Shimmer et Chimère: Genre, Transe et Rimes à l’Ère de l’Anthropocène dans Annihilation

Alex Garland’s Annihilation functions as a subversive synthesis of science fiction and horror, reconfiguring established genre tropes to confront the ontological uncertainties of the Anthropocene. By moving beyond traditional monster narratives, the film challenges human-centric perspectives and explores the fluid boundaries between identity and environment. This cinematic work serves as a progressive evolution of the genre, utilizing the philosophical framework of the Chthulucene to interrogate the nature of subjectivity and agency when human existence is absorbed or replicated by an alien force.

The narrative employs a methodology of rhyme and echo, utilizing intermedial citations to recontextualize iconic motifs from foundational genre works such as Alien and The Thing. Rather than relying on binary distinctions between human and monster, the film adopts the Ship of Theseus paradox as a core metaphor for cellular replacement and existential transformation. This approach shifts the focus from nihilistic resolutions toward a deeper, transgressive introspection regarding the relationship between humanity and the natural world.

While the film navigates the tension between commercial Hollywood conservatism—which ultimately relegated its distribution to streaming platforms—it succeeds in pushing the aesthetic and epistemological limits of contemporary cinema. By integrating Lovecraftian horror with feminist ecological concerns, the work establishes a new paradigm for eco-fiction. Ultimately, the film stands as a critical intervention in modern genre studies, demonstrating how cinematic language can be repurposed to reflect the complex, non-linear realities of an era defined by environmental instability and the dissolution of the individual self.