Mother! Nature: Creation, Apocalypse, Climate Skepticism, and Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! (2017)

Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! (2017) was the victim of misguided marketing, as most reviewers expecting a traditional, star-driven horror film were not ready for the more ambitious art film containing overt biblical allegories and disturbing themes. Aronofsky, known for the religious themes in his work, invested Mother! with numerous references to the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. This allegorical film can be easily read as a visual sermon on creation and environmental destruction, but also an indictment of the Anthropocene. The theme of apocalypse in Mother! proves rather intriguing in light of climate skepticism among US evangelicals. For decades, cultural critics have blamed these skeptical attitudes concerning anthropogenic climate change on the “end-time apathy hypothesis,” that an eschatology centered on the imminent return of Christ has led many toward apathy concerning environmental issues. Of course, this linkage of Genesis and Apocalypse adds an extra layer of meaning to Mother!’s apocalyptic finale. In this chapter, I address the film’s biblical and ecological motifs in light of the culture wars, especially in how religious communities (particularly US evangelicals) battle over issues like climate change.