Guillermo del Toro’s 2017 film, The Shape of Water, tells an unconventional love story between a mute woman and an amphibious creature from the Amazon. Many critics illuminate the individuals of sexual, racial and social minority involved in the rescue plan of this creature, and highlight their affective solidarity. In addition to these analyses, this study contributes an ecological interpretation of the film by focusing on the identity of the non-human being itself. The violent acts of detention and torture that were imposed upon this creature, including its capture in the Amazon and shipment to the U.S., can be read as an allegory to “ecocide,” which is executed in the name of development and progress, and is embedded with the idea that humans and nature should be separated. While putting contemporary conceptions of anthropocentrism into question, del Toro shapes an alternative image of this ecologic idea through a romance drama. The intimate love between a human and non-human creature signifies the possibility for unlimited interaction, communication and negotiation between different species, and symbolizes the Amazonian worldview, which emphasizes co-existence. As a result, The Shape of Water suggests the need to create a new kind of relationship between humans and humans, humans and non-humans, and humans and nature.

The Shape of Water, Monsters, Amazon, Ecocide, Re-enchantment, Pluriverse