Workings of Power in 'The 100': Paradoxes in Post-Apocalyptic Societies
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2017-08-30
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en
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Post-apocalypticism in American popular culture has led to a projection of our collective hopes and fears onto film worlds. A world without ideologies allows for a re-imagining of social life. The TV series The 100 is used as a case study. This thesis examines the way in which power operates in relation to politics and gender in three societies, using Michel Foucault. Hopes and fears are represented in the paradoxical roots of these communities. The Mountain Men are based on ‘contaminated purity’ when looking at their culture and physicality, the Grounder Clans have their roots in ‘female masculinity’ with an emphasis on violence, and the Sky People portray ‘civilized primitiveness’, highlighting continuous surveillance. Power has become internalized and normalized, creating individual self-regulation. The paradoxical roots of these societies lead to the paradox of the genre itself, constructing a ‘utopian dystopia’ in which the post-apocalyptic world is glorified.
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