Different natures: an ecocritical analysis of selected films by Terrence Malick, Werner Herzog and Sean Penn
Date
2012-07-31
Authors
Van Wyk, Karl
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Abstract
Humanity’s relationship with nature has, in recent years, undoubtedly been one of contention
and turmoil, an issue whose drama is gaining popularity in popular culture and,
especially, film. In this dissertation I examine how these challenging human-nature relationships
play out in Terrence Malick’s The New World, Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man
and Encounters at the End of the World, Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, and the Jon Krakauer
book, of the same title, upon which Penn’s film is based. As one’s views on
nature (like all else) are mediated through language, using ecocritical principles slanted
towards filmic, as opposed to written, texts, I provide a close examination of the ways in
which these artists portray the relationship between language and nature, and the impact
this has on our cultural and individual identities. I will also show how these primary
texts make use of centuries-old Romantic aesthetics in order to humanise nature for
moral ends. The primary texts agree that a large part of the problem in the poor relationship
between humanity and nature is due to inadequate metaphors with which humanity
views the earth. Thus, each artist promotes a certain kind of anthropomorphic understanding
of nature which he believes is pivotal in encouraging better interconnections
between humanity and nature. As a result, I provide a critique of the kinds of metaphors
used by each respective artist, where some metaphors of nature may support or contradict
a certain artist’s aims in his portrayal of human-nature relationships.
Description
M.A. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2012.
Keywords
Terrence Malick, Werner Herzog, Sean Penn, Jon Krakauer, nature, film, documentury, ecocriticism, celluloid ecocriticism, ecofeminism, deep ecology, anthropocentrism, anthropomorphism, Romanticism, Gaia