Deleuzions of ecohorror: Weighing Al Gore's ecostrategy against The Day of the Triffids. Issue 1 (1st April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Morgart, James
• Is Part Of: Horror studies. Volume 8:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 115
• Page End: 130
• Publication Date: 2017-04-01
• Subjects: Horror in mass media -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Horror -- Periodicals; 700.4164
• DOI: 10.1386/host.8.1.115_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2040-3275

Abstract

Despite the intriguing insights of ecocriticism and rising academic interest in ecocriticism over the past two decades, many ecostrategies have remained on the outskirts of mainstream culture. One of the most successful attempts at broaching mainstream discourse has been the liberal ecology of Al Gore, most notably through his film An Inconvenient Truth by Guggenheim (2006). Gore's warnings of an impending apocalypse were shortly followed by a spike in the production of ecohorror films such as The Ruins by Smith (2008), The Happening by Shyamalan (2008), and a remake of The Day of the Triffids (2009). By examining Gore's ecostrategy in contrast to The Day of the Triffids in the framework of Deleuze and Guattari's rhizomatic concepts of the refrain and reterritorialization, this article asserts that the film's theme offers a superior strategy to Gore's liberal ecology. Finally, the article encourages ecocriticism to take further steps in engaging with horror and tangentially asserts that an ecophilosophy built on Deleuze and Guattari's theoretical work ought to be actively considered in ecocriticism at large.