By Emma
Link: https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/whats-on/all-shows/anthropocene-the-human-era/13828
Available until: 10th May 10am
Anthropocene: The Human Era is mostly very pretty to watch but I don’t really understand it.
It’s partly a choose your own adventure game. You choose between different options and you learn something about the environment. This is framed by an outer story of a woman called Megan who says goodbye to her partner Max, then her friend Giulia comes rushing round with magazines, chocolate, wine… and a pregnancy test. So I don’t know what the wine’s doing there really. Wine seems a bit tactless when there might be nothing to celebrate and if there is something to celebrate, you can’t drink!
There are some lovely images. A light blue piece of fabric is used in a way which I think is meant to represent water. A lot of the physical contact between the characters seems choreographed, like dancing. It’s a good way of showing that Megan and Max are really in love and probably in a good place to have a baby, unless they’re still caught up in the romance and not ready for reality. There is also a really lovely snowglobe which I think is being used as an image but I don’t really understand it. Maybe it’s saying stop buying clothes, devices, magazines and alcohol and appreciate the simple things?
The choices you have to make aren’t really that interesting and a lot of them are quite depressing. First Megan has to choose between coffee and orange juice and either way you get a film about why it’s a bad choice which in both cases would totally put me off drinking it. The destruction of the environment, the fuels involved in transport, the packaging and the fact we basically waste most of the orange if we’re just drinking the juice.
Other choices include whether Megan will take her packed lunch from Max or whether he’ll put it back into the fridge, looking fed up (it actually didn’t look very appetising and they’ve only just got up, isn’t it a bit early for lunch?) how Megan will pass the time as she waits for the result of the pregnancy test, moving between what Megan is doing and what Giulia is doing, though the first time I watched it, I seemed to bypass the Giulia option. She was there but I didn’t get to find out what she was up to.
Later choices involve Megan looking into the future to find out what having children will do to the planet and if it’s a good thing. If Megan is pregnant, I kind of think she’s at the stage where it’s too late to worry about that. I totally support every woman’s right (or every trans man’s right or every non-binary person’s right) to make their own decision about their own baby but I think the question about whether it’s a good thing for the world is more a question for when you’re thinking about having a baby. This seems more like an unplanned baby judging from the secrecy so if a baby is on the way it’s about what Megan and Max want right now, not about what the planet might need in the future.
There isn’t very much dialogue in this film. A lot of the interaction is shown in mime, choreography, or the choices that appear on the screen. It’s clear from the interaction that Megan and Max are a loving couple, Giulia is a supportive friend and that Megan has very mixed feelings about being a mum (understandable! It’s scary!), but we don’t know much beyond that. They live in a nice house, despite Megan apparently not working (though maybe she took the morning off or she doesn’t work 9-5) so they can probably afford a baby. The signs are mostly positive.
We learn about the environment through images of the world, both what is happening now and what could happen in the future. We hear short sections of videos on Megan’s phone which tell us things about the environment. It’s a really good idea but it might be a bit too subtle for people who aren’t familiar with the issues already and if you do know the issues, you’re less likely to learn something from the film.
I do really like the idea of it, I think some of it is really beautiful to watch (and if some of it isn’t very nice to watch, maybe we still need to see it), it is reassuring to know that if there is a baby, it will be born to a stable and loving couple who are likely to be able to provide for it and there’s a lovely potential godmother too. Megan Noakes and Max Curtis are lovely as the main couple and they show you a lot even without speaking. Giulia del Fabbro is a dream best friend. Directors William Townsend and Gavin Maxwell’s physical theatre approach is lovely to watch.
Even if it is a bit subtle and maybe doesn’t quite
achieve what it set out to do, there are lots of lovely things in this film.
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