Trees in European and American Cinemas
£90.00
About this book
The first English language book-length study of trees in cinema
- Explores how trees have been framed in popular genres and diverse screen modes
- Presents case studies from the US, France, the UK, Georgia, Poland, Germany, the Soviet Union, Chile and Cuba
- Asks how trees on screen intersect with notions of wilderness and civilisation, property and ownership, consumerism and environmentalism, beauty and threat
- Attends to the materiality of filmed trees and considers the politics of anthropocentric and arboreal perspectives
This book considers significant ways in which trees have been represented in European and American cinemas, via the symbolic regimes of various popular genres (period films, war films, disaster movies) and screen modes (documentary, art cinema, animation). It does so by presenting series of case studies from different cultural contexts and historical moments, from Le Déjeuner de Bébé (Baby’s Meal) (1895) to The Lost Bus (2025).
Reviews
In this highly absorbing and thought-provoking book, Thomas Austin turns to trees to address vital topics that entwine human and plant life, from colonialism to the climate crisis. Austin’s skilful film analyses will prompt everyone to see both the films and their trees in a new light.
Table of contents
1. Introduction: Approaching Trees on Screen
2. Trees, Property and Power
3. Frontier Forests, Violent Encounters
4. Jungles of the Mind
5. The Lorax: Consumerism, Environmentalism, Syncretism
6. Ecology of Fear: Spectacle and Morality in Wildfire Films
7. Conclusion: The Temporality of Trees
Bibliography