Environmental Ethics and Film

Environmental Ethics and Film presents and defends a systematic and comprehensive account of the moral relation between human beings and their natural environment and assumes that human behaviour toward the natural world can and is governed by moral norms. In contemporary society, film has provided a powerful instrument for the moulding of such ethical attitudes. Through a close examination of the medium, Environmental Ethics and Film explores how historical ethical values can be re-imagined and re-constituted for more contemporary audiences. Building on an extensive back-catalogue of eco-film analysis, the author focuses on a diverse selection of contemporary films which target audiences’ ethical sensibilities in very different ways. Each chapter focuses on at least three close readings of films and documentaries, examining a wide range of environmental issues as they are illustrated across contemporary Hollywood films. In this thoroughly revised new edition, the author updates each chapter with the latest developments in various core concepts and principles, including the tragedy of the commons, lifeboat ethics, indigenous otherness, deep ecology, and intergenerational justice. The coverage in this edition has been expanded to include tensions over anthropocentricism and ethics with more contemporary examples. This book is an invaluable resource for students and scholars of environmental communication, film studies, media and cultural studies, environmental philosophy and ethics.