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"Heumann, Joseph K"
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Monstrous Nature
Godzilla, a traditional natural monster and representation of cinema's subgenre of natural attack, also provides a cautionary symbol of the dangerous consequences of mistreating the natural world-monstrous nature on the attack. Horror films such asGodzillainvite an exploration of the complexities of a monstrous nature that humanity both creates and embodies.Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann demonstrate how the horror film and its offshoots can often be understood in relation to a monstrous nature that has evolved either deliberately or by accident and that generates fear in humanity as both character and audience. This connection between fear and the natural world opens up possibilities for ecocritical readings often missing from research on monstrous nature, the environment, and the horror film.Organized in relation to four recurring environmental themes in films that construct nature as a monster-anthropomorphism, human ecology, evolution, and gendered landscapes-the authors apply ecocritical perspectives to reveal the multiple ways nature is constructed as monstrous or in which the natural world itself constructs monsters. This interdisciplinary approach to film studies fuses cultural, theological, and scientific critiques to explore when and why nature becomes monstrous.
eBook
Film and Everyday Eco-disasters
pEco-disasters such as coal-mining accidents, oil spills, and food-borne diseases appear regularly in the news, making them seem nearly commonplace. These ecological crises highlight the continual tensions between human needs and the environmental impact these needs produce. Contemporary documentaries and feature films explore environmental-human conflicts by depicting the consequences of our overconsumption and dependence on nonrenewable energy./p p emFilm and Everyday Eco-disasters/em examines changing perspectives toward everyday eco-disasters as reflected in the work of filmmakers from the silent era forward, with an emphasis on recent films such as emDead Ahead/em, an HBO dramatization of the Exxon Valdez disaster; emTotal Recall/em, a science fiction action film highlighting oxygen as a commodity; emThe Devil Wears Prada/em, a comment on the fashion industry; and emFood, Inc/em., a documentary interrogation of the food industry. The authors evaluate not only the success of these films as rhetorical arguments but also their rhetorical strategies. This interdisciplinary approach to film studies fuses cultural, economic, and literary critiques in articulating an approach to ecology that points to sustainable development as an alternative to resource exploitations and their associated everyday eco-disasters./p
eBook
That's All Folks?
Although some credit the environmental movement of the 1970s, with its profound impact on children's television programs and movies, for paving the way for later eco-films, the history of environmental expression in animated film reaches much further back in American history, asThat's All Folks?makes clear.
Countering the view that the contemporary environmental movement-and the cartoons it influenced-came to life in the 1960s, Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann reveal how environmentalism was already a growing concern in animated films of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. From Felix the Cat cartoons to Disney's belovedBambito Pixar'sWall-Eand James Cameron'sAvatar, this volume shows how animated features with environmental themes are moneymakers on multiple levels-particularly as broad-based family entertainment and conveyors of consumer products. Only Ralph Bakshi's X-ratedFritz the Catand R-ratedHeavy TrafficandCoonskin, with their violent, dystopic representation of urban environments, avoid this total immersion in an anti-environmental consumer market.
Showing us enviro-toons in their cultural and historical contexts, this book offers fresh insights into the changing perceptions of the relationship between humans and the environment and a new understanding of environmental and animated cinema.
eBook
The Hellstrom Chronicle and Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Near the center of the odd hybrid documentary–horror film,The Hellstrom Chronicle(1971), the film’s narrator and actor, Dr. Hellstrom (Lawrence Pressman), emphasizes differences between insects and humans, contrasting them to separate humans from the natural insect world and justify the apparent conflict between them. Hellstrom explains, “Assuming for the moment that [an insect] is our opponent, let’s see in a physical sense what he has going for him. Face is functional and without expression; only eyes and a mouth, just enough to keep the rest of the body alive. No muscles to smile with, or frown with, or
Book Chapter
The Earth Bites Back
Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath highlight the negative effects that environmental exploitation can have on humanity. As the deadliest hurricane of 2012 and the second most costly storm in U.S. history, Sandy killed over one hundred people (New York Times2012) and left thousands of residents homeless in New York, New Jersey, and New England. It was also at least “enhanced by global warming influences” (Trenberth 2012), according to climatologists. This connection between human-caused climate change and the devastating hurricane that ravaged the East Coast highlights the irrevocable connection between humanity and the natural world that moves beyond anthropomorphism. An
Book Chapter
Through an Eco-lens of Childhood
The horrific results of war illustrated byStrigoireach terrifying heights when children are involved. The refugee crisis resulting from the recent “apocalyptic civil war” (Salopek 2015, 48) in Syria illustrates the dire consequences children face when confronted by war and its aftermath. According toNational Geographiccorrespondent Paul Salopek, “By the end of 2013, more than 51 million people world-wide were displaced because of warfare, violence, and persecution. More than half were women and children. Among Syrian refugees in Turkey, the proportion of women and children zooms to 75 percent. The men stay behind to fight or protect property.
Book Chapter