Exploring Solarpunk Aesthetics and its underlying Ideologies
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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Date
2024-12-22
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Production Design
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Degree programme
Master's Programme in Film and Television
Language
en
Pages
47
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Abstract
Science fiction and its related works has come a long way in media. What started as one single and broadly defined literary genre has spawned into hundreds if not thousands of subgenres with different themes, sub-themes and philosophies that serve as foundations to its otherworldly landscapes, planet-sized spaceships and laser-gun touting heroes. There seems to be an infinite variety of shapes and forms these stories can take. Despite this variety I have noticed a lot of contemporary sci-fi media tend to wrap its narrative into the same theme: the end of the world. Speculative science fiction is exceptionally guilty of basing its stories on an apocalyptic premise. Consequentially, the sci-fi media field is overflowing with stories of how our world is either just about to end or how it has already ended, and we are left to rebuild from ashes. There is no shortage of dystopic, post-apocalyptic or doomed narratives of how we humans have brought up our own demise with our selfishness, greed or simply ignorance in the face of Armageddon. In sum, when it comes to speculative science fiction in contemporary media, our future is pretty grim. This thematic has shaped what we primarily understand as "sci-fi aesthetic". Grim, dark, cold and full of chaos. A future where we live in a dystopic hellscape in which our heroes have to overcome odds has become the norm when it comes to visualising our own collective future. There are exceptions, of course, but they tend to be so few and far in between you they cannot compete with the catalogue of their more fatalistic peers and with the current state of the world it is becoming harder every day to image any positive alternative to humanity. Harder, but not impossible: Enters "Solarpunk". Solarpunk is a fairly new genre that not only encompasses literary fiction but also a developing aesthetic that can be manifested trough art, fashion and even architecture. The genre is generally considered to be a direct response to the dystopic genres in speculative fiction such as Cyberpunk. It is founded on the premise that instead of humanity self-destructing with technological advances, it instead find solution to current problems and develops into a completely sustainable and environmentally harmonic society. In this thesis I want to explore the aesthetics of Solarpunk and its origins in social movements as well as the ideologies and real-world thematic behind the aesthetics. This thesis will delve into the emerging Solarpunk genre’s aesthetic in visual media and examine how it is influenced by the ideologies and social movements that inspire a more utopic vision of the future in the context of speculative science fiction. I will analyse artworks and visual media within the genre to find common visual elements and what they convey. In my research I will reflect how social movements that inform the aesthetic of this genre in general and how it relates to the sustainability and environmentalism ideals that are the core of Solarpunk fiction. Because Solarpunk in itself is a genre has its foundation in social activism, revolutionary thought and political science in speculative science fiction, my research texts will mainly focus on these schools of thought within narrative media and because this genre is relatively new, I will not be focusing on one type of media in particular but will explore how this aesthetic is manifested in all sorts of narrative media from books and comics to films and even games. This is because I want to focus on the how this aesthetic developed within the science fiction genre instead of focusing on how the aesthetic is presented in one type of media in particular.Description
Supervisor
Mäkinen, KaisaThesis advisor
Roine, HannaKeywords
Solarpunk, science fiction, utopic studies, media, speculative fiction, environmentalism