Filming imagined and real catastrophe: environmental trauma and natural
disasters
Brereton, PatORCID: 0000-0003-1681-7202
(2019)
Filming imagined and real catastrophe: environmental trauma and natural
disasters.
Journal of Science and Popular Culture, 2
(2).
pp. 157-170.
ISSN 2059-9072
This article sets out to illustrate the power of fictional film to present cautionary tales
around climate change. Three commercially and critically acclaimed films are
randomly selected from the same period across what can roughly be categorized as
mainstream and independent sectors of Hollywood production. Their reception
together with their authorial intentionality is examined to help tease out some of the
unique environmental affordances presented by such texts. Close textual readings are
carried out to help point towards their emotional and ecological preoccupation with
loss and trauma, which reflect ongoing global tensions around humans’ undeniable
role and responsibility in the struggle to actively address climate change concerns.