Hollywood Utopia

More documents

Recommendations

Info

10 Hollywood Utopia Medicine Man, The (1992) John McTiernan Men in Black (1997) Barry Sonnenfeld Safe (1995) Todd Haynes Searchers, The (1956) John Ford Soylent Green (1973) Richard Fleischer Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Jonathan Frakes Straight Story, The (1999) David Lynch Terminator (1984) James Cameron Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) James Cameron Thelma and Louise (1991) Ridley Scott Them(1954) Gordon Douglas Titanic (1997) James Cameron Twister (1996) Jan De Bont Waterworld (1995) Kevin Reynolds Yearling, The (1946) Clarence Brown
1 HOLLYWOOD UTOPIA: ECOLOGY AND CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CINEMA Prologue Ecology has become a new, all-inclusive, yet often contradictory meta-narrative 1 , which this book will show to have been clearly present within Hollywood film since the 1950s. This study focuses particularly on feel-good films whose therapeutic character often leads to their being dismissed as ideologically regressive. By concentrating on narrative closure and especially the way space is used to foreground and dramatise the sublime pleasure of nature, Hollywood cinema can be seen to have within it a ‘certain tendency’ 2 that dramatises core ecological values and ideas. The study is committed to a strategy of building bridges and creating crossconnections between film and other disciplines. In particular, the investigation draws on Geography (space/place, tourism and so on), Philosophy (aesthetics, ethics and ontological debates), Anthropology, Feminism and Cultural Studies, while maintaining close contact with the traditional literary and historical disciplines. In the light of this cross-disciplinary approach, the first section of this introductory chapter sets the scene for an ecological investigation, drawing on a wide range of ideas and historical contexts, while the second section has a narrower focus, clarifying a methodology for film analysis to be used throughout the study. Within many blockbuster films, the evocation of nature and sublime spectacle 3 helps to dramatise contemporary ecological issues and debates. Filmic time and space is dramatised, often above and beyond strict narrative requirements, and serves, whether accidentally or not, to reconnect audiences with their inclusive ecosystem. As Bryan Norton puts it, environmentalism needs to educate the public ‘to see problems from a synoptic, contextual perspective’ (Norton 1991: xi). In this respect, Hollywood films can be seen as exemplifying, and often actually promoting, this loosely educational and ethical agenda, particularly through the use of ecological/mythic expression, evidenced in a range of narrative closures. 1 Hollywood Utopia 11
Page 1 and 2: Pat Brereton Ecology in Contemporar
Page 3: The fruit of years of painstaking s
Page 6 and 7: 4 Hollywood Utopia First Published
Page 9: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to th
Page 14 and 15: 12 Hollywood Utopia Introduction Th
Page 16 and 17: 14 Hollywood Utopia be read using t
Page 18 and 19: 16 Hollywood Utopia unconsciously e
Page 20 and 21: 18 Hollywood Utopia films and concl
Page 22 and 23: 20 Hollywood Utopia Taylor goes on
Page 24 and 25: 22 Hollywood Utopia Frankfurt Schoo
Page 26 and 27: 24 Hollywood Utopia justly claim to
Page 28 and 29: 26 Hollywood Utopia continuous ideo
Page 30 and 31: 28 Hollywood Utopia technological f
Page 32 and 33: 30 Hollywood Utopia Philosophical t
Page 34 and 35: 32 Hollywood Utopia striving toward
Page 36 and 37: 34 Hollywood Utopia creates a space
Page 38 and 39: 36 Hollywood Utopia Essentially a y
Page 40 and 41: 38 Hollywood Utopia primary audienc
Page 42 and 43: 40 Hollywood Utopia While the criti
Page 44 and 45: 42 Hollywood Utopia The elite eco-s
Page 46 and 47: 44 Hollywood Utopia out in the open
Page 48 and 49: 46 Hollywood Utopia vast gasoline s
Page 50 and 51: 48 Hollywood Utopia systems with th
Page 53 and 54: 2 NATURE FILM AND ECOLOGY Prologue
Page 55 and 56: genre remained preoccupied with mob
Page 57 and 58: their dystopian gloom or utopian op
Page 59 and 60: closely linked with untrammelled na
Page 61 and 62: For Hollywood myth-makers, the pure
Page 63 and 64:
with subtitles extensively used. Bu
Page 65 and 66:
understand and capture the shark, i
Page 67 and 68:
expressed in such texts. While such
Page 69 and 70:
forces of nature but almost as a de
Page 71 and 72:
or post cold-war America’ (18 Jul
Page 73 and 74:
effects are required to encourage a
Page 75 and 76:
anthropomorphic discussion, which c
Page 77 and 78:
Chaos Theory and Ecology Chaos theo
Page 79 and 80:
esearch observed at the beginning o
Page 81 and 82:
ways as reductive in its elitist di
Page 83 and 84:
Similarly, the two other characters
Page 85 and 86:
sense of ethical (natural) justific
Page 87 and 88:
march towards Enlightened democrati
Page 89 and 90:
17. Other, much inferior, ‘nature
Page 91:
novel is to serve as a mediating te
Page 94 and 95:
92 Hollywood Utopia Hollywood genre
Page 96 and 97:
94 Hollywood Utopia food chain, lea
Page 98 and 99:
96 Hollywood Utopia corrosive infil
Page 100 and 101:
98 Hollywood Utopia and nostalgic p
Page 102 and 103:
100 Hollywood Utopia expanse of raw
Page 104 and 105:
102 Hollywood Utopia A major reason
Page 106 and 107:
104 Hollywood Utopia Marx confident
Page 108 and 109:
106 Hollywood Utopia the genre also
Page 110 and 111:
108 Hollywood Utopia Postmodernity
Page 112 and 113:
110 Hollywood Utopia violently dest
Page 114 and 115:
112 Hollywood Utopia not allowed to
Page 116 and 117:
114 Hollywood Utopia Third Space an
Page 118 and 119:
116 Hollywood Utopia Grand Canyon:
Page 120 and 121:
118 Hollywood Utopia explains how
Page 122 and 123:
120 Hollywood Utopia for authentici
Page 124 and 125:
122 Hollywood Utopia a more potenti
Page 126 and 127:
124 Hollywood Utopia Coda: The Stra
Page 128 and 129:
126 Hollywood Utopia responsibility
Page 130 and 131:
128 Hollywood Utopia Critics may su
Page 132 and 133:
130 Hollywood Utopia empty landscap
Page 134 and 135:
132 Hollywood Utopia 11. The creati
Page 136 and 137:
134 Hollywood Utopia diegetic narra
Page 138 and 139:
136 Hollywood Utopia metaphor for m
Page 141 and 142:
4 CONSPIRACY THRILLERS AND SCIENCE
Page 143 and 144:
ecological awareness, science ficti
Page 145 and 146:
In the post Hiroshima world, scienc
Page 147 and 148:
However - and ultimately affirming
Page 149 and 150:
crude Darwinian instinct to survive
Page 151 and 152:
Also his resultant physical shrinka
Page 153 and 154:
memories helps to highlight an emer
Page 155 and 156:
towards an ever more exalted state
Page 157 and 158:
the film’s courage in exploring s
Page 159 and 160:
Trek served to legitimise this othe
Page 161 and 162:
(Richards 1997: 149) which incorpor
Page 163 and 164:
ultimate survival is finally all th
Page 165 and 166:
around essentialist definitions of
Page 167 and 168:
1993 version 25 casts the military
Page 169 and 170:
scientific minds of the investigato
Page 171 and 172:
in particular, corrupted and wiped
Page 173 and 174:
Logan’s Run Directed by Michael A
Page 175 and 176:
ural life which expose the ills of
Page 177 and 178:
In fact, the director locates the w
Page 179 and 180:
Both protagonists are infected at t
Page 181 and 182:
the (political/ ideological) ‘cen
Page 183 and 184:
postmodern vision’ (Benhabib in T
Page 185:
Reagan/Bush 1980s. As in Kubrick’
Page 188 and 189:
186 Hollywood Utopia even utopian,
Page 190 and 191:
188 Hollywood Utopia affirm a contr
Page 192 and 193:
190 Hollywood Utopia notion of a pr
Page 194 and 195:
192 Hollywood Utopia part of the un
Page 196 and 197:
194 Hollywood Utopia metropolis - s
Page 198 and 199:
196 Hollywood Utopia The term ‘cy
Page 200 and 201:
198 Hollywood Utopia even more scat
Page 202 and 203:
200 Hollywood Utopia The final clos
Page 204 and 205:
202 Hollywood Utopia actions and de
Page 206 and 207:
204 Hollywood Utopia He argues that
Page 208 and 209:
206 Hollywood Utopia his still beep
Page 210 and 211:
208 Hollywood Utopia often affirmat
Page 212 and 213:
210 Hollywood Utopia But as many cr
Page 214 and 215:
212 Hollywood Utopia physically and
Page 216 and 217:
214 Hollywood Utopia Eco-Closure So
Page 218 and 219:
216 Hollywood Utopia While such a r
Page 220 and 221:
218 Hollywood Utopia individuality
Page 222 and 223:
220 Hollywood Utopia with a persona
Page 224 and 225:
222 Hollywood Utopia Only when the
Page 226 and 227:
224 Hollywood Utopia Linda Hutcheon
Page 228 and 229:
226 Hollywood Utopia The Winona Ryd
Page 230 and 231:
228 Hollywood Utopia the human spec
Page 232 and 233:
230 Hollywood Utopia Such ‘sacrif
Page 235 and 236:
Conclusion Ecology has certainly be
Page 237 and 238:
questions a number of modernist/pos
Page 239 and 240:
generations of students, as they re
Page 241:
6. Plumwood asserts how: ‘Hegemon
Page 244 and 245:
242 Hollywood Utopia Barillas, W. (
Page 246 and 247:
244 Hollywood Utopia Braudy, L. (19
Page 248 and 249:
246 Hollywood Utopia Carroll, D. (1
Page 250 and 251:
248 Hollywood Utopia Cubitt, S. (19
Page 252 and 253:
250 Hollywood Utopia Fiske, J. (198
Page 254 and 255:
252 Hollywood Utopia Halberstam, J.
Page 256 and 257:
254 Hollywood Utopia Hooks, B. (199
Page 258 and 259:
256 Hollywood Utopia Kroker, A. and
Page 260 and 261:
Massey, D. (1994) Space, Place and
Page 262 and 263:
260 Hollywood Utopia O’Sullivan,
Page 264 and 265:
262 Hollywood Utopia Roszak, T. (19
Page 266 and 267:
264 Hollywood Utopia Springer, C. (
Page 268 and 269:
266 Hollywood Utopia Webster, D. (1
Page 271 and 272:
Glossary Of Terms Some framing noti
show all

Hollywood Utopia

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?