Natural History vs. Human History. The Scary Return of the Past in "Fortitude”

The chapter explores two main aspects of the complex relation between past and present represented in the TV series "Fortitude" (2015-2018): the resurgence of a pre-human history that challenges anthropocentrism; and the use of the gothic motif of the nightmarish past as a means to voice current ecological and philosophical concerns. These aspects are examined in light of non-anthropocentric and posthumanities theories which, besides exposing the limits of the old humanist distinction between natural history and human history, underscore the need for human-nonhuman relationships based on “relatedness” (Domanska, 2010). In "Fortitude", the threat posed by a resurrected pre-human past is rendered in scary realistic terms. Drawing upon recent fears of ‘zombie’ pathogens, the series tells the story of an infection spread by prehistoric parasitic wasps revived from the melting permafrost which, like avenging ‘natural’ ghosts, turn people into hosts of their larvae. The chapter aims to demonstrate that the wasps pose a triple challenge to the anthropocentrism typical of traditional historiography: they reveal the negative consequences of anthropogenic activities, giving voice to anxieties over climate emergency; they prove human vulnerability, questioning the century-long belief in a human-dominated hierarchy of species; and they raise pressing ethical issues, inviting us to rethink our role in world history and to develop a more inclusive, heterarchical approach to nature and nonhumans.