Crisis of Confidence: Cinematic Environmentalism of the Seventies

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Johnson, Robert

Keywords

Cinema, 1970s, Environment

Area of Concentration

Environmental Studies

Abstract

In the 1970's, film played a reflective and contributory role in American environmental culture. Many films of the decade reflected a cultural environmentalism driven by a crisis of confidence in government and industry's ability to ensure a viable and natural environment. This project examines six films' content, cultural context of production, and reception, which indicate a notion of American uncertainty concerning government and industry's protection or conservation of the environment. The opening chapter provides a context for the economic and political conditions of the 1970's, explaining the American “crisis of confidence.” The second chapter examines the public‟s lack of faith in American government‟s role in the environment, which becomes apparent in the films: The Candidate, Soylent Green, and Chinatown. Public criticism of governmental inadequacies in the 1970's rested upon a foundation of reported scandals and failures to prevent environmental disasters, and this appears in many films of the decade. The third chapter reviews social concerns about industry's environmental responsibilities, particularly visualized in the films: Silent Running, King Kong, and The China Syndrome. During the 1970's, many Americans also debated whether economic development or environmental protection was more beneficial to the progress of the nation. Cultural environmentalism of the 1970's derived meaning from an amalgamation of societal events, beliefs, and actions that shook Americans' faith in the environmental practices of government and industry; that meaning was then reflected, reinforced, or reconsidered on film.

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