%0 Journal Article
%T Precarious Planet: Ecological Violence in The Age of Stupid
%A Catherine Mary Lord
%J Excursions
%D 2012
%I University of Sussex
%X Franny Armstrong¡¯s The Age of Stupid is a mosaic structured documentary which explores how human activity may indeed send the planet into ecological breakdown. The fictional and speculative future is conveyed through the dramatic device of a narrator, Pete Postlethwaite, who plays the world¡¯s last archivist. He speaks from 2055, attempting to analyse through the selected documentaries, how humanity caused its own collective suicide. However, the film invites more than a reading that emphasises its politically activist aspects. Rather, through a dialogue with Giorgio Agamben¡¯s concept of ¡®bare life¡¯, Walter Benjamin¡¯s ¡®Critique of Violence¡¯ (1921) and Jacques Derrida¡¯s critique of this in ¡®Force of Law¡¯ (2002), the film can deliver readings which do theoretical work. The dialogue between the film and the classical theoretical texts can offer a way of re-working the applicability of Benjamin¡¯s concepts of ¡®mythical¡¯ and ¡®divine¡¯ violence and the invocation to which they point. Namely, Benjamin¡¯s suggestion that it is important to declare a ¡®state of emergency¡¯ (1940).
%U http://www.excursions-journal.org.uk/index.php/excursions/article/view/62