Reflections on Spiritual Dilemmas and Progressive Mania: Intermediality in The Waste Land and Oppenheimer
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6918/IJOSSER.202508_8(8).0021Keywords:
The Waste Land, Oppenheimer, transmediality, intermedial reference.Abstract
The Waste Land, as a long modernist poem, profoundly depicts the spiritual desolation, lack of faith and collapse of civilization in modern Western society. The study of transmediality from the literary classic The Waste Land(1922) to the contemporary film Oppenheimer(2023) provides insights into the mythological elements, audio-visual montage techniques and the theme of human redemption in The Waste Land. The transmediality of both works is demonstrated by the common element of myth, which reveals the possibility of both physical and spiritual destruction of mankind by instrumental progress. Oppenheimer’s implicit and explicit cross-media references to The Waste Land continue the poem’s portrayal of the spiritual barrenness of modern Western society while reflecting on the progressivist ideology that pervades modern society and advocating restraint in human desires, thus fully highlighting The Waste Land’s modern value and influence.
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