Rory ROWAN, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Wolfwalkers (2020) is an animated fantasy film directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart of Cartoon Saloon, an award-winning Irish animation studio, the third of their ‘Irish Folklore Trilogy’ after The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014). Set in Kilkenny in 1650 during the colonial settlement of Ireland the story follows Robyn Goodfellowe, a young English girl accompanying her hunter father who has been tasked with wiping out the local wolves so that the forest can be cleared for planting. Whilst exploring the forbidden forests beyond the city walls Robyn forms a friendship with Mebh, a free-spirted member of an indigenous tribe, the wolfwalkers, who dwell in the forest and turn into wolves at night. The bond forged between these girls, and their secret knowledge of the forest, disrupts the colonial plantation and protects the world her father has been sent to destroy. Although nominally an adventure story for children the film is grounded in a radical eco-critique of Ireland’s colonization that draws upon feminist thought, indigenous knowledges and environmental history whilst striking a defiantly anti-imperial note that avoids the pitfalls of exclusionary nationalisms. This paper seeks to explore the film’s narrative themes through the lens of decolonial feminism (de la Cadena, Vergès) and critiques of capitalist natures (Moore) in order to grasp its lessons for ongoing attempts to resist and undo the legacies of coloniality in the present. The paper contributes to radical work in the ‘environmental humanities,’ both in Ireland and beyond.
Mots clés : Environment|Decolonization |feminism |Ireland|indigenous knowledge
A104449RR