Manchester University Press
6 Beautiful doom
-
Sam Haddow
Abstract
Dennis Kelly’s television drama Utopia (2013–14) is a thriller whose characters are caught up in conspiracies about the global overpopulation crisis. The show’s visual presentation, however, boasts striking landscapes that appear to have already been emptied of humans. This chapter, then, explores a key tension between the show’s narrative and its aesthetic – on the one hand a discussion of how to tackle our planetary emergency and on the other a beautiful rendering of a world in which we are already doomed.
Abstract
Dennis Kelly’s television drama Utopia (2013–14) is a thriller whose characters are caught up in conspiracies about the global overpopulation crisis. The show’s visual presentation, however, boasts striking landscapes that appear to have already been emptied of humans. This chapter, then, explores a key tension between the show’s narrative and its aesthetic – on the one hand a discussion of how to tackle our planetary emergency and on the other a beautiful rendering of a world in which we are already doomed.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of illustrations vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- A foreword xii
- Introduction 1
- I Incubation 19
- 1 DNA in the classroom 21
- 2 Suspended in time and place 39
- 3 ‘I’ll teach you a thing or two’ 55
- II Antibodies 71
- 4 ‘Are you sick, yet? / Are you disgusted, yet?’ 73
- 5 Utopia 90
- 6 Beautiful doom 105
- 7 Subjectivity in Dennis Kelly’s early drama 118
- III False positives 135
- 8 ‘I just want it to be your words’ 137
- 9 ‘What is the difference between made up and real?’ 152
- 10 ‘What else isn’t true?’, or, Dennis Kelly’s expressionism 170
- 11 Atopia 184
- IV Variants 201
- 12 ‘Now look, are you going to tell me a story or not?’ 203
- 13 Dennis Kelly’s The Gods Weep at the Royal Shakespeare Company 217
- 14 Performing stories, engaging audiences 233
- Conclusion 251
- Index 264
- Plates 267
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of illustrations vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- A foreword xii
- Introduction 1
- I Incubation 19
- 1 DNA in the classroom 21
- 2 Suspended in time and place 39
- 3 ‘I’ll teach you a thing or two’ 55
- II Antibodies 71
- 4 ‘Are you sick, yet? / Are you disgusted, yet?’ 73
- 5 Utopia 90
- 6 Beautiful doom 105
- 7 Subjectivity in Dennis Kelly’s early drama 118
- III False positives 135
- 8 ‘I just want it to be your words’ 137
- 9 ‘What is the difference between made up and real?’ 152
- 10 ‘What else isn’t true?’, or, Dennis Kelly’s expressionism 170
- 11 Atopia 184
- IV Variants 201
- 12 ‘Now look, are you going to tell me a story or not?’ 203
- 13 Dennis Kelly’s The Gods Weep at the Royal Shakespeare Company 217
- 14 Performing stories, engaging audiences 233
- Conclusion 251
- Index 264
- Plates 267
