Ecocinema

by

Kiu-wai Chu

• LAST REVIEWED: 14 March 2024
• LAST MODIFIED: 30 March 2017
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791286-0252

Introduction

This article introduces recent English scholarship in the expanding field of ecocinema studies. Often seen as a sub-branch of ecocriticism, ecocinema studies (also referred to as “green film criticism,” “eco-film criticism,” or “eco-cinemacriticism”) started to develop only slightly over the past decade or so. All books and articles cited have been published after the mid-1990s, thus revealing the field’s short history and fast expansion. This article is organized in three broad sections. The first five sections focus on the theory and practice of ecocinema studies. General Anthologies introduces edited volumes dedicated to a wide range of thematic issues and theoretical approaches in ecocinema studies. Theorizing Ecocinema: Ethics, Aesthetics, and Politics introduces film scholarship that contribute to define, conceptualize, and define “ecocinema” from ethical, aesthetic, and political dimensions. Eco-Genres: Documentary, Animation, Sci-Fi, and Horror highlights several genres that are often discussed in ecocritical scholarship. As ecocinema studies are, to a large extent, a study of the interplay among film, ecology, and the human mind, books that focus on human’s affective, cognitive, and emotive responses to ecocinema are also a major aspect in the field’s theorization, as reflected in Affect, Cognition, Emotions. Reading Beyond the Text: From Theory to Practice goes beyond a textual analysis of films and puts ecological and environmental ideologies into practice by incorporating writings on the ecological footprint of film, environmental film festivals, and audience studies, as well as pedagogical practices in ecocinema. The next sections introduce works that center around five major themes in ecocinema studies. The Environment: Landscapes and Seascapes and Wildlife, Animal Justice, and Human–Animal Relationships discuss humans’ relationships with the nonhuman world—namely, the (natural and urban) environments—and the nonhuman creatures such as animals and wildlife. The sections on Food Studies; Weather, Climate Change, and Eco-Disasters; and Pollution, Waste, and Toxicity center on those issues, highlighting the urgency of the worsening environmental issues in the contemporary world. The final sections are structured according to geopolitical territories. In addition to books and articles on Hollywood and American Independent Cinema and European Cinemas, recent scholarly works that focus on Asian and the Global Indigenous Cinemas, particularly films from the Global South, have also been introduced. Despite the hope for this entry to be as comprehensive as possible, film scholarship has not been included from neglected countries and regions that are beyond Western and East Asian contexts, such as the relatively under-discussed scholarship from Australasia, Africa, Antarctica, and other parts of the world, because of the limited availability and accessibility of works on these countries.