PT Journal
AU Liptakova, V
TI Animated Film and the Doubts of the Space Age. About Scepticism in Vaclav Mergl's films: Laokoon, Crabs and Homunculus
SO Iluminace
PY 2024
BP 103
EP 134
VL 35
IS 3
DI 10.58193/ilu.1766
WP https://iluminace.cz/en/artkey/ilu-202303-0002.php
DE Vaclav Mergl; animated fi lm; Hannah Arendt; skepticism; technology
SN 0862397X
AB This article primarily focuses on Vaclav Mergl's sci-fi films Laokoon, Crabs and Homunculus. With the help of theoretical frameworks of technological skepticism (or skepticism of the so-called Space Age), it interprets these movies, whereas significantly working with the considerations of Hannah Arendt, presented in her text "The Conquest of Space and the Stature of Man". Since Vaclav Mergl takes his works to the level of relatively complex philosophical ideas, which he often expresses through images, this article also takes into account his independent artworks. However, it observes the artist's creative processes primarily in his films. The text focuses on humanistic and existential thinking about the position of man in the connection with scientific and technological progress. Moreover, the article also deals with the ways, in which meanings are created in the selected films through the genre (and aesthetics) of science fiction.
ER