ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the notion of creaturely life, a fundamental component of Benjamin's concept of natural history, through a reading of La Jetée (Marker, 1962) and a selection of films by Béla Tarr. Drawing upon the work of Eric Santner and Celeste Olalquiaga, creatureliness is defined as the residual existence of a form of life that has exhausted its meaning or value. This extends to images, objects, commodities, and artefacts, as well as to animals, plants, insects, and other living organisms, including humans. Melancholy, shame, and the peculiar attitude of búskomorság convey the affective experience of creaturely life, but Benjamin, Marker, and Tarr discover a form of political resistance and release in embracing the action of entropy, inertia, and decay which defines natural history.
