A Foreshortened Future and the Trauma of a Dying Earth in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet

Abstract

An experience of anxiety is caused by the anticipation of unseen future events, especially in the context of ecological trauma, where the prospect of a world without humans in the distant future is often portrayed through mediated cinematic memories. As a result of anthropological intervention on our planet, it is feared that humanity will cease to exist unless steps are taken to prevent it. Furthermore, as climate change intensifies, humans are left with more questions regarding their future. One recent film that addresses this issue is Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (2020). The film explores the concept of a dying Earth in the future, whose inhabitants seek help from the past to restore the planet’s balance by reversing entropy. Despite failing to provide any remedy by revealing ‘What’s happened happened’, a viewpoint that Christopher Nolan, as an auteur, has already presented in his previous film Interstellar (2014), the film leaves the audience with the question, what is the purpose of projecting an unseen trauma? By evaluating the events that contributed to the image of a crumbling Earth in the film, this paper seeks to examine the concept of future trauma as an indication of post-traumatic stress disorder while simultaneously exploring it as a film that acknowledges Nolan’s own anxiety over the decline of a medium he cherishes.