural revitalisation. If the aim of colonialisation is to Eurocentrise an indigenous culture, then cultural revitalisation is a form of resistance. It seeks recovery after years of oppression and systematic destruction (Shea 2019). Cultural revitalisation has positive benefits. A research study of the impact of cultural revitalisation programs, showed that when the children of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma learn about their history, culture, and language, they feel a great sense of pride and improved mental health (Shea: 560). To know that you are part of a community, your own community, provides a sense of belonging and a renewed understanding of self which promotes positive growth and development in teenagers preparing for university. One person reported: ‘I think it’s the pride that we have that we’re so unique and that it is our responsibility—we have the opportunity to continue such a unique his-tory and culture. I’m really proud of that. Not many people know about it and every time I tell somebody they look surprised, and they say, ‘What?’’.

In essence, the study concludes that ‘When a people reclaim their cultural context, an awakening occurs. The intent was to suggest that a strengthening of cultural ties refreshes the self and the community, offering an alternative path to healing’ (Shea 2019: 564). Restoring self-esteem is at the centre for cultural revitalisation through keeping the past alive. Understanding this, one might be able to generate cultural revitalisations all over the world, as the Shea et al paper argues: ‘equipped with this type of research information a tribe can: (a) continue to enhance knowledge about tribal heritage, (b) establish educational, communal, and social programs, (c) affirm self and heritage, healing community and identity, and (d) restore community outreach, connection and action for future generations’ (Shea 2019). Hence, the health and wellbeing of an indigenous community might be promoted through cultural revitalisation programs. These programs are ultimately an act of resistance as it challenges the prevailing Eurocentric order. It introduces an alternative way of life for individuals by keeping the past alive. Finding strength and wellness in the past goes against the civilization project discussed in the Planet of the Apes and Invasion of the Body Snatchers sections, refusing assimilation through living well. Living well is thus the ultimate form of resistance.

Cultural revitalisation is represented in the movie Soylent Green and thus will benefit teachers of Post-Colonialism. Sol introduces Thorn to the lost human practice of dinner and the beauty of the natural world with his death. By doing so, Thorn receives a new sense of purpose: to expose the truth that Soylent Green is made out of human meat. By exposing this perversion to true human culture, Thorn hopes to transform and renew humanity’s purpose lost in the new political and economic environment brought on by changes in the climate and overpopulation. The movie does a fantastic job simplifying cultural revitalisation to indigenous communities making Soylent Green an excellent pedagogical tool for professors.

Conclusions

Post-Colonialism and Sci-Fi is about the power dynamic between two very different civilisations. Eurocentrism and foreign influences seek to replace indigenousness using force thereby destroying the lives, culture, and livelihood of those persons. Sci-Fi brings out the central concepts of Post-Colonialism in a clear and concise way, providing a vehicle for engaged learning that may excite students to engage further in the literature. Linking Post-Colonialism and film provides an excellent opportunity to make the perspective more accessible to students. More effort must be made to simplify complex ideas as those from the Post-Colonial perspective. New pedagogical tools must be developed to incorporate this simplicity. Films provide an excellent opportunity as it provides students with startling, memorable visuals from which to connect concepts such as colonisation, settler, Eurocentrism, assimilation, and other concepts discussed in this article. This active approach to pedagogy may convey Post-Colonial ideas in a far more interesting and lively method, a far more engaging process than simply reading a complicated text like Orientalism. Hence, by clearly communicating principles and concepts via media like film and video games, students might hold a higher appreciation for the Post-Colonial experience.

Notes

• 1
  This writing style is not limited to Post-Colonial theorists but authors of the post-positivist tradition such as Gender and Queer studies. Judith Butler opens her famous book Gender Trouble with this confusing line: ‘For the most part, feminist theory has assumed that there is some existing identity, understood through the category of women, who not only initiates feminist interests and goals within discourse, but constitutes the subject for whom political representation is pursued’ (Butler 1999: 3). Such an opening statement leaves students (from my experience as a professor) frustrated and unwilling to delve further into the literature. In the writer’s experience with graduate students, some hope to never again read another post-positivist piece due to its inaccessibility. Both Said and Butler’s writings are esoteric, which is certainly not a compliment when it comes to teaching or simplifying subject matter, making it accessible to students so that they pursue that tradition. Conversely, turning to positivist tradition, the writing style is far clearer. Kenneth Waltz, famous for his development on the theory of Structural Realism, prides himself on clarity of writing and the simplicity of his theories. Undergraduate and graduate students alike all express real excitement over Waltz’s theory due to its simplicity and accessibility. Responding positively to Waltz’s work remains a constant as students are familiar with the idea of states and their interests. Students remain comfortable rather than pushing themselves to pull back the veil, deconstructing the levers of power that shape power politics in today’s global political environment.
• 2
  All references to the movie Planet of the Apes are from: Planet of the Apes (1973) Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner [Feature film]. Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox.
• 3
  All references to the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers are from: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1973) Directed by Don Siegel. [Feature film]. Beverly Hills: Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.
• 4
  Phrase taken from the Sci-Fi film Star Trek: Generations (1994) directed by David Carson. [Feature film]. Los Angeles: Paramount Pictures.
• 5
  All references to the movie Soylent Green are from: Soylent Green (1973) Directed by Richard Fleischer. [Feature film]. Beverly Hills: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  16 Dec 2024
• Date of issue
  Sep/Dec 2024

History

• Received
  23 Feb 2022
• Accepted
  18 July 2024