Narratives of power
critical analysis of Elon Musk's extraplanetary imagination in "Back to Space"
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23925/1982-6672.2025v17i52p180-197Keywords:
Narratology, Elon Musk, Sociotechnical imaginaries , Extraplanetary imaginaries, MeganarratorAbstract
This study analyzes the documentary “Return to Space” as a paradigmatic example of how media and cinema operate as political tools for consolidating hegemonic imaginaries. Through the integration of narratology with the concept of extraplanetary imaginaries, we examine how the film’s narrative reinforces Elon Musk’s techno-utopian projects, which promote space colonization as a solution to humanity’s existential challenges. Through narratological analysis and the concept of the meganarrator, we investigate how cinema can be mobilized as a vector of power that naturalizes certain visions of the future while marginalizing critical alternatives. It is concluded that a deeper critical analysis of media productions is necessary to address the power relations that institutionalize which utopias become hegemonic and who benefits from such narratives.
References
CARDOSO, Luís Miguel. A Problemática do Narrador: Da Literatura ao Cinema. Lumina, Juiz de Fora, v. 6, n. 1-2, p. 57-72, jan./dez. 2003.
GAUDREAULT, André. From Plato to Lumière: Narration and Mostration in Literature and Cinema. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989.
GAUDREAULT, André; JOST, François. Le récit cinématographique. Paris: Armand Colin, 2017.
JASANOFF, Sheila. Future Imperfect: Science, Technology, and the Imaginations of Modernity. In: JASANOFF, Sheila; KIM, Sang-Hyun (Eds.). Dreamscapes of Modernity: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and the Fabrication of Power. Chicago & Londres: The University of Chicago Press, 2015a, p. 1-33.
JASANOFF, Sheila. Imagined and Invented Worlds. In: JASANOFF, Sheila; KIM, Sang-Hyun (Eds.). Dreamscapes of Modernity: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and the Fabrication of Power. Chicago & Londres: The University of Chicago Press, 2015b, p. 321-341.
OSSANES, Carlos. A entidade meganarradora em Mais Estranho que a Ficção: Aproximações entre a narração literária e a cinematográfica. Literatura e Autoritarismo, Santa Maria, v. 19, p. 131-140, 2017.
MUSK, Elon. Making Humans a Multi-Planetary Species. New Space, Illkirch-Graffenstaden, v. 5, n. 2, p. 46-61, 2017.
NICHOLS, Bill. Introdução ao Documentário. São Paulo: Papirus, 2005.
RUBENSTEIN, Mary-Jane. Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2022.
TUTTON, Richard. Sociotechnical Imaginaries and Techno-Optimism: Examining Outer Space Utopias of Silicon Valley. Science as Culture, Londres, p. 1-24, 2020.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Aurora. Journal of Art, Media and Politics.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.







