Genre and the Politics of Performance in the Modern American Environmental Movement

Appealing to Better Natures: Genre and the Politics of Performance in the Modern American Environmental Movement by Shannon Davies Mancus B.A. in Theatre and Speech, May 2004, Wagner College M.A. In American Studies, May 2011, The George Washington University A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 15, 2016 Dissertation directed by Melani McAlister Associate Professor of American Studies and International Affairs Elisabeth Anker Associate Professor of American Studies and Political Science The Columbian College of the Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University certifies that Shannon Davies Mancus has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of March 28, 2016. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. Appealing to Better Natures: Genre and the Politics of Performance in the Modern American Environmental Movement Shannon Davies Mancus Dissertation Research Committee Melani McAlister, Associate Professor of American Studies and International Affairs, Dissertation Co-Director Elisabeth Anker, Associate Professor of American Studies and Political Science, Dissertation Co-Director Jennifer Nash, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Women's Studies, Committee Member Gayle Wald, Professor of English and American Studies, Committee Member James A. Miller, Professor of English and American Studies & Director of the Center for the Study of Public History and Culture, Committee Member (Deceased) ii © Copyright 2016 by Shannon Davies Mancus All rights reserved. iii Dedication For my co-protagonist, Tony, and in memory of James A. Miller iv Acknowledgements I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Melani McAlister, Elisabeth Anker, and Jennifer Nash, for being not only incredible, generous, brilliant mentors to my work, but also amazing models for what it means to be an engaged, justice-seeking individual in the world. Thank you for increasing my hunger to understand what makes our culture and politics tick, and for radically altering the way I see myself in relation to our society. I also want to thank the universe for the fact that James A. Miller existed, and that I got to know him. Thank you, Jim, for pushing me to think about revolution and telling me to travel, listen to jazz, and drink beer, and for helping me to understand that my desire to be social and see the world was integral to my scholarship, rather than detrimental to it – I miss you keenly. Thank you also to Chad Heap, Gayle Wald, and Finis Dunaway – I am honored to have scholars I admire so much reading and commenting on my work. I feel lucky to have amazing colleagues. Ramzi Fawaz: thank you always for being a model for enthusiasm and scholarly generosity, for increasing my love for film tenfold, and for giving me confidence when I sorely needed it. I feel grateful for everyone in the American Studies department at The George Washington University, but Michael Horka, Patrick Nugent, Lindsey Davis, and Megan Black have been particularly generous interlocutors. Thank you, too, to Mona Azadi, for everything. This project would have been very different and not as fun without support from my amazing writing group in all its formations, but especially as it existed in the form of the part-time-butcher-ferris- wheel with Katie Shank and Meghan Drury. Thank you to Rebecca Evans, Kimberly Pendleton, and Scott Larson for working alongside me and keeping me sane. Kathryn Kein -- I literally could not have done this without you (at least not nearly as pleasantly). v You helped make the last few months of the project a warm memory I will cherish forever. My praxis as an artist informed this work greatly, and I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my current friends and former conspirators from dog & pony dc: Wyckam Avery, Melanie Harker, Tyrone Giordano, Jon Reynolds, Kerry Mcgee, Ellys Abrams, Joan Cummins, Lorraine Roessenger-Sloane, Elaine Qualter, Aaron Mosby, Danielle Mohlman, Joey Caverly, Jorge Silva, Lisa Austin, Nasreen Villtur, and so many others. Felicia Ruff planted the seeds in college of my desire to pursue a doctorate by being so engaged, compassionate, and brilliant. Early on in my career, Heather Raffo and Tracey Beardsley inspired me to think about the ways in which art creates a public sphere, and my Wagner family and colleagues from the Republic Theatre Company helped me to further those ideas; thank you all. My friends and family have been saints and cheerleaders throughout this process, especially Tommy Iafrate, Ilana Kein, Stacy Carroll, Carrie Mugridge, Kellin and Sean Nelson, Dave Payne, all of the poets, Alison Marchese, Beatrice Bass, and Katie Bechtel. My family has been endlessly patient as I worked on my laptop on vacations and once brought books to the table at Thanksgiving dinner; they not only tolerated it but cheered me on. Thank you Karen Mancus, John Mancus, Mary Ellen Sweeney, Steve and Sigrira Pettit-Gentil Savitski, Alan and Melissa Thomas, P.J. and Jessica Walls-Lavelle, Stephen and Christina Davies, and Scott Davies – I love you all. Thank you especially, Mark and Mary Davies, for letting me become a vegetarian and environmentalist at the age of three, for being rocks of love and support through non-circuitous career paths, and for instilling in me a love of learning and writing. vi Because matter and ideas are vibrant, I would also like to thank the individuals who invented the Pomodoro technique, Noteability, Bento, Scrivener, and iCloud, which saved me from a nervous breakdown when my hard drive experienced a catastrophic failure the day the first draft of this dissertation was due. A non-speciest thank you also to Nepenthe, Crockett, and Pyewacket, who seemed to know exactly when I needed to stay seated and when I needed to get up. The person who deserves the biggest thank you is my partner, Tony Mancus, whose unending kindness, creativity, playfulness, and brilliance provided something to hold on to when this project threatened to consume me emotionally. Tony did all of the things that incredible spouses do, including reminding me to take deep breaths, being endlessly patient as I worked long hours, and bringing me warm clothes and food to the library when I was cold, tired, and hungry. But he did more than that: as I spent years studying all of the poor choices humans have made on this planet and worrying about the grimness of the future, his presence served as a constant reminder that there can be real goodness in people, and that there are many facets of humanity that are worth passionately advocating for. This project was enhanced greatly by the helpful and lovely archivists at the Ad Council Archives, the Edward Abbey Papers, and the Library of Congress. Support from The Performance Studies symposium and Northwestern and C. Riley Snorton, as well as Albert Beveridge and the Albert Beveridge III History Award helped this project grow. Portions of chapter 3 – Melodrama and Global Warming – were previously published in the journal Performing Ethos. vii Abstract of Dissertation Appealing to Better Natures: Genre and the Politics of Performance in the Modern American Environmental Movement Appealing to Better Natures is an analysis of the narrative strategies developed and deployed by different factions of the environmental movement — from consumer activists to eco-terrorists — as a tactic to combat political fatigue in the 21st century, wherein individuals are constantly bombarded by mediated dire warnings of various types. Environmentalists can and do use genre as part of a contest about the correct politics of relating to the environment in order to generate narrative fealty and police boundaries related to proper political practice, including performances of gender, politics, and economic identities. In this conflict, genre also functions as a tool to overcome apathy in and generate narrative fealty in an environmental marketplace of ideas, since generic conventions quickly convey what the viewer should perceive as right and wrong and also provide a blueprint for ethical citizenship. This research brings together important aspects of film and media studies in new ways. By noting genres’ effects on micropolitical action, this dissertation pushes past “viewing positions” to examine “performance positions,” which take into account how generic structuring influences subsequent actions, discourse, and affects of those audience members that feel themselves “hailed” by certain types of genre appeals. This dissertation argues that that these discursive deployments of genres seek to sculpt specific kinds of environmental citizens by organizing types of performances and sets of affects into mythic constellations that can be emulated by receptive audiences, and viii indicates that for activists, being conscious of the structuring forms of the narratives they are deploying is as important as crafting the content of those narratives. ix Table of Contents Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Abstract of Dissertation viii List of Figures xi Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Fantasy and Mainstream 33 Chapter 2: Action Adventure and Radical Environmentalism 81 Chapter 3: Melodrama and Climate Change Activism 130 Chapter 4: The Makeover and “Green” Consumerism 176 Conclusion 226 Bibliography 234 x List of Figures Images 1 & 2 79 Images 3 & 4 80 Image 5 128 Images 6 & 7 129 Image 8 175 Images 9 223 Images 10 & 11 224 Image 12 225 xi Introduction In September of 1970, as the modern American environmental movement was on the cusp of emerging as a transformative public force, a group of forty-eight men sat in a Manhattan office building discussing how they could stay on top of the shifting concerns about human beings’ relationship with the so-called “natural world.” The Advertising Council of America, a non-profit entity that produces public service announcements, had previously been responsible for many visible campaigns that urged stewardship of the environment.

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