An Old, New Home: Technology, Temporality, and Wasteocene of the Wandering Earth.
The Wandering Earth 2 places a heightened emphasis on the vision of a technologically augmented Earth as the only home for humankind. However, this vision is compromised by the exclusion of "waste"—abandoned habitats, non-human life, and marginalized individuals. This study examines the contradictio...
| Published in: | Chinese Literature & Thought Today Vol. 57; no. 1/2; pp. 41 - 57 |
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| Format: | Essay |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=196267537&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 196267537 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 27683524 N4K5 jtl: Chinese Literature & Thought Today issn: 27683524 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2026 vid: 57 iid: 1/2 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 196267537 10.1080/27683524.2026.2646118 ppf: 41 ppct: 16 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 9.2MB tig: atl: An Old, New Home: Technology, Temporality, and Wasteocene of the Wandering Earth. aug: au: Qi, Xiangu su: Environmental justice Science fiction films Philosophy of time Applied sciences Environmental degradation Anthropogenic effects on nature Anthropocene Epoch sug: subj: Environmental justice Science fiction films Philosophy of time Applied sciences Environmental degradation Anthropogenic effects on nature Anthropocene Epoch ab: The Wandering Earth 2 places a heightened emphasis on the vision of a technologically augmented Earth as the only home for humankind. However, this vision is compromised by the exclusion of "waste"—abandoned habitats, non-human life, and marginalized individuals. This study examines the contradictions within the film's grand narrative of "new-future-making" and challenges the ideal of a shared Earth as home, revealing how both are persistently overshadowed by invisible environmental injustices. Specifically, this paper teases out the fissures within the narrative of Earth-as-home as presented in Wandering 2. First, the film functions as a technology about and for technology, not only showcasing the (re)construction of a future home anchored in unprecedented technological achievements, but also demonstrating human power in capturing/displacing, rather than caring/emplacing, the Earth through technology. Second, by repurposing the past, the film envisions a future home where humankind can regain the long-lost symbiosis with nature and equally shared by a homogeneous collective of "we," which starkly contrasts against the backdrop of urgent ecological crisis and humanity's relentless reconfiguration of the Earth. Most critically, the promise of a shared Earth, reinforced by spectacular displays of technology and repeated invocations of a distant past, is disrupted by the wasting relationships embedded both within the film's narrative and in broader socio-ecological contexts, a Wasteocene à la Marco Armiero, which, more than ubiquitous physical waste, points to the global scale of socio-ecological relationships aimed at excluding disposable others—such as the sick—from the envisioned only home. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Essay src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Chinese Literature & Thought Today is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Chinese Literature & Thought Today holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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