Ecocinema and the City PDF
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Ecocinema and the City “In an era of increasing dispute about the effects of climate and science in our daily lives, Murray and Heumann offer a carefully nuanced addition to the field of ecocinema studies. The city, for them, is not just a dangerous space, but also a site of possible relationships between humans and nonhuman nature. Few scholars have the record of Murray and Heumann for serious engagement with the topic of ecology in cinema over such a broad range of critical works.” —Charles J. Stivale, Wayne State University, USA “Our environmental imagination often frames cities as doomed spaces, removed from nonhuman nature. Instead of replicating this view, Ecocinema and the City reverses the perspective: highlighting the transformative power of nature in urban settings explored in film, it offers a timely and innovative take on urban environ- ments. With engaging close readings and cultural examples off the beaten path, the book addresses a whole array of relevant themes, from urban biodiversity to urban farming to questions of sustainability, and is required reading for environ- mentalists across disciplines.” —Christopher Schliephake, University of Augsburg, Germany In Ecocinema in the City, Murray and Heumann argue that urban ecocinema both reveals and critiques visions of urban environmentalism. The book empha- sizes the increasingly transformative power of nature in urban settings, explored in both documentaries and fictional films such as Children Underground, White God, Hatari! and Lives Worth Living. The first two sections—“Evolutionary Myths Under the City” and “Urban Eco-trauma”—take more traditional eco- cinema approaches and emphasize the city as a dangerous constructed space. The last two sections—“Urban Nature and Interdependence” and “The Sus- tainable City”—however, bring to life the vibrant relationships between human and nonhuman nature. Ecocinema in the City provides a space to explore these relationships, revealing how ecocinema shows that both human and nonhuman nature can interact sustainably and thrive. Robin L. Murray is Professor of English at Eastern Illinois University, USA where she teaches film and literature courses and coordinates the film studies minor. Joseph K. Heumann is Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Eastern Illinois University, USA and continues to teach film courses. They have co-authored six books exploring ecocinema. Routledge Advances in Film Studies For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com. 48 India’s New Independent Cinema Rise of the Hybrid Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram 49 Early Race Filmmaking in America Edited by Barbara Tepa Lupack 50 Film Text Analysis New Perspectives on the Analysis of Filmic Meaning Edited by Janina Wildfeuer and John A. Bateman 51 The Camera-Eye Metaphor in Cinema Christian Quendler 52 Surveillance in Asian Cinema Under Eastern Eyes Edited by Karen Fang 53 US Youth Films and Popular Music Identity, Genre, and Musical Agency Tim McNelis 54 The Cinematic Eighteenth Century History, Culture, and Adaptation Edited by Srividhya Swaminathan and Steven W. Thomas 55 The Contemporary Femme Fatale Gender, Genre and American Cinema Katherine Farrimond 56 Film Comedy and the American Dream Zach Sands 57 Ecocinema and the City Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann Ecocinema and the City Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann First published 2018 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 Taylor & Francis The right of Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data CIP data has been applied for. ISBN: 978-1-138-30384-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-73070-6 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by codeMantra Contents List of Figures vii Acknowledgements ix Introduction: Urban Nature on Film 1 PART I Evolutionary Myths under the City 15 1 The City, The Sewers, The Underground: Reconstructing Urban Space in Film Noir 17 2 Documenting Environmental Adaptation under the City: Children Underground (2001) 30 PART II Urban Eco-Trauma 47 3 Girls in the Hood: An Eco-Trauma of Girlhood 49 4 Dogs and Eco-Trauma: The Making of a Monster in White God 68 PART III Urban Nature and Interdependence 85 5 Hatari Means Danger: Filmic Representations of Animal Welfare and Environmentalism at the Zoo 87 6 Eco-Therapy in Central Park: Documenting Urban Birdwatching 106 vi Contents 7 Green Lungs: Partnering with Nature in the Urban Garden Film 123 PART IV The Sustainable City 141 8 Urban Farming on Film: Moving Toward Environmental Justice in the City 143 9 Lives Worth Living and the Sustainable (and Accessible) City 159 Conclusion: The “Absent City” of the Future 175 Filmography 189 Works Cited 199 Index 209 List of Figures I.1 Bye Bye, Brasil 2 1.1 He Walked by Night 18 1.2 He Walked by Night 29 2.1 Children Underground 31 2.2 Born into Brothels 45 3.1 Fish Tank 50 3.2 Girlhood 67 4.1 White God 69 4.2 Amores Perros 83 5.1 Zoo 88 5.2 We Bought a Zoo 104 6.1 Pale Male 107 6.2 The Legend of Pale Male 122 7.1 Mr. Bug Goes to Town 124 7.2 The Milk of Sorrow 140 8.1 Voices of Transition 144 8.2 Growing Cities 158 9.1 Lives Worth Living 160 9.2 Lives Worth Living 174 c.1 Under the Dome 176 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements We would like to thank our editorial assistant Christina Kowalski and the Routledge Press staff for supporting this project. We appreciate the professional climate Routledge provided us. Most importantly, we would like to thank our family and friends for their encouragement and understanding during this project. Parts of Chapter 5, “Hatari Means Danger: Filmic Representations of Animal Welfare and Environmentalism at the Zoo” were published in Quarterly Review of Film and Video in Fall 2015 and are used with permission.
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