Imag(in)ing the Anthropocene: Nature Films and/as Creation Tales

The popular association of nature films with scientific objectivity and secular environmentalism obscures how these films also deploy mythological, etiological, and cosmogonic symbols, themes, and narratives to create worlds that appeal to audiences. From Disney's Nature's Half Acre to...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
Main Author: Vivanco, Luis A. 1969- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Equinox Publ. 2019
In: Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Naturfilm / Evolution / Cosmogony / Geology, Stratigraphic
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
AG Religious life; material religion
NBD Doctrine of Creation
NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics
Further subjects:B Anthropocene
B mass media and environment
B film and religion
B rewilding
B Popular Culture
B Nature and wildlife film and television
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:The popular association of nature films with scientific objectivity and secular environmentalism obscures how these films also deploy mythological, etiological, and cosmogonic symbols, themes, and narratives to create worlds that appeal to audiences. From Disney's Nature's Half Acre to March of the Penguins, nature films have employed technical artifice to show nature ‘as it is', and at the same time operated as a means of storytelling about Creation as a sublime order suffused with meaning and purpose. But in these films, humans largely remained outside the ‘natural' field of reference. At the threshold of the Anthropocene, in which concerns about human responsibility for degraded planetary conditions are highlighted, new films like Racing Extinction and the Earth—A New Wild series have explored the potential of creating alternative imaginary and visual worlds of nature that include humans, to support the generation of renewed moral purpose for addressing the global ecological crisis.
ISSN:1749-4915
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/jsrnc.39468