THE JODOVERSE: COSMIC CLONING OF CLASSICAL GEOPOLITICS

AJZENHAMER Vladimir (Docent, Fakultet bezbednosti Univerziteta u Beogradu), ajzenhamer@fb.bg.ac.rs

The paper is an attempt at geopolitical contextualization and realpolitik reading of comic works by Alejandro Jodorowsky. The focus of the analysis is on the so-called “Jodoverse” - a segment of Jodorowsky’s opus which includes three great science-fiction sagas – “The Incal”, “The Saga of the Metabarons” and “Technopriests”. These works, which can be defined as “space operas” in terms of genre, vividly evoke a futuristic vision of one of the possible cosmic futures of humanity. This paper aims to map those motives in this fictional universe that draw inspiration from the tradition of classical geopolitics, i.e., the practice of political realism. The author’s initial assumption is that the Jodoverse is designed to function as a (popular-cultural) reflection of earthly geopolitical principles in the mirror of outer space and that, therefore, the depiction of astropolitics in the works of Jodorowsky is nothing but cloning of realpolitik in infinite space above the earth’s orbit. In order to confirm this assumption, the author will use the geopolitical and astropolitical concepts of Karl Schmidt and Everett Dolman as a key to unravelling the secrets of the Jodoverse. For that purpose, Schmidt’s concept of the nomos of the earth will be used, as well as the teaching on technological determinism which is present in the works of both theorists. By applying these concepts to Jodorowsky’s comics, the author will try to prove how the ideas of classical geopolitics have their counterparts in the cosmic phantasms of this genius of the ninth art.

Keywords: popular geopolitics, astropolitics, comics, Alejandro Jodorowsky, classical geopolitics, realpolitik, Carl Schmidt, Everett Dolman, Jodoverse