Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter Metz.Beck, Jefferson Andrews2013-06-252013-06-252009https://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/888Six short films on the skipping of stones are films that are part of the student's thesis project.The central purpose of poetic techniques in nature films remains under-analyzed and the realm of spiritual motivations in filmic techniques under-explored. In this paper I examine historical and recent attitudes toward nature and the spiritual, highlighting in particular the work of Existentialists, and use those contexts to critique several broad categories of nature films. I find that all types of nature films, to varying degrees, contain a poetic impulse and often a secular spiritual motivation. I conclude that nature films, when carefully crafted, can be highly imperfect, yet highly potent proxies for spiritual experiences in nature.enReligionNature filmsTranscendentalismNature conservationThesisCopyright 2009 by Jefferson Andrews Beck