Green Film Criticism and Its Futures

Abstract

yond its original home in literary studies and colonizing new niches in related fields. Among these is film criticism. many ecocritics have taken an interest in film and visual media: there have, for instance, been a number of discussions on the ASLE listserv about environmental films, and several courses in environmental literature include screenings of films. Yet most references to film among ecocritics have tended to focus on films that are considered “environmental,” especially those that portray nature and its defenders positively, as, for instance, Gorillas in the Mist, Koyaanisqatsi, Never Cry Wolf, On Deadly Ground, and Erin Brockovich. Rarely has cinema in general been viewed through an ecocritical lens, nor has there been much evidence in the main venues of ecocriticism of the sustained application of ecocritical strategies to film and cinema studies. 1 In the last six or seven years, this situation has begun to change, with the appearance of extended monographs examining wildlife and nature documentary (Gregg mitman’s Reel Nature and Derek Bouse’s Wildlife Films), environmental themes in experimental cinema (Scott macDonald’s The Garden in the Machine), critical analyses of the repre sentation and use of animals in film (Jonathan Burt’s Animals in Film), and green perspectives on film more generally (David Ingram’s Green Screen, Pat Brereton’s Hollywood Utopia, and Sean Cubitt’s EcoMedia). This article will review the main directions and achievements of eco logically minded film criticism to date and will suggest some as-yetunderexplored strategies for a green film criticism, or