https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i3.035
Decentering the Human: Non-Human Agency and PostAnthropocentrism in Gaia
NIVEDITHA R
Research Scholar
(Reg. No. 15493/2024/Admn)
Department of English
Farook College (Autonomous), Calicut
Affiliated to the University of Calicut, Kerala
DR. AYSHA SWAPNA K A
Professor of English
PG and Research Department of English
Farook College (Autonomous), Calicut
Affiliated to the University of Calicut, Kerala
Abstract: Post-anthropocentrism, the non-human turn and active distributive agency across technology and environment are much sought-after themes in contemporary cinema. Non-human agency not only promotes an alternative imagination but also evokes an element of fear in the collective consciousness. We have seen natural disasters, climate crises, technological failures, but still humans have an upper hand. What if that agency is completely wiped out? What happens when nature or atmosphere exercises authority and takes control, leaving no room for humans? The uneven distribution of agency has always been a recurring threat to all existence.
Focusing on the film Gaia, the article explores how the nonhuman actors determine human futures. The movie displaces human subjectivity and focuses on non-human planetary and cosmic forces. The forest along with its supernatural beings reconfigures human subjectivity and embodiment. The study is situated at the intersection of posthuman agency, anthropocentric survival and ecological entanglements. It also addresses the aftermath of a takeover by an all-powerful entity such as technology or the environment.
By employing theoretical frameworks of posthumanism, neo-materialism, and deep ecology, the study emphasizes productive harmony between humans and the environment. The dominion of the wild that is associated with anthropocentric fear and anxiety instils radical destabilization of the categorical divide and invocation of spirituality. The alternative vision projected in the film addresses the central concern of the meaning of the human in a non-human dominance. The subtle representations of monstrous fungi, supernatural beings, and the undead elevate the film to further discussions of non-human systems and othering.
Keywords: Posthumanism, Non- Human Turn, Distributed Agency, Eco-Horror, PostAnthropocentrism, New-materialism, Deep-Ecology, Monster theory
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