1st Edition
Ecocinema Theory and Practice
Ecocinema Theory and Practice is the first collection of its kind—an anthology that offers a comprehensive introduction to the rapidly growing field of eco-film criticism, a branch of critical scholarship that investigates cinema’s intersections with environmental understandings. It references seminal readings through cutting edge research and is designed as an introduction to the field as well as a sourcebook. It defines ecocinema studies, sketches its development over the past twenty years, provides theoretical frameworks for moving forward, and presents eloquent examples of the practice of eco-film criticism through essays written by the field’s leading and emerging scholars. From explicitly environmental films such as Werner Herzong's Grizzly Man and Roland Emmerich's The Day After Tomorrow to less obvious examples like Errol Morris's Fast, Cheap & Out of Control and Christopher Nolan's Inception, the pieces in this collection comprehensively interrogate the breadth of ecocinema. Ecocinema Theory and Practice also directs readers to further study through lists of recommended readings, professional organizations, and relevant periodicals.
Introduction: Cuts to Dissolves: Defining and Situation Ecocinema Studies Stephen Rust and Salma Monani I. Ecocinema Theory 1. The Eco-Cinema Experience Scott McDonald 2. The Aesthetics and Ethics of Eco-film Criticism David Ingram 3. Ecocinema and Ideology Andrew Hageman 4. An Ecophilosophy of the Moving Image: Cinema as Anthrobiogeomorphic Machine Adrian Ivakhiv II. EcoCinema Practice: Wildlife and Documentary Film 5. Penguins are Good to Think With: Wildlife Films, the Imaginary Shaping of Nature, and Environmental Politics Luis Vivanco 6. Working with Animals: Regarding Companion Species in Documentary Film Jennifer Ladino 7. Beyond Fluidity: A Cultural History of Cinema Under Water Nicole Starosielski 8. Nature Writes the Screenplays: Commercial Wildlife Films and Ecological Entertainment Claire Molloy III: EcoCinema Practice: Hollywood and Fictional Film 9. Hollywood and Climate Change Stephen Rust 10. Appreciating the Views: Filming Nature in Into the Wild, Grizzly Man, and Into the West Pat Brereton 11. Sympathy for the Devil: The Cannibalistic Hillbilly in 1970s Rural Slasher Films Carter Soles IV. Beyond Film 12. Environmental Film Festivals: Beginning Explorations at the Intersections of Film Festival Studies and Ecocinema Studies Salma Monani 13. Everyone Knows This is Nowhere: Data Visualization and Ecocriticism Sean Cubitt
Biography
Stephen Rust is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Oregon where he teaches film history and media aesthetics. His research explores the intersections of media, culture, and environment. His work has appeared in such journals as Film & History, ISLE, and Jump Cut. He is currently writing an article on ecocinema for the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Literature and Environment and a book on the representation of global environmental change in contemporary Hollywood cinema.
Salma Monani is Assistant Professor at Gettysburg College’s Environmental Studies department. As a humanities scholar her research and teaching includes explorations in literary ecocriticism and cine-ecocriticism. She has published in peer reviewed journals such as ISLE and Local Environments, co-edited a special collection devoted to ecomedia and just sustainability for Environmental Communication: The Journal of Nature and Culture, and is currently working on a book project examining contemporary indigenous ecocinema expressions in the Americas.
Sean Cubitt is Professor of Film at Goldsmiths, University of London, Professorial Fellow in Media and Communications at the University of Melbourne and Honorary Professor of the University of Dundee. His publications include Timeshift: On Video Culture, Videography: Video Media as Art and Culture, Digital Aesthetics, Simulation and Social Theory, The Cinema Effect and EcoMedia. He is the series editor for Leonardo Books at MIT Press. His current research is on digital light technologies, media art history and ecocriticism.
"Expansive in its imagination of ecocinema's nature and habitat, this field-shaping volume sets out and at the same time expertly elasticizes the animating theories and curiosities of ecocinema studies. From the compelling claim that 'all cinema is a form of climate cinema' to lively analyses of individual films, data visualization, and the phenomenon of the environmental film festival, Ecocinema Theory and Practice inspires attention, debate, and urgent action in this world we jointly inhabit." —Janet Walker, Professor of Film and Media Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
"There is no better time for Rust, Monani and Cubitt to present their edited anthology Ecocinema Theory and Practice as a more comprehensive introduction to the field. With essays written by pioneering and emerging scholars, the collection both sketches the development of ecocinema studies over the past two decades and offers much-needed new theoretical frameworks for expanding and defining ecocinema studies." – Kiu-wai Chu, University of Hong Kong, in Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture
