Słowa kluczowe
myth in film
science fiction cinema
The Girl with All the Gifts
Annihilation
feminist film theory
Jak cytować
Abstrakt
This article examines the myth of Pandora as a narrative structure within contemporary science-fiction cinema. While traditionally seen as the source of chaos and misfortune, Pandora has also been interpreted as a figure of nature and transformation. Drawing on Jane Ellen Harrison’s early 20th-century critique of Hesiod’s dominant version of the myth, the paper explores how science-fiction films revisit and reimagine this ambiguous figure. Focusing on The Girl with All the Gifts (2016) and Annihilation (2018), the analysis investigates how the Pandora myth – seen through the lens of feminist theory and ecocritical perspectives – resonates in portrayals of female protagonists who confront biological catastrophe and ecological mutation. The article introduces the concept of the “Pandora theme” as cultural DNA consisting of three core traits: pioneering femininity, transgression, and alignment with nature. These traits serve as a framework for interpreting mythic continuity in cinematic storytelling.
Bibliografia
Abramowska Janina, Powtórzenia i wybory: Studia z tematologii i poetyki historycznej, Rebis, Poznań 1995.
Carey M.R., The Girl with All the Gifts, Hachette UK, 2014, e-book.
Creed Barbara, The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, 2nd ed., Routledge, London and New York 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003006756
Gajewska Grażyna, Ekofantastyka: Ujęcie sympojetyczne, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, Poznań 2023.
Graves Robert, Greek Myths, Penguin Books, 2017, e-book.
Green Planets: Ecology and Science Fiction, eds. Gerry Canavan, Kim S. Robinson, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown 2014.
Harrison Jane E., Pandora’s Box, “The Journal of Hellenic Studies” 1900, vol. 20, pp. 99–114. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/623745
Harrison Jane E., Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1908.
Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White, William Heinemann and The Macmillan Co., London and New York 1914.
Homer, The Iliad: A New Translation by Peter Green, University of California Press, Oakland 2015, e-book.
Manakidou Flora P., Pandora, Athena, the Kekropides, and the Erechtheides: Female Duality in Athenian Myth and Cult, “Classics@” 2023, vol. 25, https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HLNC.ESSAY:103900178 (accessed: 1.02.2025).
Mayor Adrienne, Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691185446
Milner Andrew, Burgmann J.R., Science Fiction and Climate Change: A Sociological Approach, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/liverpool/9781789621723.001.0001
The Nonhuman Turn, ed. Richard Grusin, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 2015.
Rojek Patrycja, Figura mitologicznej Kasandry w filmach science fiction, “Images. The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication” 2020, no. 28(37), pp. 233–246. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/i.2020.37.14
Smith A. Hamilton, The Making of Pandora, “The Journal of Hellenic Studies” 1890, vol. 11, pp. 278–283. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/623433
Sutton Thomas C., Sutton Marilyn, Science Fiction as Mythology, “Western Folklore” 1969, no. 28(4), pp. 230–237. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1499217
VanderMeer Jeff, Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy), HarperCollins Publishers, 2014, e-book.
Warner Marina, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 2000.
Licencja
Prawa autorskie (c) 2025 Patrycja Rojek
Utwór dostępny jest na licencji Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa 4.0 Międzynarodowe.