In Emelijia Škarnulytė’s short film “Sirenomelia,” around minute four and a half, there is an incredibly evocative moment when a mermaid is sen very quietly moving through the long, deserted passage within an unused NATO submarine base. The juxtaposition of the fluid and organic form of the mermaid with cold, mechanical environment generates such a compelling image of form, vulnerability, and strength all at once. This challenging moment converts a space that was designed to uphold military strength into a space of positive beauty that one does not expect. This important moment encapsulates the film’s central message; that new forms of life (even if mythical) or historically based realities can reclaim and reimagine spaces that have been socially and culturally shaped by conflict and human history. Furthermore, “Sirenomelia” argues that spaces clearly marked by human violence and power need not remain stagnant, but can be reimagined by beings with adaptive capabilities as species of newfound meaning, intersectionality, resilience, and hope.

The film engages audiences in exploring how spaces devoid of human action might not remain empty but could contain possibilities for other forms of life–with ecological adaptation and mythological re-enchantment in mind. Škarnulytė makes use of the mermaid–a reference to both the rare congenital condition of sirenomelia and also myth–as a symbol of transformation and survival that extends beyond notions of the human. By situating this character, the mermaid, in an abandons Cold War military base, the film proposes a challenge to the prior human power of the past, raising the possibility of surpassing internecine conflict and the potential for coexistence and meaning beyond the human.

For different moments in the film, the absence of human actors compels the audience to reflect on anthropocentric narratives, stating alternate futures in which the human and nonhuman worlds cohere. The wordless mermaid drifting through this antagonistic, masculine landscape signifies the influence of flexible, creative beings (in this case–a mermaid) to mend the wrecked worlds–turning violent spaces in trauma zones to places of stillness and hopeful transformation. The films cinematic techniques with lighting and sound are appropriated and employed within there stagings to amplify the transformation. For example, the harsh shadows and resonating silence emphasize the desolation in the spaces; the gentle gestures of the mermaid’s movement operate as a contrast and bring some humanity back to the old spatial base it passes through.

Additionally, the movie also employs symbols and setting to express how human legacy has the capacity to be both devastating and a source of potential for new life. The retired submarine base, a symbol of Cold War militarism, stands in as a monument to the remains of human warfare and a biocultural imperialism of technology. The mermaid’s representation, however, offers a promise of regeneration and transformation–a future where myth and the natural milieu can exist alongside remnants of human history. This scene at 4:30 especially serves as a metaphor for the larger theme of “Sirenomelia”: that remnants of human conflict can be reimagined anew, through more complex stories, and imaging of life beyond binaries of power and dominance, with a vision of the future based on adaptation and interrelation.