The Green Apocalypse and Empathy for Vegetal Life

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Speculative fiction can contribute toward overcoming "plant awareness disparity" and also can help create empathy for plants rather than fear of an apocalypse. The Saga of the Swamp Thing (1987) by Alan Moore, relies on Swamp Thing's anthropomorphism (undermining the vegetal nature of flora) to oppose the apocalypse and create an empathetic response. The non-anthropomorphic carnivorous plants of John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids (1954) never receive empathy from the human characters. In contrast, James Gunn's Transcendental (2013) depicts an invasive vegetal species which tells its own story, becoming empathetic without anthropomorphism.