In Search of an Eco-space in the Age of Anthropocene: Exploring the Horizon of Ecocinema

In Search of an Eco-space in the Age of Anthropocene: Exploring the Horizon of Ecocinema

Shibaji Mridha

American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB), Bangladesh

Abstract

Contoured by the spirit of ecocriticism, ecocinema has become a unique platform, especially since the last two decades, developing an ecocentric sensibility in the epoch of the Anthropocene. Prominent ecocinema critics such as David Ingram, Scott MacDonald, Paula Willoquet-Maricondi, Adrian Ivakhiv, Pat Brereton, Stephen Rust, and Salma Monani foreground the cognitive and emotive value of ecocinema in furthering both environmental imagination and discourse. To contribute to the promising discourse of ecocinema, this essay intends to propose an idea of eco-space that ecocinema can potentially create in the human psyche, allowing us to perceive the non-human world from an ecocentric perspective. Investigating the contemporary ecocinema theory to situate the concept of eco-space in a broader critical context champions the pluralistic and translational eco-aesthetics of cinema by forming an alternative media-spectatorship. In so doing, it seeks to draw secondary references on four films, taking into consideration the usual censure- anthropomorphism, sentimentalism, kitsch- against ecocinema. In the process, this paper espouses the efficacy of ecocinema in creating an evolving eco-space in our collective sub-conscious, transcending the limitations of our customary anthropocentric vision.

Keywords: Ecocinema, eco-space, anthropocentrism, pluralistic, transnational eco-aesthetics, alternative media

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Shibaji Mridha is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB), Bangladesh. His areas of interest include ecocriticism, environmental ethics, gender and sexuality studies, and postcolonialism.

Correspondence to: Shibaji Mridha, Department of English, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB), 408/1, Kuratoli, Khilkhet, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh.