Green Turn Of Cinema Screen: A Study Of Hollywood Film On Ecological Themes

Currently, ecological problems have gained global attentions. With the emergence of global eco-crisis and eco-problems resulted from the highly development of modern science and technology, the fields of politics, economics and culture have made the rapid and effective response successively. As the leader of people's spiritual trend, art of film has also had the reflection and consideration correspondingly. Ecofilm, as a new genre, has reviewed human and nature from the point of ecology, re-examined the relationship between them, macroscopically posited human in the universal ecosystem and microscopically got deep into human's psychology to discuss complexity and multidimensionality of human beings, face the plight when they are a part of nature and represent the introspection in such predicament. The ecofilm helps to transfer from conceptual discourse of the relationship of human and nature to visual representation of nature as the subject, and visually to reconstruct the eco-consciousness in the way of keeping eyes on nature in the holistic view. And with the penetration of western ecological ideas and the activity and development of the global thoughts of films on ecology, Hollywood, as the artistic transfer and expresser who is sufficient to effect and represent the modern people's souls and minds and popular culture, has produced amounts of films on ecology, with its mediating, representing and paying attentions to ecological problems, which have the important effects of awakening eco-consciousness of human and building the holistically harmonious eco- civilized world. And they are worth attentions of investigators.Under the guidance of the research and thoughts of western ecocriticism, with the referenced books Hollywood Utopian: Ecology in Contemporary American Cinema written by Pat Brereton, Green Screen: Environmentalism and Hollywood Cinema by David Ingram, EcoMedia by Sean Cubitt, Reel Nature: American's Romance with Wildlife on Film by Gregg Mitman, Green Cultural Studies: Nature in Film, Novel and Theory by Jhan Hochman, Wildlife Films by Derek Bouse and so on, which are the main studies on Hollywood films on ecological themes, and with referred films such as The Day after Tomorrow, Water World, King Kong, Gorillas, Frankenstein and so on as the reading text, this dissertation tries to comb and summarize Hollywood films on ecological themes from the perspectives of the definition and characters, basis of thoughts, analyses of theme and connotation, ways and skills to express and reflect ecological themes, current problems and further tendency.The dissertation consists of three parts. Its first part, that is, the first chapter is composed of conception and eco-philosophical foundation, which tries to generalize and define eco-film and its features and represent the resources of thoughts as the guidance—the main eco-ethic thoughts. Owing to lack of uniform standards and definition, considering its own features, this dissertation uses eco-art for reference to define the ecological film and summarize the characters. And the second part of this chapter lists some important thoughts in the phase of modern anthropocentrism and Non-anthropocentrism such as Animal Liberation/Animal Rights, Biocentrism, Eco-centrism, and represents and ponders the mistakes of anthropocentrism and the development of Non-anthropocentrism to roughly illuminate the background and thoughts foundation of eco-film.Comprising the second chapter and third chapter, the second part, which mainly reads and explores Hollywood films in the measure of ecological themes in the views of connotation and ways, is an important part in the whole dissertation. The second chapter analyzes the ecological themes in Hollywood films, and especially with reference of original materials summarizes the typical themes such as awareness of imaginary eco-disaster, technology and ecology, attentions to and meditation on nonhuman life, fantasy films which try to construct eco-utopia, psycho-ecological films, and documental eco-film. And it also takes the genres and details of films and eco-thoughts into consideration. The third chapter, which summarizes the skills and ways such as original-eco representation, digital and imaginary expression, polyphonic narrative pattern and contrast pattern, studies and analyzes how Hollywood film use the technology to express the themes.Third part, the last but not the least, chapter four, gives a holistic analysis of the development and present situation of Hollywood eco-films. The chapter four as the first part points out its current problems such as commercialization and marketization of cinema, set-pattern of individualistic heroism and content waiting for being promoted and explored by the virtue of original material and research by western scholars. And the last part predicts the further tendency on Hollywood screen, which are clearing up the opposition between human and nature to form interdependent and holistic relationship and caring about psycho-eco and shaping eco-personality.The main academic values of the dissertation could be summarized as follows:1. Currently, the research in Chinese mainland into Hollywood film on ecological themes in a comprehensive and profound way is extremely slim, so to some extent this dissertation has the value of pioneer and future reference. After having read a number of Hollywood eco-films, the author summarily combs the important ecological ideas and clearly defines eco-film and its main features in general terms. Especially the author performs the detailed research and analysis from perspectives of the contents, ways and skills, current problems and further tendency.2. Western eco-film has developed in a comprehensive way, with a solid eco-philosophical foundation, wide academic vision and completely and independently practical technology and equipments, whereas Chinese eco-film is just in its infancy, with thin eco-awareness and limited knowledge of Western ecocriticism and theoretical building up at the initial stage. So the dissertation is of vital significance to research into eco-film in Chinese academe. What's more, what the author used in the thesis is almost western original materials on eco-film, which theoretically and practically helps to understand the development of Western eco-films, enhance the communication and dialogue on ecofilms between China and the West, change the thinking patterns of Chinese eco-films, promote their new lays of ecological thinking, deepen their meanings and expand their ecological visions. So the dissertation that explores and expects the values and meanings of eco-film in a global view could for sure contribute to having a good command of its development in China.