Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
Browse
12 results
Search Results
Item Breaking through: how documentary filmmakers expose and unravel the fossil fuel hegemony(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2022) Dinner, Joshua; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Theo LipfertBy analyzing contemporary environmental films within Antonio Gramsci's theoretical framework of hegemony, this MFA thesis highlights a path for storytellers and science communicators to overcome hidden barriers built into the language of environmental activism. Part one uses scientific papers, academic research, and my MFA thesis film 'No Time for Trees' (2022) to scrutinize the environmental stewardship activity of tree planting, which municipal governments and non-profit organizations often promote as a strategy to sequester atmospheric CO 2 emissions. It will contextualize the hegemonic "tree planting message" as a false narrative that empowers individuals to partake in ineffective strategies to combat global warming. Part two examines The 11th Hour (2007) to identify how a documentary's narration impacts how viewers assess their role in the environmental arena. It identifies the pronoun "we" as a small but influential element of the film's language that may connote hegemonic messaging that blames individuals for climate change and directs them to see it solved. Finally, part three examines several rhetorical film strategies used in 'Merchants of Doubt' (2014) to expose the fossil fuel industry's comprehensive history of deception. Even will limited visual evidence of hegemony, films can help viewers think critically about stories they hear in the news media or within publications that skew climate science to favor the continued use of fossil fuels.Item Environmental documentaries that reach across the aisle: proposed methods on how to demonstrate diverse values in documentary film in order to engage a wider audience(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2020) Siana, Ashley; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Cindy StillwellDocumentary film has achieved an acclaimed status as an effective form of communication, one that can serve as an advocate for environmental issues. Documentaries intending to engage wider audiences and break down polarized issues can employ specific strategies that have proven to create subsequent positive impact. Comparing 'Before The Flood', 'Gasland', and 'Last Call for The Bayou', I analyze strategies in each film that were either effective or ineffective in helping to resolve environmental issues and polarization. The Cultural Cognition Project suggests audiences are more willing to incorporate differing views when perspectives are presented in a way that allows them to grow identity rather than challenging and demonizing firmly held values. I apply the identified techniques to shape my creative process of constructing my film, 'The Gilded Trap,' with the goal of presenting issues pertaining to climate change from a new angle, thus engaging a wider audience, and increasing cultural cognition regarding the negative impacts of climate change in New England.Item Environmental films and their audience: captivating the viewer(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2019) Spear, Jonathan Edward; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigThis paper examines how films concerned with environmental issues can add more elements to achieve a greater impact on the viewer than classic 'blue chip' films such as 'Planet Earth' do. For the viewer's attention to be truly engaged and for information to be retained so that it can lead to social change, the story, music, and cinematography must all strongly reinforce each other for the film to be an unforgettable experience. I will discuss and compare three films: 'Return of the River' (2016), 'DamNation' (2014), and 'The Art of Flight' (2011), and then discuss how they influenced my film 'Missoula: To the MAX' (2019). This discussion will detail to what degree we are drawn into the films based on the elements of a genuinely memorable viewing experience, and what lessons we are able to take away because of them.Item Fanihi : a cultural digest. Cannibalism or conservation?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2010) Tharp, James Whitney; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ronald Tobias.There is a conflict on the island of Rota in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands between conservationists and the cultural traditions of Chamorro inhabitants. The traditional model of broadcasting media to a wide audience is not effective in intervening in environmental conflicts within indigenous communities compared to an emerging model of filmmaking that embraces local voices and perspectives. Historically, indigenous depictions in media tend to misrepresent "Others" in order to reinforce the imperialist interests of Western society. Within this essay I intend to analyze how Western media suppresses indigenous voice while investigating strategies for the creation of effective environmental films targeted towards specific local audiences. Awareness of the mistakes of filmmakers of the past combined with the availability of inexpensive production and distribution technologies will allow alternative models of filmmaking to portray a diversity of perspectives. Environmental films that feature indigenous voices allow local communities to define and strengthen their own cultural values while creating texts that broaden global understandings of the diversity of the human experience.Item Remote outreach cinema campaign : (R.O.C.C.)(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2006) Kellett, Ian Alexander; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ronald TobiasThis thesis proposes strategies for the making and exhibition of films that amplify conservation values and efforts in rural communities. The films support and promote the missions of local leaders and the agendas of respected environmental agencies. The filmmaking strategies entail identifying existing conservation values as experienced through broad themes such as quality of life, economics and community development. By focusing on the collaborative process of making and projecting a film, these strategies serve to inspire innovative solutions promoting responsible stewardship of the land and sea. This model of media creation and delivery is designed to empower local politics and communities with the momentum necessary to plan a future consistent with their environmental values. I call this media creation and delivery strategy, Remote Outreach Cinema Campaigns (R.O.C.C.); Remote, because the media is targeted towards rural audiences, Outreach because the media supports the missions of established environmental agencies, Cinema, because the final delivery is on a large screen and viewed collectively. And Campaign, because the final film is only one part of a process.Item Developing a cross-cultural narrative in environmental film : a case study from Aotearoa(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2012) Dunning, Dawson Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ronald Tobias.Environmental filmmakers often construct narratives about cultures or appropriate cultural ideas for their storylines. However, the majority of environmental films rely on Western methods of filmmaking and storytelling, even when the topic of these films may be non-Western and the narratives involved are non-linear and complex. In this essay, I argue for a cross-cultural approach to narrative development in environmental film that incorporates defining aspects of storytelling from the cultures represented. I use my experience of making a film about cultural collaboration in New Zealand resource management as a case study and I highlight the challenges of developing a cross-cultural narrative in environmental film.Item Cinematic geographies : environmental determinism in film analysis(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2012) Keto, David Wayne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ian van Coller.Through much of its history, film has been used as a mechanism to help naturalize human cultural assumptions. Through this process human cultural stereotypes are positioned as arising from nature. The theory of environmental determinism has been used as a mechanism to further this naturalizing process. This paper analyzes two films, 'The Columbia' and 'No Country for Old Men', to uncover how environmental determinism is deployed across a range of film types as a naturalizing apparatus. The paper goes on to suggest how a more critical approach to film analysis using environmental determinism in conjunction with critical regionalism is a viable means of better understanding the complex interaction of nature and culture on film. This approach can help viewers better recognize when particular ideas within a film are structured as being derived from nature when in reality the ideas are human cultural artifacts.Item Networked empowerment : the internet as medium for environmental filmmaking(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2007) Shoemaker, Jennifer Anne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William NeffWhether the Internet represents a true revolution in human communication or is merely a much-hyped relative to existing media is the subject of much debate. However, regardless of whether the Internet represents revolution or just evolution, it does provide a unique and unprecedented opportunity for environmental filmmakers to engage viewers in a thoughtful dialogue about how to improve the quality of our natural environment and the health of its inhabitants. This thesis examines how the Internet's capacity for nonmarket individual production and peer collaboration provides the basis for a new Internet film aesthetic that filmmakers can use to share stories of environmental crisis and hope. Specifically, the essay explores three storytelling techniques that work well within the medium of the Internet - the use of personal voice, the encouragement of community participation, and an embrace of a nonlinear structure. The thesis concludes by arguing that, rather than abandoning traditional, market-based media and relying exclusively on the Internet, environmental filmmakers have the most potential to affect change by creating films that can be adapted to work in a variety of media. The Internet may not be a revolution in itself, but it can be used as a tool for environmental filmmakers who seek to revolutionize our society's views about the environment and our place within it.Item Ocean Pictures : the construction of the ocean on film(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2008) Kennerson, Elliott Doran; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ronald Tobias.Common filmic tropes of the ocean draw upon ideas that go back to the novels of Herman Melville and Jules Verne, who constructed the ocean respectively as a hostile wilderness and a watery Eden. Two of the earliest and most influential underwater filmmakers, Jacques Cousteau and Jean Painlevé, employed these tropes, as have subsequent filmmakers, especially in their depictions of charismatic ocean fauna. The power of the Eden/wilderness dichotomy of the ocean has spilled over not only from novel to film and from fiction to non-fiction, but into the socio-political sphere of ocean-related controversies like the one that is the subject of my film, Sealed Off!!!Item A critique of the environmental savior trope in wildlife film(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2010) Winston, Thomas Pillsbury; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ronald Tobias; Philip A. Savoie (co-chair)Throughout the history of wildlife film, a human character is often central to a narrative that promotes environmental stewardship. Diverse iconic figures in conservation such as Theodore Roosevelt, Jacques Cousteau and Jane Goodall have played starring roles in wildlife films in order to communicate their respective views on conservation. The common narrative of these films represents a reoccurring motif, or trope, in wildlife film that has evolved over time and prominently persists today- the trope of the Environmental Savior. This trope is justifiably condemned in its predominant form in mainstream wildlife film for casting a white westerner as environmental savior in a foreign ecosystem. Critics charge this trope propagates underlying ideologies of racism, neo-imperialism and western superiority. In this essay I will examine the trope of the environmental savior, and more specifically the character within the trope, in order to better understand the overt and implied meanings inherent to this narrative. I will first define the trope of the environmental savior and illustrate its power to persuade an audience. Then I will trace the evolution of the trope's protagonist, from to the white hunter in early wildlife films to the enlightened scientist that persists in contemporary mainstream television. Finally, I will propose forward-looking alternatives for constructing the trope of the environmental savior, based on my experience producing my thesis film, The Mongolian Marmot.