Hybridization as Subversion in Science Fiction: An Ecofeminist Reading to Reverse the Culture of Hate in The Animal Kingdom (2023)

Abstract

This article explores the representation of hybrid beings in contemporary science fiction cinema as a strategy to challenge the anthropocentric and binary ontologies that sustain structures of oppression. Drawing on ecofeminist theoretical frameworks, the analysis focuses on The Animal Kingdom (2023), examining how its narrative and visual aesthetics construct a discourse of resistance against the rigid boundaries between the human and the non-human. The film’s depiction of hybridization subverts the Cartesian division that has historically separated rational human subjectivity from animal otherness, positioning these liminal figures as symbols of vulnerability and emancipation. This study contributes to current debates in ecofeminism and posthumanism on interspecies hierarchies, intersectional ethics, and the role of speculative fiction in deconstructing exclusionary paradigms. By contextualizing the film within broader cultural anxieties about biopolitical control and environmental crises, this research argues that hybridization functions as a subversive strategy to challenge the culture of hate and exclusion, proposing alternative narratives of coexistence and interdependence.