As the world grows more and more out of kilter with wars and fake news, the climate crisis is being ignored, leaving eco-media scholars striving to uncover new ways of keeping it firmly in the spotlight. This paper draws on extensive scholarship across eco-film studies, using narratives I have not analysed before—The Age of Stupid and Zone of Interest—to speak to contrasting ways of representing and communicating the crisis. While in the academy and within particular strands of environmental communications (EC), eco-textual analysis is often sidelined and replaced with a focus on empirical audience and behavioural research, together with more political economy types of investigations. Nevertheless, there remains a central place for understanding and appreciating how stories and images function, both in stylistic and thematic terms, while deploying new creative imaginaries to represent the climate crisis and provoke debate over future, more sustainable models of living. These readings will be analysed through an ethics of care lens while being underpinned by environmental media literacy, which can be argued to drive pro-active engagement and consideration.
Pat Brereton (Wed,) studied this question.