Abstract
Recent films (The Burning Sea [2022]), television serials (e.g., Rig45 [2018, 20], The Rig [2023–]) and videogames (Still Wakes the Deep [forthcoming 2024]) have reignited the aesthetics of the niche sub-genre of psychological horror films set on offshore oil rigs. Here, an imperilled crew are threatened by a malevolent organism released from deep below due to “the company’s” obdurate persistence in drilling for oil and gas. In a thinly veiled allegory, petro-capitalism (and the concealment of malfeasance) are recognised as the cause of the climate crisis. In generic terms, defeat of the terrible threat is ultimately deferred, encouraging the production of sequels as pre-sold commodities; the stakes are high for humankind.
In this paper I explore the aesthetics of horror in the Amazon Prime television serial, The Rig (2023), which flows from fear, through seduction, to the ecstatic sublime (Gardner 2022) when the Earth “punches back”. I ask whether this entanglement of empathy, spectacle and contemplation with the actions of the non-human (Atkinson and Parsayi 2021) enable acceptance of a future without humans. To paraphrase Ridley Scott, on an offshore oil rig “no-one can hear you scream.”
In this paper I explore the aesthetics of horror in the Amazon Prime television serial, The Rig (2023), which flows from fear, through seduction, to the ecstatic sublime (Gardner 2022) when the Earth “punches back”. I ask whether this entanglement of empathy, spectacle and contemplation with the actions of the non-human (Atkinson and Parsayi 2021) enable acceptance of a future without humans. To paraphrase Ridley Scott, on an offshore oil rig “no-one can hear you scream.”
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Unpublished - 25 May 2024 |
Event | Music and the Moving Image - New York University, New York, United States Duration: 24 May 2024 → 26 May 2024 Conference number: XX |
Conference
Conference | Music and the Moving Image |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | New York |
Period | 24/05/24 → 26/05/24 |