Hollywood at the Tipping Point: Blockbuster Cinema, Globalization, and the Cultural Logic of Ecology
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HOLLYWOOD AT THE TIPPING POINT: BLOCKBUSTER CINEMA, GLOBALIZATION, AND THE CULTURAL LOGIC OF ECOLOGY by STEPHEN A. RUST A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of English and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2011 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Stephen A. Rust Title: Hollywood at the Tipping Point: Blockbuster Cinema, Globalization, and the Cultural Logic of Ecology This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of English by: Dr. Michael Aronson Chairperson Dr. Sangita Gopal Member Dr. Louse Westling Member Dr. Jon Lewis Member, from Oregon State University Dr. Patrick Bartlein Outside Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded September 2011 ii © 2011 Stephen A. Rust iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Stephen A. Rust Doctor of Philosophy Department of English September 2011 Title: Hollywood at the Tipping Point: Blockbuster Cinema, Globalization, and the Cultural Logic of Ecology Approved: _______________________________________________ Dr. Michael Aronson Twenty-first century American cinema is permeated by images of globalization and environmental change. Responding to what Yale researchers have described as a “sea change” in public perceptions of global warming occurring between 2004 and 2007, this dissertation provides the first extended examination of Hollywood’s response to the planet’s most pressing social and environmental challenge – global climate change. Among the most widely distributed and consumed forms of popular culture, Hollywood blockbuster films provide a unique textual window into the cultural logic of ecology during this important turning point in Americans’ perceptions of environmental risk. The term “cultural logic of ecology” is defined as the collective cultural expression of a society’s dominant perceptions and enactments of its relationships with other organisms and their shared bio-physical environments. Surveying the history of climate cinema, my second chapter examines the production and reception contexts of the two films most responsible for renewing public interest in global warming: The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and An Inconvenient Truth (2006). Despite their generic differences, both films combine the formal techniques of melodrama and realism to translate the science of global warming iv into a moral vernacular. In subsequent chapters, I further intertwine textual and historical analysis to examine other films released during the period that portray aspects of global warming. Considered a children’s film, Happy Feet (2006) employs digital animation to illustrate the ecological impacts of globalization on Antarctica, thus presenting viewers with a more accurate picture of the threats facing emperor penguins than did the documentary March of the Penguins (2005). I next analyze There Will Be Blood (2007) as a critique of patriarchy and natural resource exploitation that resonated with American filmgoers as oil prices were skyrocketing and President George W. Bush admitted “America is addicted to oil.” Consumed on Imax screens and iPods, and as toys, t-shirts, and video games, blockbusters leave massive cultural and carbon footprints. I conclude by arguing that ecocritical scholarship offers the most effective scholarly toolkit for understanding contemporary cinema as a cultural, textual, and material phenomenon. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Stephen A. Rust GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Oregon State University, Corvallis Idaho State University, Pocatello DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, English, 2011, University of Oregon Master of Arts, English, 2006, Oregon State University Bachelor of Science, Secondary Education, 1999, Idaho State University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Cinema and Media Studies Environmental Studies Cultural and Gender Studies PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Instructor, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Oregon, Summer 2011. Graduate Teaching Fellow, English, University of Oregon, 2006-11. Assistant Editor, Cinema Journal, Oregon State University, 2003-06. Graduate Teaching Fellow, Oregon State University, 2005-06. Secondary Educator, English, South Albany High School, 2000-05. GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Research Grant, Center for the Study of Women and Society, University of Oregon, 2010. Research and Travel Grant, Graduate School, University of Oregon, 2008, 2009. vi Research Grant, English Department, University of Oregon, 2006, 2007. PUBLICATIONS: Rust, Stephen. “Animals and Agency: An Interdisciplinary Approach.” Book Review. ISLE 18/2 (Spring 2011): 479-481. ---. “Avatar: Ecorealism and the Blockbuster Melodrama.” Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, (forthcoming, Winter 2011). ---. “Film and Ecology.” Book Review. JumpCut 52 (2010): <www.ejumpcut.org/currentissue/rustEcology/index.html>. ----. “The Moving Earth (2008).” Film Review. Film & History 40/1 (2010): 122- 124. ---. “SCMS 2008.” Co-author. Conference Report. Scope 11 (2008): <www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/confreport.php?issue=11&id=1024>. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my thanks to Professor Michael Aronson for his tireless support and patience in the preparation of this manuscript. Many thanks as well to professors Molly Westling, Sangita Gopal, Jon Lewis, and Patrick Bartlein for their valuable feedback and encouragement during this undertaking. Thank you to the many English Department and Cinema Studies faculty members who provided valuable input and support as this project developed, particularly professors Kathleen Karlyn, David Li, Pricilla Ovalle, and Paul Peppis. Dissertations are never written alone: colleagues Dr. Kom Kunyosying, Dr. Carter Soles and Dr. Brenna Wardell were there every step of the way as mentors, editors, and friends. Cheers to my fellow English department graduate students for listening to portions of this project at work-in-progress talks, making travel to conferences a joy, and reminding me to stop every now and then to remember how fortunate we truly are to live in Oregon. Of course, my deepest gratitude is reserved for my wife Alice Macdonald, her parents Mimi and Dan Macdonald, and my parents Robert and Marian Rust. This investigation was supported by generous research and travel assistance provided by the English Department, the Center for the Study of Women and Society, and the Graduate School. viii For Alice and Donovan ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION: THE CULTURAL LOGIC OF ECOLOGY ............................ 1 Shifting Perceptions of Climate Change in the United States ............................... 7 The Cultural Logic of Ecology ............................................................................. 16 EcoCinema Studies ............................................................................................... 28 II. GLOBAL WARMING AND THE MELODRAMATIC IMAGINATION: THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (2004) AND AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (2006) ...... 43 A Brief History of Climate Change Cinema ......................................................... 48 Climate Change and Conglomerate Hollywood ................................................... 76 III. PENGUINS , POLITICS, AND PERFORMANCE: MARCH OF THE PENGUINS (2005) AND HAPPY FEET (2006) ........................................................ 96 Why Look at Penguins? ......................................................................................... 102 Penguins and Performance ..................................................................................... 114 IV. SOMETHING HORRIBLY EFFICIENT: THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007) .... 134 Fracturing Patriarchy’s ‘Grand Narrative’ . ........................................................... 136 Melodramatic and Material Excess ....................................................................... 149 V. CONCLUSION: TIPPING POINTS ..................................................................... 156 APPENDIX: FILMOGRAPHY .................................................................................. 167 REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................ 168 x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: THE CULTURAL LOGIC OF ECOLOGY “The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.” ~ The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001) Twenty-first century American cinema is permeated by images of global environmental change. This dissertation examines five popular Hollywood films released between 2004 and 2007 – The Day After Tomorrow, In Inconvenient Truth, March of the Penguins, Happy Feet, and There Will Be Blood – that collectively illustrate American society’s growing awareness of the environmental risks posed by the convergence of globalization and climate change. Responding to what Yale public opinion researchers have described as a “sea change” in American public perceptions of climate change during the period in which these films were released, this dissertation combines ecocritical media analysis with historical, sociological, and scientific evidence to demonstrate that these films both reflected and participated in what can only be described as the nascent stages of a profound shift in cultural understandings