Alienation, Abjection, and Disgust: Encountering the Capitalocene in Contemporary Eco-Drama

Abstract

“We are shaped, to a greater extent than almost any other species, by contact with others. [. . .] Yet what counts now is to win. [. . .] And for this, we have ripped the natural world apart” (Monbiot). This quote stems from a Guardian article that is also printed as an epigraph in Tanya Ronder’s 2015 play Fuck the Polar Bears, and it reveals the connection between the Capitalocene, as described by Jason W. Moore, and contemporary eco-drama: both thematise the “Age of Loneliness” (Monbiot) in which everyone fights against each other. In contemporary drama, this behaviour is frequently reflected in the depiction of isolation and alienation from nature that is expressed in the form of disgust, for instance, by making objects that are associated with nature literally or metaphorically disgusting.To various degrees, the depiction of the Capitalocene in combination with disgust and abjection can be found in Fuck the Polar Bears as well as in Dawn King’s 2011 play Foxfinder. In both plays, disgust is depicted as degrading the relationship between humans and nonhuman nature. The dichotomy of nature and culture then lines up to “a seemingly endless series of human exclusions” (Moore, Introduction 2) and alienates humans from nature. In these plays, a random disgusting object functions as substitute for the border between humans and nature. By making toy polar bears or foxes disgusting, the border between humans and nature, and to some extent between humans and other humans, is redrawn, which leads to an increased sense of isolation and alienation. Therefore, both plays use disgust as a technique to extrapolate the lack of interconnection between humans and nature, which comments on the competitive, isolating, and destructive nature of the Capitalocene.