Aiming for the Stars, Getting the EarthOuter Space, Borders, and the Astronaut as an Agent for Cosmopolitan Aspirations in James Gray’s Ad Astra

  1. Ismael Ibáñez Rosales 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Zaragoza
    info

    Universidad de Zaragoza

    Zaragoza, España

    ROR https://ror.org/012a91z28

Libro:
Moving beyond the pandemic: English and American studies in Spain
  1. Francisco Gallardo-del-Puerto (coord.)
  2. Mª del Carmen Camus-Camus (coord.)
  3. Jesús Ángel González-López (coord.)

Editorial: Editorial de la Universidad de Cantabria ; Universidad de Cantabria

ISBN: 978-84-19024-15-2

Año de publicación: 2022

Páginas: 176-181

Congreso: Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos. Congreso (44. 2021. Santander)

Tipo: Aportación congreso

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Resumen

This article presents Ad Astra (James Gray, 2019) as the culmination of an emergent group of outer space films that have shown a growing concern for a future of space exploration that reveals terrestrial anxieties about space exploration and exploitation. The film looks back on mythic representations of the American west to transform outer space into a landscape where the Earth’s global threats are exposed. Consequently, the article focuses on how the film recycles the figure of the astronaut from its former role as space cowboy to its new image as vehicle for cosmopolitan aspirations. Through the theoretical framework of cosmopolitanism and border studies, the article presents Ad Astra’s interplanetary voyage to the last frontier as a metaphor for a journey to the heart of darkness, an opportunity to look back at ourselves.