ARCHITECTURE IN FICTION

Architecture in Fiction Estrangement, Naturalization and Social Commentary in the Architecture of Contemporary Speculative Fiction Films

by

RUCHITA L. KANPILLEWAR A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MA Architecture (History and Theory)

University of Westminster, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment September 2019

IMAGES DISCLAIMER: All images used in this document are credited to the sources (see Appendix). This work is created purely for academic and non-commercial purposes. All original images and artwork from the films Black Panther and Thor: Ragnarok are owned by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Motion Pictures.

ABSTRACT In many contemporary cities, the architectural landscapes of everyday buildings, barring a few exceptions, appear to be products of unimaginative volumes of glass and concrete. This dissertation is concerned with the deterioration of architectural ‘language’ in the day-to-day architecture of the present. Such interventions that neglect the ‘art’ in architecture lack the ability to communicate or signify the conditions of its Time, Place and People. As with all cultural arts, the purpose of communication has always been one of the central functions of architecture. The quality of storytelling, that was inherent in historic architecture, is something that contemporary architecture could perhaps strive to enhance. For this purpose, this research seeks inspiration in other forms of storytelling such as speculative fiction.

This work can be seen as positing two basic arguments: 1. Arguing the case for virtual media-architecture in fiction films: Proposing that the digital visualizations stand as valid exercises in architectural design, and are worthy of serious and critical investigation in architectural studies.

2. The essential nature of fictional narratives is to communicate the stories and persuade its audience. Thus, the architecture of fiction films possesses effective strategies of communication, which could inspire present architectural practice.

The architectures studied here are from some of the most popular speculative fiction films of the past two decades. Some contemporary films are paving the path for a changed course of architectural imaginations in similar genres of fiction. Also, the meaningful social commentary through fiction opens up avenues for critical thinking and imagination. In that regard, the agency of fiction in changing our perspectives towards reality is also discussed briefly. The main case study in this research is the Marvel superhero film Black Panther (2018), and to some extent Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

Some key concepts that form the framework of the genre of fiction were studied through referring literary studies, that are also applicable to films. The concepts of ‘estrangement’ and ‘naturalization’ serve as the reference points for the discussion of the architecture in the films. Thus, themes of modern nostalgia, alienation and familiarization in their architecture is discussed. The idea, that fantasy is ultimately rooted in the lack of something, is also explored to further gain insight to issues of architectural alienation in present day societies.

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In memory of the legend, Stan Lee—the man who showed a million young minds the power of dreams.

“With great power, comes great responsibility.”

– Stan Lee (28 December 1922 – 12 November 2018)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to take the opportunity to express sincerest gratitude to my mentor Dr. Krystallia Kamvasinou for being immensely understanding and patient with me and guiding my chaotic thoughts. Without her constant advice and support, I may not have been able to put this dissertation together.

I thank all tutors and external examiners who provided their valuable feedback. The role of my supportive peers has also been a major force driving me towards improvement.

Special thanks are due to my friend, Prajakta, for being a constant source of much needed constructive critique and encouragement.

I am indebted to my family and friends who have been supporting me from 4,625 miles away, and ensuring in every way that my process of learning continues unhindered.

Last but not the least, I acknowledge all the forces of the universe for making this happen.

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“ I was gifted the bird’s eye so I flew over the skies. I flew to view the cities of the world, viewed the new and the old. The new city keeps repeating itself—like a parallax, like a kaleidoscope that forgot to bring its imagination to school. I wonder if all the wizards, artists and visionaries of the world had gone on a strike when the new cities were being built. Now this guilt of my doing has overtaken me.

The landscapes of my physical defy those of my dreams.

And I remember I was raised to build dreams, wasn’t I?

That day when you lay on the grass listening to the water, clutching a stone, breathing the dark sky, tasting the stardust, you promised your people that you would protect this home.

You said you would worship Time. You confessed how you love the way this reality loves you, and you swore you could make it better, didn’t you?

”

— R uchita L. K anpillewar

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PREFACE The dissertation is, to some level, an attempt to provide an honest record of the process of this research. The different issues discussed herein are rather implicitly interlinked. Whilst reading this work, it would be helpful to acknowledge that often it takes reading between the lines to compensate for the limits of verbal articulation.

Considering the personal limitations in that area, this work is a sincere effort of doing the best of my present humble capacity.

Any research endeavor, as we know it, is almost never a linear process. The interest of this study shifted from literary fictional architecture to films; and then from studying the technical aspects of production design to the depth of architectural symbolisms and discovering the communicative role of architecture itself in the narratives.

Upon studying the nuances of the genre of fiction, it became apparent that it performs other functions beyond communication. The rich potential of fiction to provide critical insights and shape our realities prompted the addressing of some of the urgent issues in contemporary architecture. Even though that may not have been the initial intention of studying the cases, the observations that emerged required attention to these deeper aspects as well, and hence, were reflected upon.

The study, therefore, culminates in an open conclusion which is rather a reflection of the unpredictable journey of this research. Since the paper also deals with some concepts specific to other subject areas like literature and film, certain concepts and theories are not expanded upon in considerable detail. However, an effort is made to provide necessary preliminary introductions.

This endevour has been more like a blindfolded walk—a meandering exploration guided by the primal senses, and so could it appear to the reader. I humbly urge the kind reader to stay with me with as much patience as it takes to make sense of and put together the complex ponderings of the mind.

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CONT 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Premise of the study 4 1.3 Methodology 6

2. WHY FICTION FILMS? 2.1 Why Films? 9 2.1.1 ‘Unbuilt’ architecture 10 2.2.2 Overlaps between real and virtual architecture

12

2.2 Why Fiction? 13 2.1.1 Influence of fiction on reality

13

2.2.2 Social commentary through speculative fiction

14

3. PREREQUISITES

3.1 Cognition 20 3.1.1 Cognitive-effect 22

3.2 Estrangement and Naturalization 22 3.3 Dystopian and Utopian futures in contemporary fantastic

ENTS 4. FILM STUDY: ‘BLACK PANTHER’

4.1 The naturalization of estranged 28 4.1.1 Character of the urban landscape

28

4.1.2 Valorizing history 36 4.1.3 Building the new along with the old

37

4.1.4 The People 41 4.1.5 An alternative ‘utopia’ 44 4.1.6 Nostalgia, disenchantment and the yearning for fantasy

48

4.1.7 Absence and its reflections in fantasy

49

4.1.8 Shuri’s Lab 50

5. BRIEF FILM STUDY: ‘THOR: RAGNAROK’ 5.1 Future Antiquity 58

CONCLUSION 68 BIBLIOGRAPHY 72 FILMS 77 IMAGE SOURCES 78

Chapter One INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION The two major phenomena―Industrial revolution followed by modernism and the International Style in the 1920s, gradually changed architectural vocabulary in most cities all over the world. As a later response, it attracted relentless critique from many architects in the late 20th century for erasing any traces of cultural relevance from the emerged architecture of the cities during that period. That led to post-modernism, a bold revolt against the muted concrete, glass and steel boxes of the previous decades. However, once again we find our cities made of the same architectural language that was intended to be ‘universal’.

The reason for emphasizing on architectural ‘language’ in this paper, stems from the notions in semiotic structuralist studies that entered architecture in early 1900s. The works of late renowned semiotician, Umberto Eco have presented and studied architecture as a language―a medium of communication, a system made of signs that communicates through signification.1 He proposed that “every cultural phenomenon may be studied as communication”.2 Like all cultural phenomena, the role of architecture in communication of ideas, of signifying messages, has been

an inextricable part of its condition. Whether it is through representation of a communal or individual identity, or of its complex contextual conditions. In today’s times, the buildings whose signified messages are directly received by its people, albeit present, are very rare. In majority of the day-to-day architecture produced today the collective signs hardly signify a wide variety of meanings. If architecture is the language, and the signs that it is made of are the words comprising that language, it seems reasonable to question whether today’s architecture is degrading its lexicon.

To provide a direct visual resonance of the aforementioned sentiment, following is a series of recent views of different cities in different parts of the world. Proposed here is a small puzzle of match-the-pairs with the images and the accompanying list of names of cities (in no particular order).

1 Umberto Eco, ‘Function and Sign: Semiotics of Architecture’, Structures Implicit and Explicit, (Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania: Falcon Press, 1973).

2 Michael Caesar, Umberto Eco: Philosophy, Semiotics, and the Work of Fiction. (Wiley-Blackwell: 1999), 55.

1

Introduction

SINGAPORE

DUBAI

VANCOUVER

MUMBAI

CAPE TOWN

MINNEAPOLIS

JOHANNESBURG

MELBOURNE

(Top to bottom) Figures 1, 2, 3, 4

(Top to bottom) Figures 5, 6, 7, 8

M ATCH THE PAIRS 2

Introduction

Solving this puzzle, although not impossible, is admittedly difficult. The exercise perhaps eliminates the need for articulation or elaboration of the sentiment in many words.

The superficial imagery of such varying regions in different continents of the world surprisingly lacks meaningful distinction in character. In an attempt to achieve a universal visual language in architecture, the fact was perhaps disregarded that not the same language is understood by people throughout the world.

To establish a successful delivery of messages, the language of the message must be known to the receiver. If there is absence of a mutually understood language, or absence of any messages and stories at all, then the scope for mutual exchange dies. The lack of communication due to the absence of a mutually shared language between the people and their built surroundings has also led to lack of association. Distinct architectural stories are getting rare and rarer to witness in some contemporary cities, and people’s reception of any architectural messages seems to be fading. Hence, stories appearing in other forms that are well received by the people, seem like a promising area to inquire ‘what it is about the medium that people are able to deeply relate with’. Possibly one may encounter some secrets and characteristics of that medium of communication that appears to be more successful in storytelling―some of which might prove worth adopting in contemporary architecture.

The chosen form of storytelling to be studied for this research is the space of speculative fiction. Particularly, visual translations of the fictional imaginations. To find a space of visual representation of storytelling that would be most suitable for comparison and even inspiration for architecture, the medium of film is chosen. The rationale for the choices would be expanded upon in the subsequent chapters.

Speculative fiction as a creative genre is very rich in critical message delivery and social commentary, which makes it an opulent ground to study the means of signification and communication of messages. It encompasses a wide range of genres including fantasy, science fiction, dystopian and utopian fiction, horror and supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, fairytale fantasy, etc. Many fictional works being produced in the twenty-first century are products of interpenetration of multiple genres. The overlaps have rendered old definitions of some genres obsolete and in need of renewed consideration in scholarly studies. Modern literary and film critics and academics have lately been arguing, debating upon the strict distinction between science fiction and fantasy propounded in 1979 by academic, writer and critic, Darko Suvin, a seminal figure in science fiction studies.3 On account of the vague boundaries between the genres in contemporary fiction, this dissertation shall use the broader term, ‘speculative fiction.3

3 Darko Suvin, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre, (Yale University Press: 1979).

3

Introduction

For this research, contemporary speculative fiction films that have been statistically found to be the most popular of this decade, were identified and listed; especially adaptations of any form of literary fiction. It was observed from the list, that the majority of works of fiction that have been cultural definers of the past two decades belong to either fantasy genre or a hybrid between science fiction (SF) and fantasy. Thus, the enquiry is undertaken through a few works of fantasy and science fiction crossover films, the major focus being on the 2018 superhero film, Black Panther.

1.2 PREMISE OF THE STUDY This research is based on the premise: Fictional architecture possesses strategies of effective communication. Therefore, the aim of this research is to explore the communicative strategies used in constructing architectural environments in 21st century popular speculative fiction films, and understand whether they can inspire and influence contemporary architectural practice. The objectives of the study are as follows:  Briefly exploring the medium of fiction and the mutual exchange between fiction and reality.  Studying the architectural imaginations in popular contemporary speculative fiction films.

- Interpreting the architectural language and design approach adopted therein.

Critically thinking about what is being signified and how, i.e. the messages and the manner of their manifestation.

- Reflecting on the observations. Inferring why the messages were conveyed and their relevance to present reality.  Discussing whether the communicative strategies emerging from the studies are relevant and potentially inspirational for real architectural practice.

4

Introduction

If the WHAT and WHY is studied, the HOW will make sense i.e. if the content and intent of the messages is learnt then the means of its delivery would become more comprehensible.

5

Introduction

1.3 METHODOLOGY This study essentially employs qualitative research.4 It began as an exercise fairly inspired from the grounded theory (GT) approach in sociological research as described by Glaser,5 involving inductive reasoning for qualitative data analysis.

For instance, grounded theory method often begins with a question or simply with collecting qualitative data; and a common pattern of concepts, elements and ideas then become apparent upon reviewing the data. The datum, ‘All is data’, meaning everything encountered in the process of study of an area is data, was relevant to this research.6 The sources useful for this study were films, literary novels, journal and news articles, website, online blogs, video and published interviews of production designers of fantasy fiction films and television series. Other information on the concepts and theories in fiction and film studies, as well as sociological and architectural theory were acquired from relevant literature reviews. Films primarily serve as the case studies for this research.

As mentioned previously, the aim of this research is to understand ‘whether’ the communicative strategies used in speculative fiction films could be inspirational to real practice. Meaning, the research began as an experiment with an unpredictable outcome. Due consideration was given to the possibility that the findings may not necessarily be practically applicable in common contemporary architectural practice. However, the subsequent chapters will also sufficiently shed light upon the reasons for choosing to study media-architecture in fiction films to enrich critical thinking upon contemporary architecture.

4 Earl R. Babbie, The Basics of Social Research, 6th ed. (Wadsworth Cengage: 2014), 303-04. “Qualitative research is a scientific method of observation to gather nonnumerical data.”

5 Glaser, The Constant Comparative Method of Qualitative Analysis. Social Problems, 12(4), (1965), 445, 43 JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/798843

6 Nicholas Ralph, Melanie Birks and Ysanne Chapman, Contextual Positioning: Using Documents as Extant Data in Grounded Theory Research, SAGE Open: 4 (3): 2014.

“All is data is a fundamental property of GT which means that everything that the researcher encounters when studying a certain area is data – not only interviews or observations but anything that helps the researcher generating concepts for the emerging theory. According to Ralph, Birks & Chapman (2014) field notes can come from informal interviews, lectures, seminars, expert group meetings, newspaper articles, Internet mail lists, even television shows, conversations with friends etc.”

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Chapter Two WHY FICTION FILMS ?

Why Fiction Films?

Chapter 2

WHY FICTION FILMS?

For a while, taking a pause in the discussion regarding the enhancement of contemporary architecture as regards communication, this chapter is intended to set a foundation for the forthcoming chapters. As promised earlier, the choice of fiction films to undertake the study would be rationalized herein. In order to address the fundamentals before the dissertation proceeds, this chapter aims to clarify and justify the following: 1) Why Films? 2) Why Fiction?

2.1 WHY FILMS?

Visual + Virtual + Designed The initial broad interest of this research was literary speculative fiction. However, the focus gradually settled on films, as the latter seemed to better facilitate the discussions that would follow. The primary reason being― films serve as a common field for all readers by providing visual translations of an architectural vision. As opposed to literary descriptions, which each reader imagines differently, films enable all viewers to ‘see’ the architectural imaginations, upon the common ground of which further relevant discussions can take place.

7 Renault, Gregory. “Science Fiction as Cognitive Estrangement: Darko Suvin and the Marxist Critique of Mass Culture.” Discourse2 (1980): 114.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/41389056.

8 Ibid. p. 114

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Why Fiction Films?

For a simpler understanding, consider two categories of fiction films: the one where the physical environments in which the narrative is based are real life locations―sets or places existing in reality (similar to naturalist fiction7 in literary studies); the other where the environments are entirely fantastical and are generated in a ‘virtual’ space, just as in computer games. Such works representing alternate realities through fictional environments are also referred to as ‘estranged’ fiction.8 This paper particularly concentrates on the later.

The reason why the physical environments in such films can be viewed as exercises in architectural design is because, in a way, they are so. This notion can be credited to the present digital transformation in the architectural profession due to which the act of designing has shifted from paper to the screen. Practices have simply turned from physical to digital at every stage of architectural design up until physical execution. In this light, every architectural design―every drawing, view, model, digital simulation can be said to be a work of fiction; a product of the designer’s imagination, until it is actually built. This fictional work is exactly what when taken seriously enough, is turned into reality. The following section would elaborate on this notion, and address the question: Why can fictional architecture created in a ‘virtual’ space, like films, be seen as a valid exercise in architectural design?

2.1.1 ‘Unbuilt’ architecture If we are to focus on the ‘virtual’ nature of existence of the ‘fictional’ environments that will be studied in this paper, the question arises―why study the ‘unreal’ to scrutinize the real?

Earlier, hand produced drawings were accorded the status of being equivalent to architectural design, regardless of whether they were built. Consider the case of Mies Van Der Rohe’s Brick Country House and accompanying visionary and schematic projects in 1920s which were essentially created as competition entries and none were really built.

The projects were widely publicized and received much critical attention as architectural works nevertheless.9 Similarly in the second half of the 20th century, John Hejduk presented drawings as equivalents of architectural creations. He believed “that a drawing could stand by itself as a completed work of architecture.”10

7 Renault, Gregory. “Science Fiction as Cognitive Estrangement: Darko Suvin and the Marxist Critique of Mass Culture.” Discourse2 (1980): 114. http://www.

jstor.org/stable/41389056.

8 Ibid. p. 114 9 Sonit Bafna, ‘How architectural drawings work — and what that implies for the role of representation in architecture’, The Journal of Architecture, (13) (5)

(Atlanta GA, USA: Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Architecture, 2014), 538-39.

10 Zac Porter, ‘John Hejduk: Moving Masques’, Drawing Summit 2013, Infamous Lines Seminar, (Georgia: Georgia Tech School of Architecture, 2013) Available

from https://cargocollective.com/InfamousLines/John-Hejduk (Accessed 6.04.2019)

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Why Fiction Films?

Figure 9 Mies van der Rohe, Landhaus in Brick, 1924: exhibition panels showing perspective view (above) and schematic floor plan (below).11

Figure 10 John Hejduk: Three Projects, it contains (Diamond House A and B, Diamond Museum)

An analogous phenomenon to that of the drawings, in contemporary architectural practice, is that of virtual buildings and cities that are never actually built in the material dimension; whether in digital architectural reproductions, in films or computer games. The fact that these environments exist in three-dimensions in the virtual plane, and are formal expressions of architectural prowess, qualify them as a close companion of the real, despite the difference in their function. Neither the architectural drawings nor the fictional imaginations exist on the physical plane, but are works of architectural design nevertheless.

Thus, if we are to look for analysis, critique, appreciation or inspiration as regards our built environment as we know it, it would be beneficial to consider the fictional and virtual realms as well.

Therefore, to proceed further, this research requires the position of the argument first and foremost: A work in architectural design can be seen as simply that—regardless of it being ‘built’, being created by a ‘qualified’ architect or of its medium of manifestation. Here, the architecture in selected speculative fiction films would be seen as valid exercises in architectural design, and would be studied as such.

11 Sonit Bafna, (2014), 538.

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Why Fiction Films?

2.1.2 Overlaps between real and virtual architecture Today, right from the stage of conceptualizing, ideating to designing, construction, and promotion—digital technology and 3D visualization computer software and BIM play an integral part of the practice. Similarly, the film industry has undergone remarkable developments over the years in terms of visual effects due to advanced computer graphics and digital technology, as well as highend technical equipment that make creation of complex physical settings possible. Presently the fictional worlds and real architecture have come even closer because of the overlap of the mediums both fields use today. For the visual manifestations of imaginary worlds, both fields use the same digital technology and computer software.

Architects are increasingly using virtual reality (VR) to simulate physical environments to communicate the closest possible experience of the design, to the clients. As are the users becoming increasingly familiar to experiencing digital and virtual information in their physical surroundings. It is a language that users commonly understand better than 2D architectural drawings. 3D visualizations and walkthroughs are a major part of architectural promotion. In other words, the drawing that was architectural design has now become the design inside of a screen.

The same platforms are used to create the fictional architectures imagined by writers, artists and other visionaries besides architects. It is crucial to note that this shared platform has caused mutual crossovers in the fields.12 Many architects are now working in the production design of films and virtual game space design or computer games.

Their design skills are equally useful there. The knowledge of architectural education is, hence, being implemented in the virtual fields as well. Even though many of those professionals may not have been trained architects but artists instead, they have been definitely exercising architectural design.

Besides the virtual architectures in real practice and in films, computer games have gained equal dominance in the field. BIM is already in use for heritage and conservation practices for recording and documentation (Historic Building Information Modelling ‘HBIM’).

There had emerged recent discussions of the potential aid that the famous computer game, Assassins Creed could provide in restoring the Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris.13 This is yet another evidence of the close engagement between real and virtual architecture, on levels that may not seem obvious on a superficial view of the fields in juxtaposition. Thus, in this light, this paper will accordingly study architectures created in the virtual space of film.

12 Douglas Shaw, ‘The architects using animation skills to build film careers’, BBC News (2015). https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33757862 (Accessed 8 May 2019) 13 ‘Notre-Dame: Assassin’s Creed Unity giveaway praised’, BBC News, Newsbeat, (2019). https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-48004285?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cz553zpq0qdt/notre-dame-fire&link_ location=live-reporting-story (Accessed 25 April 2019)

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Why Fiction Films?

2.2 WHY FICTION

Imagination + Possibilities + Caution The previous section explained the rationale for the choice of the medium of film for this study. However, there remains another question to be answered: Why should we study imaginary architecture instead of solely focusing on architectural designs made for reality? As mentioned in the list of objectives of this research, understanding the mutual relation between fiction and reality, and to briefly investigate the nature of fiction as a medium is crucial.

2.2.1 Influence of fiction on reality Fiction is invariably rooted in reality, and imagination is based on the foundations of the empirical world that we inhabit. An imaginary, altered version of reality possesses a potential of inspiring new innovations in the real world. Historian Yuval Noah Harari in his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind highlights that “the human ability to imagine things and then collectively treat them as a part of reality” appears to be the main distinction between humans and other animals.14 Imagination is a powerful tool that has shaped our reality.

Many developments in technological fields like space travel, communication, transport, entertainment have been inspired from fictional imaginations and futuristic depictions; a major source being the science fiction genre.15 A powerful form of imagination is fantasy, which, as a creative genre has rather utopian connotations amongst readers and enthusiasts. Fantasy can be defined as “a pleasant but unlikely situation that you enjoy thinking about” (Cambridge Dictionary).

14 Yuval Noah Harrari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Reprint ed. (New York, Harper Collins Publishers: 2015).

15 ‘Science Fiction’s Influences on Modern Society’, The Unsolicited Press (2015) http://www.unsolicitedpress.com/blog/science-fictions-influences-on-modern-society (Accessed on 19 June 2019)

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Why Fiction Films?

An architectural style known as ‘fantastic architecture’ features works of renowned architects like Antonio Gaudi, Bruno Taut and Hans Poelzig. It is typically characterized by striking and amusing forms generally intended for the pleasure of the owner of the buildings.16 Besides fantasy, the futuristic descriptions of the world in science fiction (SF) inspired what is known as ‘googie architecture’ that spread in Southern California around the 1930s.17 It was a form of post-war American futurism inspired from the Space Age, typically incorporating aerodynamic and geometric forms, modern car culture, jet and spaceship designs. Yet besides architectural styles, there have been innumerable individual buildings and urban design instances that drew inspiration from fiction. To mention one humble example―architect and phenomenologist Steven Holl’s award winning but now demolished House on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass, built in 1988 was inspired from the fiction novel Moby Dick.18

2.2.2 Social commentary through speculative fiction This section of the paper is an effort to undertake a sweeping survey of the dominant works from the last century till date, to obtain a general idea of the prominent content and intent of messages delivered through speculative fiction; so as to reveal the existence of a common pattern if any.

Speculative fiction as a genre is reflective of its name. Its nature is to speculate, extrapolate and predict possibilities generally based on existing science and technology, sociocultural conditions or/and unfounded scientific inventions.

Science fiction (SF), a subgenre of speculative fiction, has been one of the primary and most prominent genres to express socio-political and technological critique. Ever since the origin of SF films in 1902, it was used for the first time for prediction and social commentary in European films in the 1920s. The 1927 film Metropolis is considered one of the influential works today. The 30s and 40s were dominated by escapist themes and elements of space travel, high tech gadgets, plots for world domination, mad scientists and such motifs were introduced which still identify as traditional elements of science fiction.

After being dormant during the war period of 40s and 50s, it returned strongly in the 1950s post-war period, which is called the ‘Golden age of science fiction.19

16 James Stevens Curl and Susan Wilson, s.v. ‘Fantastic Architecture’, The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture, 3rd ed., (New York. Oxford University Press, 2015) n.p.

17 Greg LeMaire, ‘Googie Architecture: Futurism Through Modernism’, ArchDaily (2011). https://www.archdaily.com/148641/googie-architecture-futurism-through-modernism (Accessed 24 Jun 2019).

18 Thomas Fisher, 2014, ‘Steven Holl’s House at Martha’s Vineyard, a Poignant Loss’, The Journal of the American Institute of Architects, (2014). https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/buildings/steven-holls-house-at-marthas-vineyard-a-poignant-loss_o (Accessed 21 June 2019) 19 Robert Silverberg, Science Fiction in the Fifties: The Real Golden Age, (Library of America. Archived in 2012) (2010).

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Why Fiction Films?

The period towards 70s until 90s saw the success of films like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) based on Arthur Clarke’s novel. The post-apocalyptic and world domination themed Planet of the Apes (1968) based on Pierre Boulle’s novel also received much critical acclaim. The Star wars (1977 present)―commonly argued to be science-fantasy) and Star Trek (1979 - present) franchises, and Superman became globally popular cultural phenomena. Few of the most highlighted humans-versus-robots themed speculative SF films of the 80s were Ridley Scott’s dystopian film noir Blade Runner (1982), Spielberg’s E.T. (1982), Terminator (1984) and Robocop (1987).

Other genres like fantasy, horror and superhero films have also been very popular in Hollywood since the 1980s. Following through the 1990s to present, there have been successful cross-overs with a wide range of genres like animation, action, thriller, adventure, comedy, war, mystery, drama and superhero. Some of the most appraised crossover works within the genres of speculative fiction are The Matrix (1999), A. I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001), Minority Report (2002), superhero film Spiderman (2002), technological prediction themed animation films WALL-E (2008) and Big Hero 6 (2014), Avatar (2009) which was a form of social protest against imperialism, space travel based Interstellar (2014) and Marvel comics based afrofuturistic superhero film Black Panther (2018).

Much of the themes depicted in speculative fiction like human cloning, robots, evils of technology and intelligent computers, politics and social order, comic satire have been seen by critics as means of expressing concern over social alienation experienced in modern society.20 Since the space of fiction is a product of human imagination, it has immense power of influence over our realities. The imaginations, whether dark or utopian, possess the agency to enable critical thinking about the present. Hence, the architectural imaginations in fiction can prove to be an abundant source of inherent knowledge or critique of the present condition.

20 Per Schelde, Androids, Humanoids, and Other Science Fiction Monsters: Science and Soul in Science Fiction Films, (New York: NYU Press, 1993), 1-10.

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Chapter Three PREREQUISITES

Prerequisites

Chapter 3

PREREQUISITES

This chapter is pertinent to the first objective in the framework of this research―briefly understanding the medium of fiction. In order to study works of speculative fiction, it was imperative to obtain an overview of some of the important theories and concepts in fiction studies to further be able to analyze the use of architecture as a narrative mechanism. Thus, firstly, returning to address the problem of genre definition in twenty-first century speculative fiction that was touched upon in the introduction of this paper, here are some key concepts that would be helpful. To iterate—the works of Darko Suvin, the most influential critic of science fiction, are considered seminal in literary studies. His 1979 Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre is a radical work. In recent scholarly and critical studies, his theories have been broadened outside the genre of science fiction.

The concept of ‘estrangement’, which is key in genres like SF and fantasy, will be discussed later in this chapter.

Many of the original works on ‘estrangement’ referred today have Marxist roots, and belong to the post-war era when science fiction vastly employed themes of political critique by representing alternative realities as a way of invoking critical thought about the human society, voicing against capitalist societal norms and oppressive ideologies. Essentially, Suvin argued that SF must encourage new ways of thinking about the human social relationships and aid in enriching them. While Suvin’s ideas regarding what science fiction does and must do are still valuable and applicable to other ‘estranged’ fiction21 as well., what is perceived as an obstacle is the criterion that was claimed to be a distinguishing aspect of SF as opposed to other fiction genres―

21 Gregory Renault, ‘Science Fiction as Cognitive Estrangement: Darko Suvin and the Marxist Critique of Mass Culture’, Discourse2 (1980): 115-16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41389056. (Accessed 12 August 2019).

19

Prerequisites

3.1 COGNITION Suvin claims that SF is based on ‘scientific rationality’ and is a ‘realistic’ genre. ‘Cognition’ is essentially understood as this scientific realism. As Gregory Renault, in his article, puts it: “Suvin asserts that, in particular, “SF is the literature of cognitive estrangement.”22 That is, SF describes an alternative imaginary universe but develops it with cognitive “scientific” rigor. This combination of scientific cognition with fictional estrangement produces the equation “science fiction = cognitive estrangement.”23”24 Suvin’s ideas are interpreted to imply that SF is ‘rational’ and ‘realistic’, while fantasy is ‘irrational’ and ‘ideological’. Critics argue that this distinction only served the privileging of SF over other fantastic genres25 in the post-war period and that it now unfairly occludes other meaningful works of speculative fantastic fiction from inclusion in serious critical discourse.

The present validity of Suvinian paradigms of distinguishing SF has been challenged by critics and renowned fiction writers like China Miéville. Miéville argues that if ‘cognition’ is considered as the basis of distinction, many of the works widely known to be SF would not qualify as SF; and that the distinction is no longer sustainable in the contemporary context, where fantasy as a whole is worthy of serious attention and critical study.26 Miéville’s argument finds significant support amongst present academics and critics like Alun Rhys Williams who writes: “It is time for critics wishing to grapple with how radical social change can be enacted to pay more attention to fantasy, just as, in the work of China Miéville… [where] fantastic and Weird tropes and techniques infiltrate those of a more traditional SF.”27 Williams also argues that “if some SF could actually be properly cognitive, then so could some fantasy.”28

23 Darko Suvin, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre, (Yale University Press: 1979), 13.

24 Gregory Renault, Ibid., 114.

25 Roger Luckhurst, In the Zone: Topologies of Genre Weirdness, Eds. Emily Alder & Sarah Watson, (Liverpool UP, 2007), 22.

26 China Miéville, ‘Editorial Introduction’, Historical Materialism (10) (4), (Brill: 2002).

27 Alun Rhys Williams, Architects of Impurity: A Study of the Political Imagination in Contemporary Fantastic Fiction (University of Warwick: 2014), 3. http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2754274~S1 28 Ibid., 21.

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Prerequisites

3.1.1 Cognitive effect These arguments, however, are built on the premise that ‘cognition’, in fact, means currently accepted scientific plausibility. On the other hand the concept introduced by Carl Freedman, of ‘cognitive-effect’29 ―which is the ‘appearance’ of cognition in the narrative, offers a different perspective. The cognitive-effect refers to a scientific appearance through literary mechanisms, which basically function as the persuasive tools of a narrative. Hence, Miéville claims that SF is as ideological as fantasy. Amidst the ongoing debate, Alun Rhys Williams, in his article, highlights the quality of cognitive ‘seriousness’ which Miéville mentioned in his Editorial.30 The quality of deeply understanding the structure of systems pervading human social relationships, to systematically refurbish the superficial layers of reality as we see it, to encourage critical insights and new perspectives towards reality, is present in all meaningful estranged fiction.

Williams suggests that such logical rigor is perhaps what Suvin refers to as well: “a certain quality of logical rigor in the text, of fullness, and an awareness of the underlying functioning of things beyond the phenomenal—can be found in both sf and fantasy and attests to the depth of perception and the intricacy of critical understanding that the author brings to the construction of his or her fantastic text…this type of logical rigor should be understood more as a necessary stage to cognition, rather than cognition proper.”31

If such cognitive seriousness is to be brought to the forefront, certainly fantasy and SF are both equally ideological genres and indeed in this century can be seen equally, when they are already merging. Therefore, amidst the vague boundaries of genre definitions in the era of experimental fantastic fiction, this paper prefers to refer to the myriad post-genre fantastic works collectively as speculative fiction.

The alternative realities i.e. estranged environments in these works that leave a significant impact on its audiences, are very intriguing spaces to study on account of their ideological depth. The following section would expand upon ‘estrangement’ as a distinguishing aspect of fantastic genres; and would be studied in relation to the architectural environments, in chapter 4.

29 Ibid., 19. “Rather than cognition as the necessary generic marker of sf, Freedman offers the “cognition effect,” which moves the emphasis from actual, scientifically validated cognition to the presence within the text of a voice that creates the “effect” of such cognition.”

30 China Miéville, Ibid., 41.

31 Alun Rhys Williams, ‘Recognizing Cognition: On Suvin, Miéville, and the Utopian Impulse in the Contemporary Fantastic, Science Fiction Studies (41)(3), (2014): 622. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290946225_Recognizing_ Cognition_On_Suvin_Mieville_and_the_Utopian_Impulse_in_the_ Contemporary_Fantastic (Accessed on 7 August 2019)

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Prerequisites

3.2 ESTRANGEMENT AND NATURALIZATION “In daily life, we often perceive things only superficially—i.e., we do not really see them the way they are. To truly see things again we must overcome our “blind” perception, and this is only possible when they are made strange again. This process of making things to appear strange is, according to Shklovsky, the essential task of any kind of art.”32 When any kind of art that means to communicate something, attracts the audience’s attention to the inherent message of the oeuvre through rendering familiar things strange, this process is what is essentially called ‘estrangement’.

Defamiliarization or ostranenie (the original Russian term) is a technique in arts used to present common things in a strange or unfamiliar way, with the intention of enhancing the perception of the familiar. The term was introduced

by Russian Formalist, writer and literary critic, Viktor Shklovsky in his 1917 essay ‘Art as Technique’ where he defined ‘defamiliarization’ or ‘estrangement’ as a technique used to make the receivers perceive everyday objects from a strange, unfamiliar perspective. He presented this estrangement as the central concept of poetry, to distinguish

it from prose and natural language. Estrangement is precisely what enables speculative fiction to offer critique and trigger a wake-up call for the society.

In literary fiction studies, ‘cognitive estrangement’ as a concept was developed by literary critics and scholars. The concept was used in art studies dating back to Russian formalist, modernist works and also the Surrealist art movement. It was propounded by significant pioneers like the German playwright and critic, Bertlot Brecht (1936); German Marxist philosopher, Ernst Bloch (1970),33 Renate Lachmann (1970), academic, writer and critic, Darko Suvin (1979) who drew much from Brecht and Bloch, all of whom had clearly Marxist roots. The original German term used by Brecht in his works was Entfremdung—also translated as “alienation”—an important term in Marxist theory.34 Although Brecht, a renowned playwright defined this ‘alienation’ as something that would make the audience aware of the unreal nature of the work; where the ‘distancing effect’ works to distance the viewer from a normal perception of reality and present a different one while them being aware of it. Whereas, Suvin’s description of estrangement, as discussed earlier, is different from Brecht’s.

32 Simon Spiegel, ‘Things Made Strange: On the Concept of “Estrangement” in Science Fiction Theory’, Science Fiction Studies 35th year, 3rd edition, (2008): 369. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281792737_Things_Made_Strange_On_the_Concept_of_Estrangement_in_Science_Fiction_Theory 33 Ernst Bloch, Anne Halley and Darko Suvin, ‘Entfremdung, Verfremdung: Alienation, Estrangement’, The Drama Review: TDR, 15(1), (1970): 120-

125.

34 Simon Spiegel, Ibid., 382.

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Prerequisites

Recent critical studies in the field of fiction film and literature have been investigating the implications of the concept, since the term has been transforming and developing in different ways under different contexts.

There are varying understandings of the concept known under different terms like defamiliarization, alienation, distancing effect and estrangement. One of the recent theories regarding cognitive estrangement in fiction films, written by German academic and film critic Simon Spiegel, draws attention towards a critical observation. His 2008 paper evaluates varying ideas and understandings of the concept of estrangement in literary and film fiction, and argues that the technique employed by most works of speculative fiction is in fact the opposite of estrangement.35 The method of making the strange worlds seem plausible and familiar is in action, and it could be called familiarization or naturalization. Spiegel argues that every work of fiction ultimately relies on the believability and relatability of the worlds it creates on the part of its audience/readers. Thus, perhaps there is no cognitive estrangement,36 but possibly what could be called de-estrangement or naturalization is being deployed.

35 Ibid., 371-372 “Contrary to Suvin’s definition, these marvelous acts [in SF] are not presented in an estranged way; rather they are rationalized and made plausible… sf employs an aesthetics of technology and tries to naturalize its nova.” “The formal framework of sf is not estrangement, but exactly its opposite, naturalization. On a formal level, sf does not estrange the familiar, but rather makes the strange familiar.”

36 Jo Lindsay Walton, ‘There is No Cognitive Estrangement’, (Northumbria University: 2016) https://www.academia.edu/25591725/There_Is_No_Cognitive_ Estrangement_Fantasies_of_Contemporary_Culture_Cardiff_May_2016_ (Accessed 7 March 2019)

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Prerequisites

3.3 DYSTOPIAN AND UTOPIAN FUTURES IN CONTEMPORARY FANTASTIC Due to the blurred boundaries between the speculative fiction genres of science and fantasy after the 1980s, the previously majorly dystopian futuristic representations have now become less common. The epidemic of dark, dystopian representations appears to have subsided in the last decade. Not to mention there is still post-apocalyptic and dystopian futurist theme fiction being produced, and it does have a cult following. One of the remarkable examples being the TV series Black Mirror (2011-present), which is mainly based on techno-paranoia i.e. extrapolation and the representation of the potential hazards of present digital technology. The Walking Dead (2010 - present), a postapocalyptic zombie theme TV series is also immensely popular. Apart from the exclusive few, the majority of culturally defining fiction films belong to either fantasy or crossover between utopian fantasy and science fiction genres.

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The tropes of fantasy impart a utopian impulse to the traditional, mainstream science fiction. The last most successful franchise in this category was Star Trek. The largest cultural definer of this decade has been the HBO TV series, Game of Thrones (2009-2019), based on George R R Martin’s novels―a fantasy based in the medieval ages.

The present decade was also largely defined by dominant superhero films and one prime contributing entity has been Marvel Cinematic Universe that is based on Marvel comics.

Amongst a wide range of subgenres that each of the superhero films fall under, including those produced by its competitor, DC comics, one film in particular: Black Panther (2018) has gained immense critical acclaim and struck conversations among architects, urbanists and production designers of fiction films. The architectural environment in the film would be explored in the following chapter.

Chapter Four FILM STUDY: ‘BLACK PANTHER’

Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Chapter 4

FILM STUDY: ‘BLACK PANTHER’

The American superhero film Black Panther, released in 2018, caused quite the stir owing to its sensitive approach towards every narrative issue in the film, and its critical regard to real socio-cultural conditions. The architectural environment in Black Panther shall be studied to achieve the objectives of this research―exploring the What, How and the Why as regards communication of its signified messages; interpreting the employed architectural language and design approach. Some reflections upon the observations shall be made simultaneously.

Black Panther (BP) is based on the character from Marvel comics of the same name. This is the eighteenth film in the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ (MCU). It was produced by ‘Marvel Studios’ and distributed by ‘Walt Disney Motion Pictures’. The story of the film is based in a fictional African nation called Wakanda, which is primarily developed by the native tribes. It is a highly technologically advanced civilization owing to the most powerful fictional mineral on earth called vibranium. The unique feature about Wakanda is that it is a country “that escaped colonization and instead developed a vibrant afrofuturist aesthetic and super-powered inhabitants, who are fuelled by [the] miracle element…vibranium.”37 Wakanda isolates and keeps itself hidden from the rest of the world and poses as a thirdworld country; which in the end decides to help the outer world. This imaginary African country of the future, which is untouched by western influence and Eurocentric ideas, is the one of the most exceptional cases of futuristic38 imaginations in films.

37 Gunseli Yalcinkaya, ‘Black Panther’s voluptuous sets are influenced by Zaha Hadid, says production designer’, Dezeen (2018). https://www.dezeen.com/2018/03/01/black-panther-film-designer-zaha-hadid/ (Accessed 6 May 2019) 38 Even though Wakanda is supposed to exist in the present, and not in a very distant future, it is still a futuristic imagination as it imagines an alternate future of a country.

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

4.1 THE NATURALIZATION OF ESTRANGED The film serves as an excellent case of how ‘naturalization’, as Spiegel describes, is employed through the architectural language. In the estranged environment of Wakanda, this ‘familiarization’ effect is achieved by means of a few powerful techniques. The film is widely acclaimed for its inherent but very explicit political undertones. Also, it is an almost all-black film—from the cast to crew, including the artists of its music album. Black Panther (BP) exudes absolute African cultural pride. But despite deeply manifesting the cultural identity of one specific community, the film resonated widely with people all across the world. It is interesting to note that although Wakanda is the product of an estranged reality, the intention appears to be that of making it seem not only desirable, but in fact, real. As if it were actually existing beyond the dense forests, and the filmmakers were merely the first people to discover it.

The effect is not only a result of the narrative techniques but also very much of the overall visual impact of the fictional society. The ‘familiarization’ of this unattainable yet ‘nostalgic’ future happens on levels that go unnoticed the first time, and are more revealed the more one uncovers.

It is in the details—and there are hundreds. However, to make a few select points, a few relatively outward aspects of its architecture that achieve effective communication, shall be discussed here.

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4.1.1 Character of the urban landscape The deep commentary hidden beneath the visual representation of Wakanda, is that of an alternate future created by reimagining the past. The central theme of the film is ‘Afrofuturism’, which is a movement in various forms of art, based on the experiences of African diaspora. It originated in 1993 as a creative movement in arts, literature, music, etc. that seek to reclaim black identity through cultural art forms. Science fiction was one of the areas that significantly promoted afrofuturism. The core afrofuturistic theme of reclaiming the past and reimagining the future is very promptly reflected throughout the visual, formal aesthetics of the film.

For instance, water as an element is an integral part of afrofuturism. It symbolizes the figurative [African] ‘history that was drowned in the Atlantic’. The geographical setting of Wakanda embraces water in the form of their magnificent rivers and waterfalls. The scene of the fall of Black Panther i.e. King T’Challa in the ferocious river, during the challenge fight with his arch-enemy, Killmonger, is a crucial sequence. As you would expect from a ‘marvelous’ story, the Black Panther surprisingly survives the fatal fall, and is saved from drowning forever. This is one of the subtle narrative metaphors used in the story that obey the core of afrofuturism. After all, fantasy strives to do what reality could not.

Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

While what makes the afrofuturistic architecture of Wakanda stand out amongst the myriad futuristic representations in most science and fantasy fiction, is that it defies the audience’s obvious expectations. In an interview with National Public Radio, its director Ryan Coogler explained the reason why Wakanda is not full of the “sleek modern glass buildings audiences have come to expect when they imagine the future. Instead, it has a variety of architectural styles, many heavily inspired by traditional African architecture, but it also incorporates modern urban technology seamlessly.

This is what makes the place, from the buildings to the transportation systems, so appealing to viewers.”39 The production designer of BP, Hannah Beachler won the 2019 Oscar for production design. To create this incredibly technologically advanced country, a five-hundred page fictional ‘Wakanda Bible’ containing details of Wakanda and the Golden City’s history was formulated by the production design team. This was preceded by an extensive research of African history and culture undertaken for over ten months.

Apart from the visible cultural allusions evident strongly in the architectural character of Wakanda, there are numerous intricate design details very thoughtfully incorporated throughout—most of which are practically undiscernible to the viewer’s eye.

39 ‘5 Things You Didn’t Know About Black Panther’s Kingdom of Wakanda’, Architectural Digest (2018).

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

One of such details is the repeated use of circles in the formal design of the capital city, Birnin Zana. It “represents this continual journey that we’re on— this life cycle of birth, life and death that has many representations on the continent. I thought it was very important to put that in the film”, Beachler explains.40 Such cultural symbolisms are embedded in every aspect of the design.

Two examples of cities from two different continents are chosen to demonstrate here (Figures 11, 12, 13, 14) for their beautiful natural, geographical and topographical settings. The architectural characters of the buildings could have been culturally ingenious; yet the prosaic language of building renders an unimaginative looking landscape of a city―which looks far from congenial with its gifted natural surroundings.

The traces of brutalist architecture can be seen in the overall character of the Golden city, which is inspired from the brutalist style buildings in many African cities that gained independence in the 50s and 60s. “Not only are the buildings reflective of Africa’s heritage but also the street layout and urban planning elements were inspired by African cities and traditions.”41 The urban planning inspirations are also derived from historic African civilizations, like the 15th century Mutapa Empire of Zimbabwe.42 Also, unlike a majority of mainstream futuristic representations, Wakanda features many green areas and pastures. The overall setting is extremely ‘natural’ in its topographical elements as well. An advanced city of the future, is suggested, where nature and architecture can blend harmoniously. Urbanists and city-planning experts agree that some of the design and infrastructure of the fictional place have real-life possibilities.43 These implicit connotations to reality impart an underlying ‘familiar’ character to the ‘unfamiliar’ world, which in turn seems plausible AND possible.

The hard and cold aesthetic of the highly technologically advanced futuristic worlds depicted in most science fiction of the last and this century are, indeed, extrapolations of such present worlds that we inhabit. Films like BP are a few pleasant exceptions. There are benefits to studying utopian imaginations for their communication strategies because of their ‘desirability’. For the purpose of real architectural critique and introspection, dystopian imaginations would be a justifiable domain to examine. However, to seek architectural inspiration, which this paper intends to do, the optimistic and inventive utopian imaginations are perhaps more valuable.

41 ‘The architecture of Wakanda (Black Panther)’, Third World Architecture (2018)

https://3rdworldarchitecture.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/the-architecture-of-wakanda-black-panther/ (Accessed 13 May 2019) 42 Robert Ito, ‘Ta-Nehisi Coates Helps a New Panther Leave Its Print’, The New York Times (2016) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/movies/ta-nehisi-coates-helps-a-new-panther-leave-its-print.html?_r=0 (Accessed 8 May 2018) 43 Mark Malkin, ‘The Real-Life Possibilities of Black Panther’s Wakanda, According to Urbanists and City Planners’, Architectural Digest (February 2018).

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-real-life-possibilities-of-black-panthers-wakanda-according-to-urbanists-and-city-planners (Accessed 23 May 2019)

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

(Top to bottom) Figures 11, 12 Cape Town, South Africa

(Top to bottom) Figures 13, 14 Vancouver, Canada.

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

The Golden City is a montage of old and the new. In order to impart it a feel of an old city, numerous heritage structures are scattered all around the city, alongside the new, contemporary style buildings. The round skyscrapers are topped with thatched roofs, and the materials used are very earthy. Also, the use of brass and gold along with glass and mud on the façades of the tall buildings is suggestive of the use of local materials and traditional construction techniques in this city of the future. Many choices in this particularly traditional aesthetic are inspired from African vernacular architecture. The colorful motifs on the buildings resemble those on the tribal houses of the Kassena people of Tiebele village in Burkina Faso.

Besides, the protruding wooden pools on tapering tower are a unique feature of some iconic historic buildings like the Mosques in Timbuktu and Mopti in Mali.

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In this case, it appears as if the processes of estranging the reality and familiarizing the estranged take place in a cyclical manner. On one hand where the comic books, in this case Black Panther by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, first ‘estrange’ our empirical world; and the visualizers in the film adaptation wield the familiarity of the audience’s natural world to, in return, ‘naturalize’ or ‘familiarize’ the estranged visions of the original creators.

Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Figure 15 (Top left) Mopti Mosque, Mali Figure 16 (Top right) Tribal houses of the Kassena people in Tiebele village, Burkina Faso Figure 17 (Bottom left) Tata Family ‘Castles‘, (Rural family compounds), Western Africa Figure 18 (Bottom right) Ginna House of the Dogon people of Mali. (The niches represent their ancestors)

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Figure 19 (Bottom right) The ‘Golden City’ capital of Wakanda, featuring old and contemporary buildings, and skyscrapers with African rondavel hut style thatched roof. The centrepiece featuring protruding wooden pools inspired by ancient African mosques.

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Figure 20 The ‘Golden City’ featuring circular building forms, unpaved roads, green pockets, human scale streetscapes and hightech magnetic levitation powered transportation

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

4.1.2 Valorizing history The story of Black Panther has very strong nuances relating to African American history and the diaspora. The villain, Killmonger who grows up in New York city, symbolizes somebody whose family was forcefully separated from him.

One of the moral conflicts that makes BP special is that the audience sympathizes with the arch-enemy. But in the end, on losing the battle with the Black Panther, he wishes to be drowned in the river; much like his ancestors jumped in the sea rather than be victims to slavery. It is important to, although briefly, note the socio-political commentaries in the film to address the ‘why’ of the objectives of this research. BP effectively addresses complex issue like history, colonialism, technology, globalism versus isolationism, and the future. 44 Wakanda is a vision of what an African country would or could have been, had it not been damaged by imperialism and exploitation.45

44 In Wakanda, education and healthcare is free. All knowledge is freely accessed to all its citizens, and they even have a cure for cancer. Moreover, the monarch

is determined by a ritualistic battle where all the tribes have the right to challenge the present ruler. The ideas of democratic and non-centralized authority is crucial in this utopian country. The nation, being the most powerful in the world, hides itself from the fear of losing what they have, to external powers; much like obstructing what colonization did to majority of real countries in the world. It also symbolizes the overlooked potential of ‘third world countries’. In the post-credits scene of the UN conference, T’Challa (BP) is asked what Wakanda could possibly have to offer the rest of the world. And he smiles knowingly.

The white South African villain, Klaue stealing vibranium to make weapons, is a reference to apartheid and colonialism, since vibranium is a precious natural resource that the Wakandans own and thrive on. There is another early scene in a London museum where a white woman lectures BP’s arch-enemy Killmonger about African artifacts that he steals later. When she gets the origins of the artefact wrong, Killmonger reminds her that it was her people who stole it to begin with.

45 ‘Black Panther: Symbolism Explained’, The Take, (2018).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjqOCOAGTHw (Accessed 23 August 2019).

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Although BP links black identity across different nations, it acknowledges the deprivation of a meaningful connection of black Americans to Africa; and the lost traces to their ancestors due to the history of slavery. Afrofuturism is about reclaiming that lost history, which is done not only through the story but also through its architecture. The symbol of their history reclaimed and treasured with pride, is the ‘Records Hall’. This is the centerpiece of the city (see figure 19), inspired architecturally from the Mosque of Timbuktu (see figure 15). Beachler explained its importance saying― “[Wakanda residents] know everything about their past—a privilege that real-world African Americans don’t have—and [that] will never go away again in this city. I felt that way because I never knew my history. I didn’t know my ancestry, I didn’t know how far back it went. That was truly the most important thing to me. I don’t have that, but I could give it here in this fantastical world.”46

4.1.3 Building the new along with the old The Tribal Counsel (figure 21 & 22) is a blend of heritage and modern elements. The architecture of Buckingham Palace, England, was referred to for its design inspiration.47 The glass floor through which the base of the pyramid on which it is situated is always visible, is symbolic of a consistent connection with their heritage. The Tribal Counsel is an example of the new not just being built upon but along with history in Wakanda. With only the rear wall partially opened with glass, and the rest reinforced with golden columns with their traditional script inscribed, it maintains a delicate balance between tradition and technology. The architecture communicates accurately, through such subtle signification, the identity of the fictional city.

46 Nicole Flatlaw, ‘The Social responsibility of Wakanda’s Golden City’, CityLab (2018).

https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/11/black-panther-wakanda-golden-city-hannah-beachler-interview/574420/ (Accessed on 27 May 2019) 47 Gunseli Yalcinkya, Ibid.

Hannah Beachler she says that the reason for choosing Buckingham palace was largely pragmatic since the London mansion was mainly used to determine the size of the king’s residence.

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Figure 21 The circular Tribal Counsel of the ‘Golden City’ capital of Wakanda, featuring glass floor, gold cladding on brutalist style colums with traditional script inscriptions

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Figure 22 The rear glass wall in the Tribal Counsel situated on top of the ancient pyramid visible fom the floor

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

4.1.4 The People The unique aspect of the physical environment of Wakanda is the close regard to the human scale. Appearance of green landscapes, pastures, sandy streets, clusters of traditional houses, the sidewalk and paved grounds adjoining the houses, vibrant markets and street life, are elements that are normally absent in fictional futurist imaginations. A lot of thought and rigor lies behind the unpaved roads within the city, the banners and the funk pop style script in the market streets, the tram and the entire transport system of Wakanda.

While the details are not as crucial to this study as is the intention behind them. In revealing the process behind her urban depictions in Black Panther, Beachler articulates a vision imbued with social responsibility. Beachler thinks the reason the city charmed so many viewers was because she emphasized human connection in her design. The first thing Beachler did when she was creating the fictional capital city of Wakanda was to research the people. “Not the technology,” she is quick to point out—though it is a futuristic city. The people.”48 People are represented as a close knit community in this highly technologically advanced society.

“You know what’s keeping us together: the connectivity of people, not the connectivity of users. We’re not users; we’re people, but we’ve convinced ourselves that we’re users,” she said. “So I took all of that, and I just chucked it out of Wakanda, because the people were the most important thing about it, and we’re forgetting it. And I think that’s why people responded to Wakanda on this massive level: people.”49 Certainly, the integral role of ‘people’ in this fictional environment enhances its communicative strength. This brings the discussion back, briefly, to the agency of fantasy in offering insights on social relationships. “[T]o cause truly significant social change, one must recognize that one is not only working on objects, but also on people—then to represent radical social change a narrative must be able to represent a dialectic between individual(s), society and material reality. Lacking a representation of communal agency, an SF or fantasy narrative is reduced to representing reality as a bifurcation in which ‘society’ stands apart from and as background to the activities of the individual characters—something which simply ‘happens’ and which they cannot influence in any way, unless through fantastical means.50

48 Nicole Flatlaw, Ibid.

49 Ibid.

50 Alun Rhys Williams, ‘Architects of Impurity’, 9.

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Figure 23 A street in Wakanda

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Figure 24 Aerial view of the capital city featuring tribal houses inspired skyscrapers, new buildings, train tracks and Wakandan flying car

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

4.1.5 An alternative ‘utopia’ As discussed in the previous chapter, ‘estrangement’ from our empirical worlds works to provide new perspectives towards reality. Utopian imaginations are often discredited and dismissed as being simply escapist, irrational fantasies.

But some contemporary works like Black Panther defy the dogma. “Positing a utopian horizon does not lead to ignoring what is in front of us; rather it demands a constant attendance to the present moment and gives the ability to see it more clearly.”51

The universal architectural language has resulted in faceless landscapes in many contemporary cities. The architecture of the present hardly reflects the collective socio-cultural identities of the people. It has resulted in defamiliarization through removal of the historically or culturally familiar.

As the physical surroundings fail to appeal to the collective memory of a society, what our societies are experiencing from its architecture is ‘alienation’. In these circumstances,

Returning to the underlying question of the observational studies: what strategies ensures effective communication in these fictional architectures―so far the most striking revelation is the ability of architecture to provide a platform for individual and collective association. By means of alluding to the history and culture of the people, architecture becomes an integral part of the society. It speaks a language that its people can receive. In his 1979 architectural treatise, ‘The Timeless Way of Building’, architect Christopher Alexander argued that the movement of modernism had created buildings that are made of languages which the society cannot understand.52

“[w]hat sets Wakanda apart is: what makes it utopia isn’t its prosperity or technology.

Neither of those things are its defining characteristics. It is a utopia built from two things—its memory and its people. That is why it is a pretty special place. It doesn’t matter that it is not real, what matters is that it is possible to believe that it could be.”53

51 Alun Rhys Williams, ‘Recognizing Cognition’, 628.

52 Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979) Alexander compares this with the secrets of a chef’s recipes; implying that architects have tried to keep their languages secretive, the products of which are imposed top down on the people that use the buildings…the power has passed from the hands of the user (whom the language evolves from) to someone who is not.

53 ‘Literally: if Wakanda isn’t real, why do we wish it were?’, All Lit Up, (2018). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDbuh-JIeNY (Accessed 20 August 2019).

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Although this study discusses the architectural perspective more than the narrative symbolisms, studying the overall ethics of world-building in fantasy is very crucial. Wakanda is about its people. It is unlike the 16th-17th century European idea of El Dorado,54 a fictional utopia waiting to be found, without a history of how it became rich and prosperous.

Wakanda has a history and myth. Its peace was hard fought and negotiated between tribes. Wakandan utopian vision is also unlike western 19th century idea of science driven utopia, as it is this “greenatopia—half skyscrapers, half rainforest.

Their warriors ride war-rhinos instead of tanks. There are huge tracts of land that are completely untouched. Even inside the city itself we can see that the roads are unpaved.

This is a society that lives with nature and doesn’t just try to control and subdue it.”55 Their tradition and beliefs are at the heart of Wakanda, and not science and technology. It is a society that looks both forward and back—something that would possibly be the ideal path to tread in our real futures. Thus, Wakanda stands for an ironically ‘nostalgic’ future that we could not achieve in reality, but can hope to.

54 Willie Drye, ‘El Dorado’, Science and Innovation, Reference: National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/archaeology/el-dorado/ (Accessed 12 August 2019) 55 All Lit Up, Ibid.

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

4.1.6 Nostalgia, disenchantment and the yearning for fantasy Echoing the notion of modern nostalgia, the creative movement of ‘Retrofuturism’ that appeared in academic and popular culture in the 1960s and 70s following the Golden Space Age of rapid technological advancement and futuristic imaginations of the past, rooted in the 19th century and early 20th century. It highlights the empowering as well as alienating effects of technology. Retro futurism is different from futurism in the sense that it is centered by the idea of the nostalgia of a future that never happened.56 It shows the influence of the predictions of the future produced in earlier times. It explores the tension between past and the future. Retrofuturism appeared in some architectural styles during post-modernism and critics like Niklas Maak have expanded upon Retrofuturism in architecture.

The yearning for imagining an alternate, preferably a more optimistic future is reflected in the movement. It characterizes dissatisfaction with the present imaginations of the future. The concept of the uncanny is critical because it not only refers to an object that appears strangely familiar, but something that is underlined with the emotion of fear. Something that is unknown can evoke a frightening response in the human mind. Perhaps the reason for longing for a future that never happened comes from the feeling of discomfort in the present way of things.

Renowned architectural historian and critic, Anthony Vidler, uses the ‘uncanny’ as a metaphor for the fundamentally unhomely contemporary buildings. He has written about the architectural ‘uncanny’57―originating from the German term unheimlich, translated to ‘unhomely’,58 which was coined by the revered psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, around 1919.59 Vidler’s writings about the contemporary faceless architecture resembles the motifs of typical science fiction imaginations of the 20th century; almost as if the imaginations had existed in reality when he wrote the following: “Intrigued by the unsettling qualities of much contemporary architecture— its fragmented neoconstructivist forms mimetic of dismembered bodies, its public representation buried in earthworks or lost in mirror reflection, its “seeing walls” reciprocating the passive gaze of domestic cyborgs, its spaces surveyed by moving eyes and simulating “transparency”, its historical monuments indistinguishable from glossy reproductions—I have been drawn to explore aspects of the spatial and architectural uncanny…”

56 Bruce McCall, ‘What is Retro-Futurism?’ TED (2008) https://www.ted.com/talks/bruce_mccall_s_faux_nostalgia?language=en 57 Anthony Vidler, The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely, (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The MIT Press, 1992), 17.

58 Anthony Vidler, Ibid., xi. “…The theme of the uncanny serves to…offer general reflection on the questions of social individual estrangement, alienation, exile and homelessness.”

59 Sigmund Freud, Das Unheimliche. (1919).

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

This translation of the uncanny i.e. ‘unhomely’ is also persistently reflected in the most discussed and written about science fiction film of the late 20th century, Blade Runner (1984). Many films that followed depict a similar atmosphere of homes appearing strange, cities feeling alienated and a haunting omnipresent loss of a sense of belongingness. The homes do not appear homely or familiar. The ‘estrangement’ of the home is the deepest level of defamiliarization and estrangement.60 Whereas the people-centric architecture in Black Panther emits the homely aura that attracts an unadulterated sense of belonging, on a subconscious level. Thus, bridging the gap that the real architecture has created with its inhabitants, and establishing a communicative thoroughfare.

However, there must be an explanation for the longing for an optimistic future. Anthropologist Christine Folch has written about the gap between the Eastern and the Western world regarding the popularity of fantasy and science fiction (SF). Whereas SF and fantasy genre films are one of the highest production genre in Hollywood, but a country like India―home to the world’s largest film industry is barren for these genres. The 19th century German sociologist Max Weber argues that the west is experiencing what he calls ‘disenchantment’. A phenomenon where people do not feel amused or surprised by anything since everything is convincingly made familiar. Everything is excessively ‘naturalized’.61 This disenchantment leads to a yearning for escapism through fantastical imagination in the west. Folch suspects the chasm could be a result of the difference between the intellectual histories of the east and west. On retrospection, utopian fantasies like Black Panther trigger the question: What are we really naturalizing?

These imaginations invoke the thought of whether the ‘naturalization’ of an alien language of architecture was a misstep that could still possibly be fixed in the future.

60 ‘Uncanny’, Chicago School of Media Theory (2003) https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/uncanny/ (Accessed 21 June 2019) 61 Christine Folch ’Why the West Loves Sci-Fi and Fantasy: A Cultural Explanation’, The Atlantic, (2013). )https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/06/why-the-west-loves-sci-fi-and-fantasy-a-cultural-explanation/276816/ (Accessed 21 June 2019)

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Another major cultural definer of the decade: Game of Thrones, being a historical fantasy fiction that gained immense amount of worldwide popularity has definitely more merit to it than the story and actors. It has been declared by critics as the greatest and largest scale of production design for a film production. Its popularity stands for the fact that dragons, magic, the threat of dark winters and the walking dead are attractive for the present audiences, and a narrative based in a medieval age of huge stone castles and pyramids, oceans, seas and vast expanses of snow; wooden and golden fire lit interior spaces seem to have an unexplainable appeal. The tendency to yearn for the past and indulge in nostalgia runs in the human subconscious. The estranged fictional worlds, hence, feed the human nostalgic tendencies. Vidler writes, “…the uncanny has been interpreted as a dominant constituent of modern nostalgia, with a corresponding spatiality that touches all aspects of social life.” 62

62 Anthony Vidler, The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely, (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The MIT Press, 1992), 224.

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

4.1.7 Absence and its reflections in fantasy “The fantastic is particularly suited to providing insights into modern social reality and subjectivity…”63 The extensive discussion thus far calls for attention to the notion: ‘fantasy’ roots in ‘desire’, and desire roots in ‘absence’. Thus, fantasy must be a consequence of compensation for the lack of something. “In constructing our fantasy-version of reality, we establish coordinates for our desire; we situate both ourselves and our object of desire, as well as the relation between. In the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan, objet petit a stands for the unattainable object of desire. As Slavoj Zizek puts it, “through fantasy, we learn how to desire” (Looking Awry 6).64 Our desires therefore necessarily rely on lack, since fantasy, by definition, does not correspond to anything in the real. Our object of desire (what Lacan terms the “objet petit a”) is a way for us to establish coordinates for our own desire…It is that lack at the heart of desire that ensures we continue to desire.”65 The yearning for mythical and fantastical indulgences can be explained by George Bataille’s Absense of Myth (1994), where he writes, “the absence of myth’ had itself become the myth of the modern age.”66 Saturated with the noncontextual architecture that modernism gave the world, the disapproving approach of post-modernism is expressed through the statement by architect Terry Farrel:

“A generation is emerging that is hungry once for a theoretically rich, culturally embedded architecture that engages the past, the future, and the weighty abundance and horror of the present in all its glorious vulgarity.”67 Alienation of the people from their own identities and idiosyncrasies, and trying to neutralize global forms of aesthetic expression in a single normality, expected to be universally accepted, is a huge threat to the rich cultural and intellectual dynamics around the world. Just as every tribe has its own language, way of life and of creative expression, human societies thrive on this diversity of culture and beliefs. The gradual wiping away traces of heritage and history could lead to loss of attachment and association.

Thus, works of fiction like Black Panther are serving as compensation for what we lack in our real societies.

Considering the influence of the fictional imagination on our reality, the utopian visions and predictions could inspire the present by suggesting positive alternatives that would not demand the people to abandon their heritage and culture, but embrace the two in harmony.

63 Alun Rhys Williams, ‘Architects of Impurity’, 18.

64 Slavoj Zizek, Looking Awry: An Inroduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991).

65 Dino Felluga, ‘Modules on Lacan: On Desire’, Introductory Guide to Critical Theory, (Purdue University, 2011). http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/psychoanalysis/lacandesire.html (Accessed 3 March 2019) 66 Georges Bataille, Absence of Myth: Writings on Surrealism, Translated by Michael Richardson, (London and New York: Verso Books, 1994).

67 Amy Frearson, ’10 buildings that represent a new age of postmodernism’, Dezeen (2018). https://www.dezeen.com/2018/01/23/10-buildings-that-represent-new-age-postmodernism-roundups-architecture/ (Accessed 18 June 2019).

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

4.1.8 Shuri’s Lab

Figure 25 The underground lab: The iconic central spiral staircase with modern graffiti, cave-like walls with digital ancient scripts

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Figure 26 Top view of the staircase, exposed walls in the lab

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Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Figure 27 Dongdaemun Park Plaza (DDP), Seoul

For the design of the ‘new’ buildings of the capital city, Birnin Zana, Hannah Beachler visited the sinuous buildings of the famous deconstructivist architect Zaha Hadid. The choice of inspiration is quite natural since Hadid’s architecture has been known to be ‘ahead of its time’ due to its often ‘futuristic’ look. Beachler referred to Hadid’s buildings like the Dongdaemun Design Plaza building (2013) in Seoul (Figure 27) and the Wangjing SOHO (2015) in Beijing (Figure 28). Both these structures combine curved, futuristic structures with references to natural elements. The DDP Building has undulating aluminium surfaces that resemble flowing water, while Wangjing SOHO features a curved, tapered structure, designed to look like “three interweaving mountains”.68

68 Gunseli Yalcinkya, Ibid.

69 Ibid.

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Figure 28 Wangjing SOHO, Beijing

“Walking through Zaha’s buildings, it is the curvature of the walls, it is the materials that you connect with.

Her walls, for instance, aren’t drywall, they’re plastered or metal or wooden,” Beachler said. “You always feel intimate in a large space because you understand the texture. You connect with it more than if it were just a glass wall.”69 It is evident from her statement that the aspects of a contemporary futuristic building that she used as inspiration were that of human scale and proportion, intimacy and the familiarity of textures.

Film Study: ‘Black Panther‘

Despite the futuristic style architectural inspiration, the place in the fictional Golden City where all the technological innovation take place, Shuri’s lab―which is an underground laboratory, is very techno-modern in its first glance. The underground lab is a result of taking what is familiar to the people, and positioning it in a different, very specific context.

The delicate balance between the Zaha style elements and the aura of the cave with inscriptions and ancient scripts on its walls is very symbolically rich. Like an oxymoron, it functions as the cave of the early ancestors that is at the same time the hub of every technological invention in this incredibly advanced civilization. The rock walls enclosing the space are left bare, as a reminder of where one is. The architectural space is never alienating its inhabitants from its natural conditions, inducing a subconscious awareness of being present in the physical atmosphere.

Beachler says the lab is one of her two most favourite spaces in Wakanda, the other being the casino, whose comprehensive images are difficult to acquire. One has to watch the casino sequence in the film, repeatedly and carefully, to notice the architectural details.

The most intriguing parts of Shuri’s lab, apart from its Zaha Hadid inspired form and aesthetics, is the reminiscence of cave paintings and inscriptions. Only, the script appears in a digital form on the cave walls. The central spiral staircase which is the main feature of the vast underground space features modern vibrant graffiti. This harmonious contrast subtly communicates the values of the Wakandan society.

The lab provides a nostalgia of the past (through primitive elements) along with familiarity of the present (through contemporary architectural character).

The tribal graffiti and cave paintings were studied by the production design team, as a part of the research for the film. Two languages were formulated, and a script based on pictographic development of the 4th century Nsibidi Nigerian script, which can be seen on the walls of the underground lab as well as on the columns in the tribal counsel. It is interesting to note the sensibility that was adopted in transforming a deconstructivist futuristic style through inspiration, into an absolutely contextually and culturally fitting version.

Figure 29 Symbols from Nsibidi script

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Chapter Five BRIEF FILM STUDY: ‘THOR: RAGNAROK’

Brief Film Study: ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘

Chapter 5

BRIEF FILM STUDY: ‘THOR: RAGNAROK’

Other MCU films like Doctor Strange (2016), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), the Avengers franchise (2011-2019) are collectively based on worlds in which ‘mythical’ and ‘technological’ superheroes exist in a certain kind of balance. The two kinds fight together especially in the Avengers films. There are anti-heroes and threats on both sides, but both kind of superheroes fight against the threats to ‘save the world’.

There are cautionary undertones to the narratives, only layered with action and adventure or political and war themes to emerge to the surface, to conform to the requirements of a narrative’s primary duty of entertainment. Upon closer investigation it appears there are common messages underlying these narrative plots―that technological development and cultural, collective archetypes, both need to be in an equilibrium. An imbalance on either sides can have hazardous long term effects on the society, which one can see in the violent destruction of cities in many Avengers movie climaxes.

This chapter shall briefly explore the design approach adopted in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ (2017) to demonstrate the equilibrium in its architecture, and thus communicate a coexistence of tradition and technology.

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Brief Film Study: ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘

5.1 ‘FUTURE ANTIQUITY’ IN ‘THOR: RAGNAROK’ The architecture of the mythical kingdom of Asgard in the Thor films, based on Jack Kirby’s comics which are based on Norse mythology, has undergone appropriate transformation to correspond to and serve the narrative themes of each story. The manner in which the ‘context’ governs the architectural character of the same setting, is also noteworthy. The complex contextual parameters of an architectural intervention are held at the highest regard in fantastical architectures in some MCU films. The set designers analyze intricately how the architectural design serves the communication of the stories.

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Although Jack Kirby’s comics were the main reference for Thor films, a lot of attention to detail goes into translating the 2D imaginations into real worlds—with the help of real sets and computer generated graphics. One of the aspects that needs to be highlighted here is the representation of this ancient but extremely advanced mythical kingdom of Asgard. Rather than ornament and decoration, the experimentation with different kinds of buildings in the Asgardian city is done majorly at the formal level. The accent on curvilinear forms, shape variation and volumetric details along with organic and some industrial influences can be observed. The use of stone, metals like copper and gold, scale and proportion used to achieve a quality of grandiose.

Some inspirations are also derived from ancient Gothic, Romanesque and Roman architecture.

Brief Film Study: ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘

Figure 29 Coronation hall in the Asgardian Palace aka Odin’s tower

The mythical civilizations in the stories are supposed to be very old, hence, the grand, historic character is maintained in this very advanced civilization. The people of Asgard live very long lives, and hence their city does not change much over millennia. The contemporary architecture in Asgard preserves their traditional architectural style, refines and improves it over time instead of radically changing it over the course of few hundred years. This style that is very old and extremely advanced is what VFX designer Wesley Sewell calls ‘Future Antiquity’.70

70 Oana Andreea Caplescu, ‘Space Opera Architecture in THOR’, Architecture in Sci-Fi film, (2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg17Mo2tQBI (Accessed 9 May 2019)

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Brief Film Study: ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘

The concept art for Thor (2011) created by Craig Shoji features a schematic map of the kingdom of Gods. It incorporates the symbol of Triquetra that is significant in Celtic and other North European cultures. It is reminiscent of the planned layouts of some old cities of the world, where geometry and cultural significance is embedded in the functional patterns. Thus, in many ways the architecture of these contemporary superhero films have implicit communicative mechanisms of invoking nostalgia through cultural, historic forms. The additional benefit of studying these architectures is because they provide an alternative approach to what real architecture could be. This kind of equilibrium between the past and the future is present in many other alternate reality fiction films.

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Brief Film Study: ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘

Figure 30 The Triquetra symbol and central axis with primary buildings in the city layout

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Brief Film Study: ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘

Figure 31 Asgard

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Brief Film Study: ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘

Figure 32 Asgardian Landscape

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Brief Film Study: ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘

Figure 33 Aerial view of Asgard: Shape variation in building forms, use of stone and metal

Films like Black Panther, Thor-Ragnarok, Doctor Strange and Avengers (Age of Ultron, Endgame), in their own ways, symbolize an optimistic possibility of the future where the equilibrium between tradition and modern technology could be achieved. To reiterate, one of the benefits reaped from the fantasy genre blending with science fiction is the scope of utopian imagination. Imagination has an inevitable influence on the way our lives are shaped. While dystopian imaginations open our eyes towards the evils of existing conditions by representing a dark side, on the other hand a utopian vision can evoke a thought of its real-life possibilities, which would be only beneficial to our societies.

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Brief Film Study: ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘

Figure 34 Topography and natural landscape of Asgard

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CONCLUSION

AN OPEN CONCLUSION

The virtual media-architecture is slowly gaining ground as a subject of inquiry in contemporary architectural studies, and more exploration in the area can be certainly anticipated in the foreseeable future of our practice in this age. The liberty of an imaginative space frees one’s mind from the bounds of reality, and thus can result in a broader perspective towards design. The freedom that fictional architecture enjoys can unleash limitless possibilities.

Not only SF and fantasy, but other forms of fictional architectures provide a valuable source of critical social commentary and prove to be crucial means of analysis and critique of contemporary reality. Estrangement, which is a concept associated with fiction, has been taking place in real life. And films like Black Panther attempt to naturalize a different version of a future city, as compared to what our future cities may look like considering the growth of alien architecture in modern cities. We may soon forget our cultural identities if we are slowly and steadily distanced from it. If this apparently abstract universal language is the only one that remains, the users will no longer be able to associate and engage deeply with their physical inhabited world; neither will their built environment echo their history and identities.

Maybe the cautionary nature of speculative fiction can wake us from the blind acceptance of mute and faceless, non-

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contextualized architecture. Architecture needs to provide its people opportunities for individual and collective association. That is perhaps the crux of the exploration of this research. The built environment is ultimately a precious treasure of every civilization and the vessel of a community’s culture and heritage. Creating faceless architecture of everywhere and nowhere, piece by piece, could wipe civilizations of their collective memories.

Hence, on one hand we struggle to build memorials and promote local art and crafts, and on the other hand, fill cities with mute glass and steel skyscrapers that have less to no regard for its Time, Place or People. Either way, these popular fiction films have triggered a discussion on whether the new architecture we produce can adhere to the rules of technological advancement and yet not be devoid of its contextual relevance.

The built environments are, after all, the vestiges of the inhabitants’ way of life. The art and architecture of every generation, like many other cultural phenomena, reflects their individual and communal identities. Throughout history, the diversity of these socio-cultural conditions across the globe has contributed to world knowledge and the development of human way of life. Just as natural language varies with geography and culture, so does the language of expression in other art forms.

By appealing to the collective archetypes of humankind, architects and designers can achieve an enriched ability to communicate with its people and allow the people to in return associate and relate with their physical surroundings. The stories not only would be told by architecture, but the users would be empowered with the autonomy to create their own stories within their inhabited world.

In a rather open conclusion, the following extract from Alun Rhys William’s text is something that demands being mulled upon by its careful reading with intent. What he writes referring to the final image of a ship sailing off in the ocean in China Miéville’s fantasy novel Railsea is worth quoting at length:

“This closing image captures the utopian yearning that guides the best creative action today. Too much attention, too much preparation for a future that simply cannot be imagined, as Marx knew, is fruitless. The future is fundamentally empty. Its only possible predictive content—and the only possible consequence of prediction—is an empty repetition of the Same.

What is needed is for critique (thought) and praxis (action) to be concerned with the present, to inform and validate one another. Like Sham, we already know what we do not like, and only by acting in accordance with that—with sincerity rather than irony—can we begin to adapt toward an unknown future that will bring new insights, new narratives, new things we do not like, and thus suggest further changes and further directions. Maybe we will find that we are freer to act, and to think, than we realize.”71

71 Alun Rhys Williams, “Recognizing Cognition: On Suvin, Miéville, and the Utopian Impulse in the Contemporary Fantastic.” Ibid., 630.

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