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Paper short abstract

This paper analyzes the French television show "OVNI(s)" ["UFO(s)"] as a satirical critique of Western scientific rationalism. Through genre hybridity and engagement with the "conte philosophique", the series foregrounds Indigenous cosmologies and challenges Western conceptualizations of nature.

Paper long abstract

Set in 1978 France, the television series "OVNI(s)" [UFO(s)] (2021–2022, Canal+) draws inspiration from the real-life Groupe d’étude sur les phénomènes aérospatiaux non-identifiés (GEPAN), a division of the French space agency CNES tasked with investigating UFO phenomena. The series follows astrophysicist Didier Mathure, whose failed rocket launch leads to his reluctant reassignment to GEPAN. Initially dismissive of the bureau’s mission, Didier is gradually transformed through his encounters with a team of unconventional investigators and the inexplicable phenomena they study.

This paper examines OVNI(s) as a novel contribution to French speculative fiction, particularly through its hybridization of genres—workplace comedy, science fiction, and detective narrative—within a 30-minute episodic format. The series critiques Western scientific rationalism through the figure of Didier, a modern-day Cartesian whose rigid worldview is challenged by events that defy empirical explanation. Drawing on the Enlightenment-era conte philosophique, the show satirizes Didier’s epistemological arrogance, positioning him as both anti-hero and object of critique.

OVNI(s) reimagines the conte philosophique for the 21st century by exposing the limitations of Western science in accounting for non-Western and Indigenous cosmologies. In doing so, it subverts the traditional “first contact” narrative in science fiction, suggesting instead that knowledge of the stars—and of alien life—has long existed outside dominant scientific paradigms. By linking UFO phenomena to Indigenous knowledge systems, the series invites viewers to reconsider the boundaries between the natural and supernatural, and to recognize the plurality of ways in which the world can be known.