Ecological Film Theory and Psychoanalysis; Surviving the Environmental Apocalypse in Cinema; First Edition

This book applies ecolinguistics and psychoanalysis to explore how films fictionalising environmental disasters provide spectacular warnings against the dangers of environmental apocalypse, while highlighting that even these apparently environmentally friendly films can still facilitate problematic real-world changes in how people treat the environment. __Ecological Film Theory and Psychoanalysis__ argues that these films exploit cinema’s inherent Cartesian grammar to construct texts in which not only small groups of protagonist survivors, but also vicarious spectators, pleasurably transcend the fictionalised destruction. The ideological nature of the ‘lifeboats’ on which these survivors escape, moreover, is accompanied by additional elements that constitute contemporary Cartesian subjectivity, such as class and gender binaries, restored nuclear families, individual as opposed to social responsibilities for disasters, and so on. The book conducts extensive analyses of these processes, before considering alternative forms of filmmaking that might avoid the dangers of this existing form of storytelling. The book’s new ecosophy and film theory establishes that Cartesian subjectivity is an environmentally destructive ‘symptom’ that everyday linguistic activities like watching films reinforce. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of film studies, literary studies (specifically ecocriticism), cultural studies, ecolinguistics, and ecosophy. This book applies ecolinguistics and psychoanalysis to explore how films fictionalising environmental disasters provide spectacular warnings against the dangers of environmental apocalypse, while highlighting that even these apparently environmentally friendly films can still facilitate problematic realworld changes in how people treat the environment. Cover 1 Endorsements 2 Half Title 4 Series Page 5 Title Page 6 Copyright Page 7 Dedication 8 Table of Contents 10 Introduction 12 1. Environmental crisis and epistemological crisis: Ecologicallydestructive Cartesian subjectivity 15 2. Cinema spectatorship as an illusory Cartesian ‘symptom’ 50 3. Realist film as cogito-centric film 96 4. Surviving environmental disasters in film ‘lifeboats’ 124 5. Surviving environmental apocalypse in film ‘lifeboats’ 165 6. Survivors in post-apocalyptic environmental dystopias 198 7. The possibilities of non-Cartesian film 215 Conclusion 245 Index 257 Introduction;,1,Environmental,crisis,and,epistemological,crisis;,2,Cinema,spectatorship,as,an,illusory,Cartesian,‘symptom’;,3,Realist,film,as,cogito-centric,film;,4,Surviving,environmental,disasters,in,film,‘lifeboats’;,5,Surviving,environmental,apocalypse,in,film,‘lifeboats’;,6,Survivors,in,post-apocalyptic,environmental,dystopias;,7,The,possibilities,of,non-Cartesian,film;,Conclusion Introduction,1 Environmental crisis and epistemological crisis,2 Cinema spectatorship as an illusory Cartesian ‘symptom’,3 Realist film as cogito-centric film,4 Surviving environmental disasters in film ‘lifeboats’,5 Surviving environmental apocalypse in film ‘lifeboats’,6 Survivors in post-apocalyptic environmental dystopias,7 The possibilities of non-Cartesian film,Conclusion "This book applies ecolinguistics and psychoanalysis to explore how films fictionalising environmental disasters provide spectacular warnings against the dangers of environmental apocalypse, and how these films can facilitate positive real-world changes in how people treat the environment. Ecological Film Theory and Psychoanalysis highlights that even these apparently environmentally friendly films exploit cinema's inherent Cartesian grammar to construct texts in which not only small groups of protagonist survivors, but also vicarious spectators, pleasurably transcend the fictionalised destruction. The ideological nature of the 'lifeboats' on which these survivors escape, moreover, is accompanied by additional elements that constitute contemporary Cartesian subjectivity, such as class and gender binaries, restored nuclear families, individual as opposed to social responsibilities for disasters, and so on. The book conducts extensive analyses of these processes, before considering alternative forms of filmmaking that might avoid the dangers of this existing form of storytelling. The book's new ecosophy and film theory establishes that Cartesian subjectivity is an environmentally destructive 'symptom' that everyday linguistic activities like watching films reinforce. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of film studies, literary studies (specifically ecocriticism), cultural studies, ecolinguistics, and ecosophy"-- Provided by publisher