New Ant/Arctic Crimes

Uses of Detection in Transmedial Representations of Climate and Pandemic Emergencies

Abstract

This article analyses a contemporary novel and three TV series set in the Arctic or the Antarctic which use the detective genre to represent problems connected with climate change and pandemics. Besides exploring the ways in which these cultural products voice collective anxieties and conspiracy fears that are tragically up-to-date, the article investigates the peculiar genre blending found in TV series like Helix, Arctic Circle and Fortitude, as well as in the novel Thaw’s Hammer. What it demonstrates is that the combination of elements typical of the spy thriller, the anti-conspiracy thriller, the Nordic noir and the Gothic upsets the distinctive structures and ideologies of the traditional detective genre.