When Worlds Collide: Using Films to Understand the Heterotopic Overlaps of Multiple Worlds

Abstract

Heterotopia is an idea as put forward by Michel Foucault, from the notion of place and non-place as disruptive elements. This article explores the fascination with Foucault's brief and sketchy idea of heterotopia in the context of cinema. We examine how the elements of heterotopias are most productively understood through the narrative of popular cinema as quintessential traits of film industry across the globe. Films like Caparhnaum, Fahrenheit 451, Interstellar, Stalker (1979), Avatar, Gulabo Sitabo(Hindi) and many more are examples of heterotopic films. These films stimulated utopian as well as dystopian affects in their audiences. The notion of heterotopia has been extensively deployed in media studies. In this paper, we discuss Caparhnaum and Fahrenheit 451 as a richly heterotopic films in which cinema worked with spaces within spaces. Using the heterotopic dichotomy the authors examine filmmaking as it reconstructs the simulated spaces. The authors also want to underscore, in cinema, what the space consists of, who occupies it, and in what ways.