Documentary film is used to invoke the emotional qualities of the viewer in order to incite them to act on the subject they viewed. In the case of environmental documentaries, the viewer is shown the state of the global environment (in most cases, bad) and subsequently feels connected to their planet in a way they could not have before. Through this interdisciplinary study utilizing the subjects of both film and environmental studies I hope to show the effects these documentaries hold on their viewers.
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Popular Environmental Documentaries
Each of these films had their own impact on viewers as shown by these statistics:
- Inconvenient Truth is the 4th highest grossing documentary of all time making $24 million (after Fahrenheit 9/11, March of the Penguins and Sicko).[2]
- Inconvenient Truth won eighteen "Best Documentary" prizes including the 2007 Academy Award, Chicago Film Critics Association, Washington D.C. Film Critics Association, Florida Film Critics and New York Film Critics Society.[4]
- Planet Earth won a Peabody and an Emmy for nature documentaries.
- The Blue Planet, focusing on our globe's oceans, won an Emmy and many BAFTA's
- The 11th Hour, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.
Vic Alexander, a documentary filmmaker talks of the importance of documentary film:
"For me shooting documentary style is the most interesting way of seeing the world and telling a story. I don't like the contrived way the theatrical movie is conceived and put together. If the movie is based on a novel or a stage play, then the filmmaking process is only a copying medium. There's no art in it…The potential for exploration, collaboration and creativity is much greater with the documentary. Yet so many documentaries are scripted beforehand, and this process may destroy the reality or truth of a documentary. The finished product may look more impressive or be more entertaining when it's scripted, but the documentary ceases to be a documentary, and any artistic impulses during the shooting have to be quashed. "
My Analysis
The main success of these environmental films is the ability to take a complicated subject, such as global warming, climate change or deforestation, and allow the common person in a movie theater to not only comprehend, but to be moved by the effects of film. "When individuals say environmental sub issues are personally important to them, those judgments are not made independent of perceptions of media representations"[1] This is illustrated by the vast success of Vice President Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth that is still the fourth highest grossing documentary of all time[2] in making over $24 million after its release on May 24,2006. Though Gore used graphs and charts to illustrate complicated data he also played video that relayed a much simpler message — that we can change our world. Further, "by promoting awareness about environmental issues that are worldwide in scope, they [documentaries] convey how local actions can affect distant habitats."[1] It is not the complex data that leaves us with the yearning to help (though, of course it does not hurt) it is the images from the documentary that stay in our mind. Who could forget the video of the polar bears slowly losing their habitats and drowning as the glaciers melt? Or of Planet Earth's stunning images of our Earth's untouched and natural environments? It is images like these that confirm the thought that real footage is a "better guide than their fiction counterparts to interpreting the modern world."
One common denominator between the two films An Inconvenient Truth and The 11th Hour is the use of celebrity to promote eco-activism. Public Affairs 2.0 writes on their site, "As we’ve seen with Al Gore’s effort, these films are much more than just idle entertainment; they are a means for celebrities to crank up the pressure on the political elite to act against climate change, especially in the US."[5] The article also writes, "Hollywood is alas not the ideal bed fellow of the environmental movement" and while I can see that point of argument I also believe that without Hollywood and the names attached to such films, many of them would go unseen. Their data is sound and their passion is present so why criticize the messenger? Sadly, I do not think that An Inconvenient Truth would be the fourth highest grossing documentary of all time without Gore's named attached to it. The success of the film does open many doors to lesser known documentaries to be seen by the viewing public and creates a sense of excitement over nature documentaries that was not present before. There are projects such as The Blue Planet and Planet Earth that are produced through the BBC that manage to receive high numbers of viewers and critical acclaim without celebrity endorsement (although the American version of Planet Earth did procure the narration of Sigourney Weaver). I think this is due to the superb cinematography, fantastic location shots, and the never-before-seen images and less to do with an environmental message of protecting Earth. However, once you have the viewer watching you are able to open their eyes to an unknown world and provide them with a cause they did not know.
Not only are documentaries important in the political and social sphere it is also vital to cultural growth with its "capacity to excite and delight as well as shock and disturb."[3] "Far too many contemporary filmmakers appear to have lost their voice."[3] This loss of voice is filled by the documentary. We are shown our reality through the artistic medium of film and the two disciplines (film and environmental studies) intertwine to create a new entity: the nature documentary. By looking at these four popular examples of environmental documentaries we are shown that film is an excellent medium to express and explain environmental studies while being able to excite the viewers to react emotionally and become interested in both film and environmental studies. This interdisciplinary study not only show the effective nature of the documentary but also the growing rise in the popularity in the eco-friendly film.
DisneyNature
On April 22, 2009 (Earth Day) Disney is releasing a documentary called "Earth" under its new label "DisneyNature". Disney plans to plant one tree for every moviegoer that sees the film in its opening week to promote environmentalism and Earth Day. Jean-Francois Camilleri, the executive vice president and general manager of DisneyNature says “The public is looking for films like ‘EARTH’ that are entertaining, educational, show nature’s beauty and are environmentally conscious. What better way to celebrate the opening of this epic film than by planting trees on behalf of our moviegoers!”[6] The movie tells a story of three animal families and their journey across Earth and employs the use of "rare action, unimaginable scale and impossible locations by capturing the most intimate moments of our planet’s wildest and most elusive creatures"[6].
Video Clips
Images
Links
- The 11th Hour Vanity Fair article
- TakePart's List of 10 Best Environmental Documentaries
- Green Cine's List of Best Environmental Documentaries
- Importance of Documentary Film
- Documentary Film, according to Wikipedia