Climate change is the most significant challenge of our time to the health and prosperity of human civilization.  Even as global warming continues to accelerate at a rate exceeding the predictions of the best-trained climate scientists, blatant denial of climate change persists at political and personal levels.  Among those who do acknowledge the fact of climate change, apathy stubbornly counters the much-needed drive toward action.  But denial and apathy are not the only psychological effects of the climate crisis.  Additionally, sorrow, a pervasive sense of loss, and other feelings related to grief are some of the emotional consequences of a changing Earth.  In this thesis, I offer a reconsideration of the psychological dimension of climate change.  Instead of focusing primarily on mental constructs like denial and apathy, I propose a theory of grief over the loss of the planet and its more-than-human elements.[1]  I call this theory biogrief. 

Melancholia (2011) is a film by Lars von Trier that uses an unconventional story arc to narrate one woman’s journey from depression to courage in the face of planetary apocalypse.  In this thesis, I elucidate my theory of biogrief by analyzing the characters of Melancholia; specifically, by analyzing their varying emotional responses to apocalypse.  Using the work of contemporary psychologists studying the nexus of emotion, Western socioeconomics, and climate change, I explore the dominant social world of the film, which embodies the spirit of climate change denial and apathy.  I describe how this culture punishes Justine, the film’s protagonist, whose sensitivity to the transitory nature of life threatens what surrounds her: a reified worldview of economic excess and the illusion of capitalistic permanence.  With support from the work of 20th century psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Julia Kristeva, I apply studies of melancholia, a type of grief that diverges from normal mourning, to an analysis of the film’s protagonist.  I use Nick Land's post-psychoanalytic theory of geotrauma to bolster my findings on melancholia.  Further, Roger Caillois’ theory of mimicry and legendary psychasthenia helps to delineate a potential path out of the stultifying effects of melancholia.  Applying this theory to a pivotal point in the story, I illustrate how both processes pave the way toward Justine’s emotional restoration.  I end the thesis by depicting the outcome of Justine’s journey through biogrief: it results in newfound inner strength and resolve, which she uses to support others during their own experiences of biogrief.

 

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