[Ecoed] "Ecology in the Movies" list

Mon Nov 19 21:58:58 GMT 2007

Thanks to all of you who sent me ideas and/or posted them.  The list 
below is in no particular order and there are repeats.

			"Ecology in the Movies" List

"Microcosmos" - a beautiful film and a refreshing change

"Buffalo War"  (Bullfrog Films ) - to explore the controversy of the 
Yellowstone
bison in a conservation biology class

"Burning Season: The Life of Chico Mendez" (HBO  Films) about the 
Brazilian rubber tapper assassinated in the late  1980s. While the 
film explores the contentiousness of tropical forest destruction from 
multiple stakeholders, the "ecologists" in the movie  make an 
interesting angle for class discussion as well.

THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT (Bullfrog Films)
Dr. Mathis Wackernagel introduces the Ecological Footprint, a resource
accounting tool that measures human demand on the Earth. Footprint
accounts work like a bank statement, documenting whether we are living
within our ecological budget or consuming nature's resources faster than
the planet can renew them.

"The Power of Myth" series done on PBS by Bill Moyers has a least one 
segment (there are 6, one-hour segments in all) where part of it is 
devoted to environmental issues/ideas that are tied to ancient, 
mythological themes, including, as I recall, some drawn from native 
American culture.  Should you use this, however, be aware that the 
Chief Seattle speech that mythologist Joseph Campbell (and many 
others, including Al Gore) have cited is apocryphal, though 
beautifully expressed (see www.snopes.com that deals with urban 
legends on this point).

"Cannery Row" and "The Grapes of Wrath", have ecological themes 
running through them. 

"Soylent Green" (food supply) Also,"Chinatown" (water supply issues). 
I recently saw "Deep Sea" with my daughter and was impressed with the 
treatment of food web/predator-prey issues.

"Go Further" - about organic living and limiting your impact on the 
environment, but there are references to pot and some language. 
Another one about farming is  "The Future of Farming"

"Yearling" book and movie are quite different - of course the book is 
a  lot better (in my opinion) - Rawlings description of the North FL 
environment is fascinating... "The Lorax" is another great and short 
work for them to read...

"Arachnophobia" - my favorite quote - "They were at the top of the 
food chain-and then they came down!"

"The Day After Tomorrow" - overly cheesy and mostly (but not 
entirely) scientifically inaccurate film

"Milagro Beanfield War" is a great one to start off any number of 
topics (agriculture, water use, environmental justice, politics, 
ethics, law, etc)

"Monumental: David Brower's Fight to Save Wild America." - documentary

Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax"

"Kilowatt Ours, Never Cry Wolf, Blue Vinyl, and Medicine Man".

  "Jaws, The Abyss, Finding Nemo" - marine movies

"The Lion King, Bambi, Ants, the recent Bee Movie" - animated movies

"Too Hot not to Handle" takes on global climate change with more 
science and less agenda - HBO movie

"A Civil Action" with John Travolta brings up a lot of potential 
topics for discussion. The following site summarizes a bit of the 
plot if you haven't seen it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120633/plotsummary

"Flock of Dodos" - about evolution/creationism

"The 11th Hour"  - diCaprio 
(http://www.alibi.com/index.php?story=20237&scn=film)

"The Lion King" was probably still pretty popular when  you students 
were younger, and if so it's likely influenced their ideas about 
ecology quite a bit. It may oversimplify the "circle of life"  idea 
in some places, so you could use it as a jumping off point to bring 
up and address misconceptions. It could also be a starting point for 
discussion, since the characters have lines that relate to predator- 
prey relationships, food webs, and nutrient cycling. There are lots of
biological details in the animation too.

"Princess Mononoke" (impacts of land use  change) "Spirited Away 
(water pollution). Both are Japanese animation with lots of fantasy 
elements and a lot of symbolism, so they might not be what you had in 
mind. If I remember correctly, their endings are more ambiguous and 
complex though-- unlike movies like Ferngully that  present habitat 
destruction as a straightforward problem

"The Man who Planted Trees" - based on a fable by Jean Giorno set in 
southern france. Tells the story of a shepherd who plants and 
nurtures one tree a day in an arid landscape and over several decades 
has a major impact.

"The Real Dirt on Farmer John" would fit well in your agriculture category

"Finding Nemo". Even the DVD extras are rather cool.
"Bambi" It really does have an ecological ethic to it.
Perhaps one of the 1960s/70s theatrical doomsday movies ("Soylent
Green; Godzilla"). Again, somewhat silly, but they say something
interesting in their historical context.
"Dune" - a fictional account of a different ecology
"Fairy Tracks: In Search Of The Spirit of Nature"
Winged Migration
Genesis
Rivers and Tides
Blue Planet - made-for-IMAX film
Bill Nye's The Water Cycle
Man of Aran
Nanook of the North
Insect Parasitism - the Alder Woodwasp and Its Enemies (best film on
"niche" I know of)
Check out the old Disney "True Life Adventures: Vanishing Prairie,
Living Desert, Beaver Valley, etc."
"Medicine Man" for traditional ecological knowledge and habitat destruction
Inconvenient Truth
Happy Feet
Microcosmos
Arachnophobia
Cane Toads
The Birds
The Yearling
The Lorax
Medicine Man
Out of Africa

-- 
Charlene

**************************************

Charlene D'Avanzo
Professor of Ecology &
Director, Center for Learning
Hampshire College

Phone 413-5595569
FAX 413-5595448

Homepage: http://helios.hampshire.edu/~cdNS/
TIEE: http://tiee.ecoed.net/
Course website: http://ns.hampshire.edu/ns207/
ns/ns207

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