Humans have a long-standing desire to conquer—this includes lands, oceans, and even people. But what would a world look like with the absence of humans? Emilija Škarnulytė’s short film Sirenomelia attempts to answer this question, as it portrays a mermaid swimming through an abandoned arctic submarine base in silence, with no human interaction. In Sirenomelia, Škarnulytė uses the haunting image of the mermaid gliding through an abandoned submarine base to deafening silence to suggest that while human presence is fleeting, nature endures. By staging this encounter in a space once designed for human dominance, the film underscores the futility of humanity’s attempts to conquer the ocean and reminds us that the environment will ultimately prevail.

The film blurs the boundary between human and natural worlds, questioning where one ends and the other begins. The presence of the mermaid complicates this relationship—her hybrid form could indicate that she could lean either human or fish (nature). Interestingly, the mermaid sports a scuba mask (Škarnulytė 4:13), which would mean she could potentially lean more “human.” However, her unnatural abilities—swimming through water for long periods of time and her fish-like tail— would separate her from the humans we know of today. So, her appearance and capabilities raise the question: are humans a part of nature or are they separate from it? Perhaps Škarnulytė suggests that attempting to separate ourselves from nature is artificial and unstable, just like the creations we brought to this world, which are now left behind in a world devoid of humans. The hybridity of the mermaid seems to represent that humans have a place within nature; however, in the grand scheme of things, they will eventually die out and leave behind a world tainted by their presence.

Humans have always tried to conquer, but in Škarnulytė’s film, it seems that they have failed to do so. Thus, the abandoned submarine base represents humanity’s failed attempt to dominate the oceans. Humans have been trying for generations to conquer lands and draw borders, even in the water. Not only does the base represent their failed attempt at conquering the oceans, but it also represents failed ambitions and the humiliation that came with their failure. The film has multiple shots of empty corridors filled only with water, with no sign of human life. What once was likely a bustling and deadly submarine base catering to the human desire to conquer is now the playground for a mermaid who might not have ever interacted with a human. In essence, the base becomes a relic of human ambition, which is now reclaimed by nature. With no humans to operate it, her world lacks conflict and danger. The absence of humans highlights the temporality of human structures compared to the endurance of the environment.

Of course, the absence of human life has a significant impact on the messaging within the film, but the soundscape also reinforces the counteracting balance between humans and nature. The closing scene shows the mermaid swimming from a birds-eye point of view, looking down on her in the vast expanse of the ocean (Škarnulytė 5:15). In the background is the unsettling sound of what might be a sonar system. As the mermaid swims past, she leaves behind a trail of “waves,” in both the literal sense and a symbolic sense. As her tail flaps against the water, it creates waves both physically through the water and sonically through the soundwaves, almost like she is sending a message. She is the siren alerting humans of her presence, if there are any remaining. This strange and interesting combination of human devoidness but also human influence hints that even if this post-human landscape sees no humans, it still has that touch of human influence.

Although humans may strive to conquer nature by any means possible, whether that means policing borders or drawing lines non the oceans, nature will ultimately prevail. Humans are at an interesting cross-section between nature and something separate from nature. Though they have a place within nature, their ambition will ultimately be their demise. They will one day cease to exist, and all that will remain are the oceans and the lands surrounding them, and perhaps a post-human mermaid wearing a scuba mask. By showing us nature’s quiet endurance, Škarnulytė invites us to reconsider our place within—not above—the natural world.

Works Cited

Škarnulytė, Emilija. Sirenomelia. Nowness Video Art Visions, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foH0QGuC3kY