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Large Format and Mediation of the Natural World: Vision, Technology and the Sublime

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Large Format and Mediation of the Natural World: Vision, Technology and the Sublime 2010 Mary L. Nucci ALL RIGHTS RESERVED LARGE FORMAT AND MEDIATION OF THE NATURAL WORLD: VISION, TECHNOLOGY AND THE SUBLIME by MARY L. NUCCI A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Communication, Information and Library Studies written under the direction of John V. Pavlik, Ph.D. and approved by _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May, 2010 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Large Format and Mediation of the Natural World: Vision, Technology and the Sublime by MARY L. NUCCI Dissertation Director: John V. Pavlik, Ph.D. Large format films, specifically those associated with science centers, museums and historical sites, offer a visual experience that engages the viewer through an immersive, engaging response to the large images. Commonly referenced as IMAX® films, these films come closest to the total cinema posited by Bazin which would offer a complete representation of the world. The strict display requirement for these films has resulted in their association with institutional venues and implicates them in the dissemination of ideology and cultural knowledges. Through a multimethod critical cultural analysis of production (political economy), text (close reading combining a textual and shot by shot analyses), and audience response (content analysis) to the large format film Yellowstone, the research presented here asked, ―How are nature, Yellowstone National Park, and the National Park System represented in this large format film?‖, ―Where does the large format presentation of nature and the national parks fall in the continuum of representations of nature?‖, and ―How are nature, the Yellowstone National Park, and the National Park System presented and ii ―constructed‖ in large format in consequence of the medium itself and through the medium‘s relationship as a ―truth‖ format aligned with museums, science centers and historical sites? Analyzed through a consideration of the theories of ideology and the sublime, research pointed to the complicated relationship between director and funders in the construction of the film, with choices for content being driven by economic concerns for the public‘s response to the film. The film was shown to reflect the ideology of pristine America linked to the myths of Western expansion through its depiction of the myth of archetypal America. Due to the technological limitations of the medium which created a sublime experience, the viewer was positioned within an ideological space as separate and apart from nature, of knowing but not experiencing, of seeing but never fully understanding the natural world. By celebrating the power to dominate nature in the elimination of the connection to nature, Yellowstone represents an extension of the American technological sublime. iii Acknowledgements The author wishes to thank Dr. John Pavlik and committee members Drs. John Belton, Jack Bratich and Linda Steiner for their support and assistance as both professors and mentors. It was an honor to learn from each of you. Thanks also to the many members of the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) for their time and guidance; especially the GSCA staff Tammy Seldon, Kelly Germain, and Eileen Pheiffer for introductions and friendship during this project. Special thanks to Libby Ball for her many insights into the large format film industry, and unswerving faith in my capabilities. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Dr. William Hallman of the Food Policy Institute for his support. Research was supported by the following grants: Food Nanotechnology: Understanding the Parameters of Consumer Acceptance, US Department of Agriculture- National Food Research Initiative, PI: William Hallman, Award #: 2009-35603-05045; The Diet Health Nexis: Communicating Emerging Evidence, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research, PI: William Hallman, Award #: 66487; Food Biosecurity: Modeling the Health, Economic, Social and Psychological Consequences of Intentional and Unintentional Food Contamination, USDA/NFRI, PI: William Hallman, Award #: 2005-51110-02335; and Evaluating Consumer Acceptance of Food Biotechnology in the United States, US Department of Agriculture, PI: William Hallman, Award #: 2001-52100-11203. The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions or policies of the granting agencies, the Food Policy Institute, or Rutgers University. iv Dedication It is my hope that with this dissertation I have made my parents Louis and Dorothy Nucci proud. I only wish they were here to share this with me, as they are the guides by which I live my life. Thank you to my brothers and sisters Carol, Helen, Lou and Greg for being my role models and giving me something to strive for. You have made it so easy to be the youngest sister. Sam and Kira, I hope you know that this dissertation runs a distant second to you two, the best ―projects‖ of my life. Finally, to Abe, hard to put into words my gratitude for the years of support you have given me. I could have done it without you but it wouldn‘t have been anywhere as much fun! v Table of Contents Page i. Title Page Page ii. Abstract Page iv. Acknowledgements Page v. Dedication Page viii. List of Tables Page 1. Chapter 1. Introduction Page 6. Large format medium. Page 10. Representation in large format. Page 13. A question of representation: Linking ideology and the sublime. Page 14. Ideology Page 20. Sublime Page 28. Next steps. Page 29. Chapter 2. Nature: Concept, American identity and imagery Page 29. Conceptualizing nature. Page 31. Nature as American character: the National Park System. Page 38. Visualizing nature. Page 43. Film, large format and the mediation of nature. Page 59. Chapter 3. Analyzing Yellowstone: Methods Page 60. Analyzing production. Page 62. Analyzing the text. Page 67. Analyzing reception. vi Page 70. Chapter 4. Analyzing production, text and audience: Results Page 70. Production Page 76. Text Page 82. Audiencing Yellowstone Page 108. Chapter 5. Large format as sublime technology Page 115. Study limitations and future research. Page 117. Epilogue. Page 120. Appendices Page 120. Appendix A. Kieth Merrill interview. Page 125. Appendix B. Yellowstone transcript. Page 137. Appendix C. Shot by shot analysis of selected sequences. Page 140. Appendix D. Survey instrument post-viewing of the large format film, Yellowstone. Page 142. Bibliography Page 164. Curriculum Vitae vii List of Tables Pages 92-93. Table 1. Audience survey demographics Pages 94-95. Table 2. Audience viewing habits. Pages 96-97. Table 3. Viewer‘s attitudes about visiting and images of Yellowstone. Pages 98-99. Table 4. Large format (IMAX) viewing history. Pages 100-101. Table 5. Affective response to Yellowstone. Pages 102-103. Table 6. Viewer‘s reasons for choosing to watch and response to Yellowstone. Pages 104-105. Table 7. Viewer‘s perspectives on nature. Pages 106-107. Table 8. Viewer‘s perspectives on preservation after watching Yellowstone. viii 1 Chapter 1. Introduction: Mediating the Natural World in Large Format Films The question as to how ―mediation‖ or the imposition of mass media between ourselves and reality, impacts perception and the generation of meaning is a key issue for media studies, especially as the media are increasingly coming to stand between humans and the ―real‖ world. Douglas Kellner (2002, 9) commented: ―The media are a profound and often misperceived source of cultural pedagogy: They contribute to educating us how to behave and what to think, feel, believe, fear and desire—and what not to.‖ Media texts-- whether words, images or music--are not mirrors which reflect without distortion. Rather, they are creations of culturally-embedded humans who create these texts through their own perceptions of the world. In this way, the media play an important role in disseminating ideological and cultural perceptions of the world. Media visual images specifically are key to meaning-making given the centrality of vision to contemporary Western societies (Jenks, 1995; Mirzoeff, 1999; Ramplay, 2005; Virilio, 1994), and the fact that, as noted above, images are not neutral representations of the world. Images are the outcome of a ―complex interplay between visuality, apparatus, institutions, bodies and figurality‖ (Mitchell, 1994, 16) where vision is inseparable from the historically created observer, who is a site of practices, techniques, institutions and processes of subjectification (Crary, 1990). Roland Barthes noted that the image itself is polysemic in nature, and offered possibilities for meaning; the specific semantic outcome is dependent on its placement in particular discourse systems 2 (Sekula, 1984). Images have both a literal, or denotative meaning; as well as the possibility for multiple symbolic, or connotative meanings as interpreted through specific historical and cultural contexts. Barthes described these second-order meanings as ―myth‖ (Barthes & Lavers, 1972), whereby ideological concepts are evoked by a certain sign corresponding to a cultural concept, worldview or placement within particular discourse systems (Chandler, 2002; Fiske, 1990; Reynolds, 2000). The process of visual communication is therefore best understood as an interaction ―between the viewer and the viewed, between the power of the image
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