[ecrea] CFP Comparative Cinema: Imagining the Futures of Capitalist Society

IMAGINING THE FUTURES OF CAPITALIST SOCIETY: CROSS-PERSPECTIVES FROM 
CINEMA AND TELEVISION

New forms of nihilism, religious fundamentalism, and populism have 
sprung up from the core of the capitalist society. Capitalist dynamic 
has generated an unprecedented crisis of the environmental conditions of 
society itself, which has led scholars to characterize the current age 
as “capitalocene” (Moore 2017; 2018; Altvater et al., 2016; Bonneuil and 
Fressoz, 2017). The permanent revolution of technological capitalism is 
throwing into question the very concept of the human pointing towards a 
post-human society. The spectre of dystopia is thus haunting the social 
imaginaries in the capitalocene engendering new apocalyptic myths and 
narratives. And yet the landscape of social imagination is plural and 
divided: the AI, robotics, neuroscience, biogenetics, and evolutionary 
theory is breathing new life into eschatological and salvation myths 
(Harari 2017; Taylor 2007; see Atwood 2010 on “ustopias”). In this 
situation of historical crisis and openness, artistic imagination and 
its capacity to read possible futures into the “signs of times” is a 
privileged site of experience and reflection. After the fashion of 
postmodern fragmentation and playful fictionalization, there has been a 
flourishing of (grand) narratives drawing on scientific-technological 
inventions and socio-historical ideas in order to anticipate and reflect 
the coming post-human society. In particular, the predicament of 
capitalist society has generated a wave of filmic insights and 
interpretations that envision possible future developments from the 
seeds of the present — e.g. Black Mirror, Ex Machina, Interstellar, 
Humans, Westworld, Handsmaid’s Tale or 3%.

The aim of this special issue is to use the tools of cinema and 
television to engage questions regarding the diagnosis of the current 
crisis of capitalist society and its consequences: what forms of 
narrative and representation are used today in cinema and television to 
account for the present crisis of capitalism? Are new forms of nihilism 
emerging today, and how are these linked to new forms of religiosity? 
How are current myths (apocalyptic, salvationist, etc.) interpreted and 
constructed through cinema and television, and what it the role of 
techno-scientific narratives? How are the futures of 
capitalist/post-capitalist society represented in these types of narratives?

We invite papers on cinema and television that reflect on the following 
themes in an interdisciplinary way (i.e. by including literature, 
philosophy, social theory, etc.):
— Capitalism, the techno-scientific revolution, and new forms of religion
— Old and new myths in times of crisis: between utopia and dystopia
— “Ustopias” (Atwood) in filmic speculative fictions
— The post-human body, capitalism and the desire for immortality
— Gender, post-gender and the future of capitalism
— Socio-natural relations in the capitalocene
— Ethics and myths of work: capitalism, post-capitalism
— Towards a post-human or neo-human society?
— Capitalism and the present/future of cinema and television

Papers can be comparative studies or case studies and can analyze 
artists and filmmakers from any geographical and cultural locations.


Languages: English, Catalan, and Spanish.
Submission of articles:
— Size: 2000-6000 words
— The texts shall be submitted in a Word file and via email to 
(comparativecinema /at/ upf.edu)
— For reference style and other submission details, please consult: 
http://www.ocec.eu/cinemacomparativecinema/in 
dex.php/en/article-submissions.
Deadline for abstracts: 15th October 2018 (please accompany the abstract 
with a 100-150 bionote)
Deadline for the proposed articles: 7th February 2019

Special editors:
Camil Ungureanu
Department of Social and Political Science (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
(camil.ungureanu /at/ upf.edu)
Sonia Arribas
Department of Humanities (UPF)
(sonia.arribas /at/ upf.edu)
Rebecca Anne Peters
Department of Humanities (UPF)
(rebecca /at/ rebeccaapeters.com)




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