Interstellar - An Environmental Invocation or a Trivial Hollywood Film?
Summary
Environmental topics within cinema have become more prominent and thematized over the past years, as has the question what should be considered beneficial within the climate change discourse which is especially represented by the discourse about ecocinema. Despite alternative film productions being the pioneers within this field, Hollywood also addresses potential scenarios of a post-climate change world, at least, so it seems. The Hollywood film Interstellar primarily focuses on the notion of finding a new home in space for humans, due to the uninhabitable circumstances on earth. The film depicts a dystopian society while not directly addressing the causes for this situation.
This thesis investigates how Interstellar can be understood with regards to the discourse surrounding the notion of ecocinema. Thus, this is analyzed by the means of a framing analysis that relies on how the film presents the environment to the viewer, going more in-depth into the film style, as well as the film form. Utilizing the concepts of ecocinema, environmentalist films, dystopia, as well as anthropocentrism, this thesis will shed light on the potential of Interstellar as conveying an ecological message. Moreover, the film’s representation of a dystopian society will be connected to ecological themes in order to understand how these images might also effect the audience and their understanding of the environment. Additionally, the analysis relates the film’s images, as well as its overall narrative to the notion of anthropocentrism, as this directly relates to environmental framing and perception. Consequently, Interstellar frames the adverse situation on earth in such a manner that it becomes unclear what has actually caused these uninhabitable circumstances on earth. However, as this film might not serve as a climate change parable, it can still be understood as having the potential to influence audiences’ perception concerning their environmental awareness by the means of the visualization within the film.