BEFORE THE ANTHROPOCENE “Unearthing the Human”

THE MOVIE by Jefferson Vimana

 

Anthropocene

ˈanθrəpəˌsiːn/

adjective

 

• relating to or denoting the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.

• the Anthropocene period.

• noun: Anthropocene

 

 

“Before the Anthropocene” Movement Alpha ‘Unearthing the Human’ {trailer}

                                         youtube.com/watch?v=1ODfkUsdJXE

 

In an attempt to bridge the world of the past and the current age we find ourselves literally having to travel back in time from a future point. Maybe this point is even further into the future than we can imagine. Only in that we can then understand the current point while looking back. The current point though seems to never end. It is the journey most of us don’t even realise we are on. Are we close to the end point? The closing chapter? If we can understand the world now including the past maybe we can find new answers to the complexity of humanity and its journey into the future that won’t include our demise.

 

The world as we know is full of violence that haunts our past and present. Australian culture has had an attitude of denial. A denial of our past and the injustice metered out to Indigenous Australians. This past simply haunts us unknowingly. The land itself seems cursed to the Europeans who seek to dominate it and in turn destroy it. The act of denial has really caught on across the world with Australia paving the way. The denial of climate change and clamp down on immigration to exclude those who have arrived by boat. The irony seems lost on most Australians as they look back on the colonies and their arrival by boat. The continual act of denial has only grown in stature as to become a conservative and business minded position of authority.

 

What we find though is artists and those who create from a perspective of looking at the past and the possible future can create an inclusive world now. In looking at BEFORE THE ANTHROPOCENE “Unearthing the Human” I personally feel he is exploring what most Australians feel too guilty to explore though artists do explore this territory. There are many strong Indigenous voices still protesting and taking on current attitudes like Adam Hill for example in painting.

The movie though has a fresh perspective as it looks at the world and takes a futuristic approach full of magic and technology to tell a story of a world that needs to be explored. It really does need to be explored and looked at because we have simply stood by as the city is handed over to the wealthy. From ‘The Block’ in Redfern and most of Sydney we see the city going to developers with no end in sight. It will inevitably disenfranchise us all if we lose diverse neighbourhoods. The movie touches on a few of these issues that we need to look at closely and push back against. Inequality keeps growing ever so slowly but we can engage and that is what the movie does from a new angle.

 

AFTER THOUGHTS:

Another point of view is the actual unreality of colour conversion in the movie. It is quite relatable to the futuristic element but also denotes how hard it is to believe the content in that it doesn’t gel with the reality we want to see or think we see. Also I found it interesting to see a TAB in all its futuristic glory. It isn’t something we think about in Australia as it is either tasteless or an obsession. The future perspective of this environment is part of the immersion into the thinking of gambling from poker machines to the TAB. Gambling as an immersion into a possible future perhaps which tends to disappoint?