Affective Estrangement and Ecological Destruction in TV Crime Series Fortitude

Abstract

Koistinen and Mäntymäki examine how graphic violence evokes affect in the context of ecological destruction in the UK-produced TV crime fiction series Fortitude (2015–17). They argue that the series mobilises generic exchange by incorporating speculative elements into a traditional crime narrative structure, thereby creating space for affective estrangement. They show how the amalgamation of violence, ecological destruction and affect serves as an entrance into socioecological critique with a strong cautionary element through the negotiation between the human and nonhuman and the ethics of violence. Theoretically, the chapter relies on Sara Ahmed’s view of affect as social processes produced through circulation.