Imagining a “post-carbon” future? Climate change as represented by media and film industries

This study explores current trends in representing and communicating climate change by media industries. It reviews the current literature on mainstream media narratives of climate change focusing on their naturalization of progress and their techno-optimism (e.g., as regards geoengineering). It provides insight on how the media industry’s commercial agenda is linked to the types of disseminated messages and dominant imaginaries. It compares respective codes inherent in news media and film/fictional representations of climate change on representative examples. It traces the evolution of disaster/dystopian genres that involve climate issues. It discusses the implications from such a comparat…

Migrating poles

Forays into the Scientific Mindset: The Two Cultures in Ian McEwan’s Saturday and Solar

The paper discusses two recent novels, Saturday (2005) and Solar (2010) written by a distinguished contemporary novelist Ian McEwan in the context of C. P. Snow’s famous lecture The Two Cultures. As the paper suggests, McEwan should be listed among the narrow group of British literary intellectuals living today who follow C. P. Snow’s recommendations and try to bridge the gap between the worlds of science and the humanities. Both Saturday and Solar, the author of the paper argues, successfully demonstrate how science may become a rewarding and rich source of inspiration for a novelist.