Noise, ecological crises, and the posthuman sensibility of Michel Serres in Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin

Abstract

This article revisits Jonathan Glazer’s sci-fi film Under the Skin, ten years on from its release in 2013, to re-read it through Michel Serres’s posthuman philosophy as an allegorical warning about the ongoing ecological crises. Making this argument involves recognizing, through Serres, the crucial role of artistic practice in questioning our current neglect of sensible modes of being. Focusing upon the importance of ‘noise’ within Serres’s posthuman thinking, this article considers the alignment between the sensibility of ‘The Female’ in Under the Skin – an alien in human form (portrayed by Scarlett Johansson) – and the virtue of sensibility advocated by Serres of being ‘on the cusp of sense in the making’ (Webb 2018): a dynamic position situated between the chaotic noise of the world and the limitations of human language (Serres 2016). In combination with Glazer’s direction, the original musical score by Mica Levi and innovative sound design by Johnnie Burn are central to the argument. An additional aim of the article is to show the significance of Serres’s thinking within cultural studies, where this philosophy is currently undervalued.