Red Planets

Jordan's Wadi Rum Protected Area, renowned for its arid landscapes and film industry incentives, serves as a backdrop for high-budget science fiction films depicting extraterrestrial environments. This study critiques the cinematic portrayal of deserts as barren and lawless, arguing that such representations perpetuate colonial imaginaries of wastelands. It introduces the concept of 'extractive zones,' where topsoil is captured and circulated as high-definition images, highlighting the complex interplay of laws, labor, and cultural narratives in filmmaking processes.

Mann, D. (2022). Red Planets. Afterimage, 49(1), 88–109. https://doi.org/10.1525/aft.2022.49.1.88