Fictional Films as Ecocinema

A fictional film describes a plot, incident, or event that is fictitious. It is a broad branch of film style which includes different genres not limiting to mysteries, science fiction, romance, and action. With the help of other cinematic elements, the characters try to convince the audience that the relating story is real. Fictional movies are often made from contemporary issues to make the audience aware of on-going problems. But as they are fictionalized, the scenes and narrations are often exaggerated or dramatized to attract the audience’s attention.

The term “eco-cinema” was explained by Scott Macdonald (MacDonald, 2004) in ‘Towards an ecocinema’, as “something like a garden- within the machine of a modern life” (Rust, 2013). Although people still debate the precise definition of eco-cinema, many critics simply accept it as a cinema category that has environmental issues as its themes. A film under any genre can be perceived as eco-cinema if it has a subject matter that relates but is not limited to nature, animals, human activities, problems and catastrophe. Even fictional films can fit into the eco-cinema category; it can reflect nature and its element.

The audience expects the fictional films to attract the viewer’s attention through the use of cinematic factors. Movies with better and rich content but not engaging presentations often go unnoticed and flop at the box-office. It is very challenging to portray the real environmental happenings in a limited timeframe. As a result, they might not be environmentally appealing. There are very few fictional films that the eco-critics can classify under eco-cinema; very few films focus entirely on the environment or on environmental issues. While many films may not focus exclusively on eco-cinema topics, most of them have connotative messages that reflect the condition of humans, nature, and our planet. Although the general audience may enjoy the films, it can be problematic for eco-critics (Willoquet, 2010).

While the film industry tries to make the audience aware of the effect of pollution, the film industry itself utilizes so many natural elements and also contributes majorly towards pollution and climate change (Dorlin, 2019). The film production comes with so many complexities; it can be challenging for the crew to advocate for the issue by not being a part of the solution. It would not be sensible to produce a movie on pollution while your team pollutes the environment while making the movie. It can also be an essential constraint for the movie industry to be more eco-cinematic.

Cinema is one of the most effective mediums to entertain, inform, and raise awareness among the audience. With fear and fiction, fictional movies are losing credibility for sure; the scientific data can be too dull or unsuitable for the targeted audience, so the producers need to model the information into suitable form. And, the modeled information would not be reliable even it is convincing. But in another sense, fictional films are not meant to be portraying reality.

References

Dorlin, Olivier. "Towards an Ecological Cinema." (2019).

MacDonald, Scott. “Toward an Eco-cinema.” ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environement 11.2 (2004): 107-132.

Rust, Stephen. "Hollywood and climate change." Ecocinema theory and practice (2013): 191-211.

Willoquet-Maricondi, Paula, ed. Framing the world: Explorations in ecocriticism and film. University of Virginia Press, 2010.