Description

• Title:
  Emissaries from other worlds: Asteroids, science and mythology in The Color Out of Space and the film Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds
• Creator:
  Mello, Jamer;
  Cánepa, Laura
• Description:
  In this paper, we suggest a speculative comparison between the short story The Color Out of Space (Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1927) and the documentary film Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds (Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer, 2020). We explore the similarities between Herzog’s specific interest in extreme phenomena of Nature and Lovecraftian Cosmicism. We observe that both authors have, to a certain extent, compatible views on the relationship between humans and nature: Herzog and Lovecraft seem to be interested in identifying and investigating humanity’s difficulty in coping with their insignificance when facing catastrophic events caused by indifferent Nature; both chose the same kind of landscape (iced lands, volcanic areas) and extreme natural phenomena (like meteorite falls); and they show a particular interest in characters connected to scientific experiences, and obsessed (even sometimes driven to madness) with the mysteries of nature. Our analysis does not suggest a direct influence of Lovecraft on Herzog, but a productive coincidence that can shed light on the film Fireball and its possible Lovecraftian resonances.
• Object availability:
  free access
• Rights: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0 ;
  Prawa autorskie (c) 2021 Laura Cánepa, Jamer Mello
• Date:
  2022.07.29
• Type:
  info:eu-repo/semantics/article;
  info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
• Language:
  English
• Source:
  Litteraria Copernicana; Bd. 40 Nr. 4 (2021): Lovecraftiana; 49–59;
  Litteraria Copernicana; Vol. 40 No. 4 (2021): Lovecraftiana; 49–59;
  Litteraria Copernicana; Vol. 40 Núm. 4 (2021): Lovecraftiana; 49–59;
  Litteraria Copernicana; Tom 40 Nr 4 (2021): Lovecraftiana; 49–59;
  2392-1617;
  1899-315X
• Format:
  application/pdf
• Publisher:
  Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
• Relation: https://apcz.umk.pl/LC/article/view/36844/32859
• Subject:
  Werner Herzog;
  H.P. Lovecraft;
  cinema;
  literature;
  The Color Out of Space
• Identifier: https://apcz.umk.pl/LC/article/view/36844
• Data provider:
  Akademicka Platforma Czasopism
• Can I use it?:
  seek permission
• Type:
  text