Biopolitics in Crisis: Analyzing The Wandering Earth through Foucault and Agamben's Theories

Abstract

This article examines the Chinese science fiction film The Wandering Earth as a biopolitical narrative shaped by an apocalyptic crisis. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s theory of biopolitics and Giorgio Agamben’s concepts of sovereignty, bare life, and the state of exception, it argues that the film depicts a form of crisis governance in which collective survival is prioritized through disciplinary control and legal suspension. Michel Foucault’s analysis of biopolitics helps illuminate how techniques of surveillance, normalization, and population management regulate bodies and optimize life in the interests of the state. Giorgio Agamben’s political theory, by contrast, reveals how the normalization of the state of exception enables sovereign power to reduce individuals to bare life. By bringing these frameworks together, the article demonstrates that The Wandering Earth exposes the paradox of biopolitics as both a politics of life and a politics of sacrifice.