Media and film studies

Cinema and Climate

Module code: P5093
Level 5
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Seminar, Film
Assessment modes: Coursework

You’ll take an eco-critical approach to cinema, examining its status both as image object and material object.

The module’s premise is that cinema is not only a representational art, it is also a material one. In both cases, it has real world effects.

We’ll consider three media ecologies concerning cinema's effects on climate:

social – mainstream and general representations of climate in cinema and its attempts to shift beliefs and behaviours in relation to the climate crisis
perceptual – cinema and video that attempts to change the viewer’s way of perceiving their world. For example, slow cinema that decentres the human, eco-feminist and indigenous films
material – the environmental footprint of making and watching film.

Demonstrate an appropriate understanding of the key themes, issues, and debates related to representation of the climate crisis in film and media
Identify major issues related to the material effects of climate crisis on film and/or media industries as well as the material effects of the film and/or media industries on the climate crisis
Identify and analyse major films, media and watershed events that have influenced the field and analyse their contribution to the debates on climate change
Plan and realise an independent research project that applies critical approaches encountered in the module, constructing an analysis and argument in an original case study.