SPACESHIP EARTH and Our Visions of Escape

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Trailer

When human beings theorize about living on other planets, they often ignore the ways in which we’ve made our current home unsustainable. We look to the stars and imagine that we can leave all of this behind to start anew. The documentary SPACESHIP EARTH is a captivating reminder that, wherever we might eventually go, we’ll still be ourselves when we get there.

From 1991-1993, a small group of people lived in a contained environment called Biosphere 2. Their goal was to simulate what our lives could be like in extraterrestrial settings beyond Biosphere 1 — also known as Earth. This experiment was widely publicized and viewed as a bold embrace of revolutionary human potential. The group entering Biosphere 2 was praised by certain media outlets for being “ethnically diverse” and made up of “scientific expertise.” In reality, it was largely white, heteronormative, and deliberately designed as “trendy ecological entertainment.” It wasn’t really a place for genuine scientific exploration where new ways of living could be engineered. Instead, it functioned as an idealized getaway and a coping mechanism for a privileged few.

Rainforests, savannas, plants, animals, and other things deemed necessary to build a living world were recreated in some form within Biosphere 2. The striking parallels to Noah’s ark are explicitly acknowledged in one of the film’s talking head interviews. The idealistic sales pitch was that this vibrant world-under-a dome would rekindle connections between human beings, the natural world, and a morally conscious existence. 

The inhabitants and advocates of Biosphere 2 made for a somewhat surprising—yet fairly predictable—hybrid of philosophers and millionaires. The former group consisted of self-identified synergists, intellectuals, and artists who had created a commune in New Mexico and sailed a ship called Heraclitus around the world. The latter group consisted of people like Ed Bass, an oil tycoon and extension of a capitalistic empire with ties to Wall Street and eventual climate change deniers.

We are addicted to the idea of isolating ourselves from this world to build a new one. It’s a fresh start, something on which people can pin sweeping promises to care for the environment or revamp spirituality. We continue to believe that there is an abstract, external thing we can forge from our own ambition that will make us better. Each time we fail, that belief grows even stronger.

A man named John Allen became the de facto leader of Biosphere 2 after overseeing the commune that preceded it. It was a patriarchal replication of how the world had been organizing itself for so many generations. This societal structure reinforced a gendered social hierarchy and turned John Allen into something resembling a prophet. People called John a genius even as they acknowledged his toxic and destructive patterns. Many found the structure of John’s commune and Biosphere 2 cultish. Human beings may collectively believe that only a familiar brand of egotistical visionary can shepherd intangible ideas into existence. Too often, it’s the leaders around which people assemble that bring bold visions to catastrophic ends. 

This is an insightful documentary made with curiosity and moral urgency. The interviews throughout it are full of depth and the archival footage used is a transportive companion to the stories being told. Overall, this is a portrait of how the world we’ve built can swallow good intentions whole and corrupt the legacies of genuinely well-meaning people. It’s worth watching to see how something can become misguided after distinctly human forces act upon it. It’s also affirming to people trying to rebuild what’s already in front of them.

AFS Cinema has made this film available to screen virtually. A portion of the proceeds from all virtual screenings will go toward future AFS programming and reopening the theater when the guidance of public health officials indicates it is safe to do so. Thank you for your support.