This book systematically explores how popular Hollywood film portrays environmental issues through various genres. In so doing, it reveals the influence exerted by media consolidation and the drive for profit on Hollywood's portrayal of the natural landscape, which ultimately shapes how environmental problems and their solutions are presented to audiences. Analysis is framed by a consideration of how cultural studies can make more theoretical and practical room for environmental concern, thereby expanding its capacity for critical examination. The book begins by introducing the theoretical underpinning of the research as it relates to cultural studies, landscape, and genre. In the chapters that follow, each genre is taken in turn, starting with popular animated family films and progressing through spy thrillers, eco-thrillers, science fiction, Westerns, superhero films, and drama. This book is ideal for students and scholars in a variety of disciplines, including film, environmental studies, communication, political economy, and cultural studies.

Autorentext

Ellen Moore is a Senior Lecturer at University of Washington Tacoma. She conducts research on racial representations in Hollywood and news media coverage of environmental justice. She lives in Tacoma, Washington with her family and two St Bernards.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Cradle to Crave: The Commodification of the Environment in Family Films.- 3. The Spy Who Saved Me.- 4. Imagining Disaster in the Eco Thriller.- 5. Stranger than (Science) Fiction: Environmental Dystopia in Hollywood Sci Fi.- 6. The Lone Danger: Resource Scarcity in the Western.- 7. Super Green: Sustainable Superheroes Tackle the Environment.- 8. The World Slowly Dies for Profit: the Portrayal of Environmental Issues in Drama.- 9. Conclusion.