Leonardo reviews Leonardo reviews in the social impacts at various levels of also illustrates the catastrophic failure Editor-in-Chief: Michael Punt the global economic system. of pro tective agencies to deal with Managing Editor: Bryony Dalefield Recipes for Disaster is a Finnish docu- the resulting flood. Doubts are raised mentary that tackles the question of the about the true will of the government Associate Editors: Dene Grigar, excessive amounts of anthropogenic to protect the poorest citizens of New Martha Blassnigg, Hannah Drayson CO2 continuously sent into the atmo- Orleans. The title itself refers to the A full selection of reviews is pub- sphere. Usually, remarks the director, wisely self-consistent attitude of keeping lished monthly on the LR web site: people blame corporations and indus- a hatchet in the attic to smash the ceil- <leonardoreviews.mit.edu>. tries for what is going wrong with the ing and reach, in case of flood, a safer planet—but what about the global mis- position on the roof. takes that we daily pursue in a collective The two filmmakers, Lucia Small commitment to mistaken attitudes? and Ed Pincus, captured along the DVDs “We are addicted to oil,” explains John way stories from people displaced by Webster, filming himself, “and it’s going the disaster. They simply pointed the to lead us to destruction.” camera and filmed scenes of wreckage, The film develops along six sections, confusion and hysteria. As the journey recipes for disaster whose major concerns are forms of approaches the hurricane zone, the by John Webster. Icarus Films, Brook- denial (It’s not my problem, psychologi- mood darkens. A surreal atmosphere of lyn, NY, U.S.A., 2008. DVD. 63 min, cal denial, rationalizing bad behavior, calm prevails as days are spent manag- closed captioned. Distributor’s website: persistence in error, hang on to what ing endless government and insurance <http://icarusfilms.com/new2008/reci. you have and innocently happy). The paperwork. The evacuees allow us to html>. director likens our behavior to saw- witness loss, dignity and perseverance, ing off a branch on which we sit and but also humor, although they feel like remaining happy. “Environmental exiles in their own country. Above all, the axe in the attic warning lights are flashing like crazy,” they seek meaning in what has been by Ed Pincus and Lucia Small. The Cin- he explains, “yet how do we respond? happening to them since Katrina. Thus, ema Guild, New York, NY, U.S.A., 2007. By consuming even more oil.” DVD, 110 min. Distributor’s website: Webster and his family decided to Reviews Panel: Kathryn Adams, Nameera <www.theaxeintheattic.com>. experiment with a one-year period of Ahmed, Ajaykumar, Fred Andersson, Wilfred oil detox, living without any fossil-fuel Arnold, Kasey Asberry, Jan Baetens, Niran derived tool, like cars or airplanes, and Bahjat-Abbas, Curtis Bahn, Brian Baigrie, UmbreLLa avoiding everything packaged in plas- John F. Barber, Marc Battier, Michel Bauwens, by Du Haibin. Icarus Films, Brooklyn, tics, such as take-away food, make-up, René Beekman, David Beer, Roy R. Behrens, NY, U.S.A., 2007. DVD, 93 min. Dis- Katharina Blassnigg, Martha Blassnigg, Barry shampoo, toothpaste, toys, etc. “An Blundell, Paul Brown, Annick Bureaud, Chris tributor’s website: <http://icarusfilms. oil celibacy,” they call it, while record- Cobb, Ornella Corazza, Geoff Cox, Sean Cubitt, com/new2008/nuc.html>. ing the transformation of their habits Andrea Dahlberg, Hugo de Rijke, Dennis Dol- and evaluating the results in terms of lens, Luisa Paraguai Donati, Hannah Drayson, Mathew Elgart, Maia Engeli, Anthony Enns, Reviewed by Enzo Ferrara, Turin, Italy. reduced CO 2 emissions. Jennifer Ferng, Enzo Ferrara, George Gessert, E-mail: <[email protected]>. The film confronts us with the depth Thom Gillespie, Allan Graubard, Dene Grigar, of our current oil addiction, revealing Diane Gromala, Rob Harle, Craig Harris, Although they concentrate their respec- acute withdrawal symptoms. We know Josepha Haveman, Paul Hertz, Craig J Hilton, tive attentions on supposedly separate that excess consumption is not doing us Amy Ione, Jude James, Jung A. Huh, Richard Kade, Nisar Keshvani, John Knight, Mike issues—the human factor, environmen- any improvement; rather it is going to Leggett, Helen Levin, Shi Li, Kieran Lyons, tal catastrophes and rising consumerism destroy everything we hold dear, but it Roger Malina, Jacques Mandelbrojt, Florence in developing countries—the questions appears as if we just cannot break free. Martellini, Nigel May, Eduardo Miranda, Rick raised by this set of documentaries are These are the recipes for disaster, Web- Mitchell, Robert A. Mitchell, Christine Morris, Michael Mosher, Axel Mulder, Frieder Nake, strictly intertwined. The viewpoint can ster concludes—the seemingly innocent Maureen A. Nappi, Angela Ndalianis, Mar- move from Denmark to the Southern daily failures of common people, which cus Neustetter, Martha Patricia Niño, Simone U.S.A. or China, but the focus remains lead step by step to destruction. Osthoff, Jack Ox, Narendra Pachkhede, Jussi on the same arguments: the main- And destruction can happen. The Parikka, Robert Pepperell, Cliff Pickover, Patricia stream directions of economics and Axe in the Attic presents a 60-day road Pisters, Michael Punt, Kathleen Quillian, Harry Rand, Sonya Rapoport, Trace Reddell, Alex the responsibility of governments and trip from New England to Texas in the Rotas, Sundar Sarukkai, Bill Seeley, Abhijit people for their behavior, collectively as aftermath of Katrina, the hurricane Sen, Aparna Sharma, George K. Shortess, Joel a society and individually as citizens in that struck New Orleans in 2005. Its Slayton, Chris Speed, Yvonne Spielmann, David daily life. The environmental endanger- impact was among the worst ever for Surman, Eugene Thacker, Pia Tikka, David Topper, Cyane Tornatzky, Nicholas Tresilian, ment related to greenhouse gases and the U.S.A. in terms of human lives (at Rene van Peer, Stefaan van Ryssen, Ian Ver- climate change remains in the back- least 1,836 casualties) and economic stegen, Claudia Westermann, Stephen Wilson, ground, while the perspective remains damage ($81.2 billion US). The film Jonathan Zilberg ©2010 ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 179–192, 2010 179 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon.2010.43.2.182 by guest on 27 September 2021 the breakdown of trust between the Taken together, these documenta- changing, and Istvan Csicsery-Ronay’s government and its citizens dramati- ries offer a comprehensive historical book is an indicator of how we might cally emerges, along with evidence of and societal portrait of our times—a move beyond the gap between the the scarce social resiliency of modern rather depressing one, unfortunately. scholar and the fan, the elite and the America. The influence of race and Although dissimilar, all capture another popular notions of SF. In a way, Csic- class on the destiny of the evacuees is view of the scarcely sustainable trends sery-Ronay’s book signals a third kind of questioned, as is the ethics of documen- of modernity. We can clearly feel the figure beyond the scholar and the fan, tary filmmaking itself. fickleness and superficial prosperity of which we can, a bit tongue-in-cheek, The last work discussed here, several situations along with the rising call the SF “dweller.” Whereas both the Umbrella, shows the contemporary economic tide, but what emerges as a scholar and the fan are beholden to the results of the economic reforms initi- major obstacle is the difficulty of engag- specialized, genre-based status of SF, ated in China in 1978, aimed at financ- ing in a real change of perspectives. the dweller is not only the person who ing the modernization of the nation. “Even in a sinking boat,” we are told by lives in SF story worlds but the person Farming is still the basis for the Chinese John Webster, “passengers wait for the who takes it for granted that the actual way of life, but now those sweeping very last chance before leaving.” It is the world must be understood in terms of transformations have become plainly same for social behavior and econom- SF. It is this expansion and diffusion of visible in a country increasingly divided ics: people tend to favor conventional SF that constitutes the overarching con- between its rural and urban regions. conduct, no matter if in the long term cern of Csicsery-Ronay’s book. Today, Those farmers traditionally engaged in it is the losing choice. Everywhere in the increasing ubiquity of SF in culture land cultivation continuously migrate the world, whatever the situation, peo- stimulates toward the cities, where the global ple can overcome almost any problem, economy seems to flourish before but first they must overcome themselves science-fictional habits of mind, so that we no longer treat SF as purely a genre- spreading through the whole world, and their societal divisions. engine producing formulaic effects, like the ubiquitous low-price Chinese but rather as a kind of awareness we umbrella. might call science-fictionality, a mode Using a purely observational style, of response that frames and tests expe- riences as if they were aspects of a work with no narration or commentary— Books of science fiction [2]. one can simply observe labor routines or read written sentences, maxims That said, The Seven Beauties of Science and exhortations—Umbrella is divided Fiction is, first and foremost, a book into five parts, each corresponding to the seven beaUties about SF as a genre. Csicsery-Ronay a social group. The first scene shows of science fiction has done something remarkable—he the workaday life of young employees by Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Wesleyan Uni- has posed a number of philosophical of Umbrella Factory in Guangdong versity Press, Middletown, IL, U.S.A., questions concerning SF itself, while, at Province—a monotonous, endlessly 2008.