From eco fantasies to dystopian nightmares, cinema has long explored how life might be different. Our post-lockdown existence could look to them for pointers
As we emerge blinking into the sunlight after lockdown, many of us will be daring to dream of a more harmonious, ecological future. It’s what the subjects of Spaceship Earth were hoping to create when they locked down voluntarily for two years as part of an experiment around communal, self-sufficient living. The new documentary tells the story of Biosphere 2, an Earth system science research facility located in the Arizona desert. Back in 1991, eight people moved into the huge vivarium as a dress rehearsal in case humans had to repopulate to Mars. Matt Wolf’s film is a fascinating watch that vividly recalls classic sci-fi cinema: the “biospherians” wear designer space suits and their mission references 1972’s Silent Running, in which a botanist astronaut tries to save a biosystem orbiting in space.
It begs the question: what other lessons can we learn from sci-fi movies, post lockdown? In the past, many films have depicted a post-apocalyptic world where artificial communities have been created in an attempt to save at least some of the planet. But these are rarely truly happy places. In the family animation WALL-E (2008), lazy humans live on starliners, having trashed the Earth. A seemingly harmonious world conceals hidden horrors in Logan’s Run, the 1973 film with an upcoming remake.
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