The Martian as Eco-Film

It's been a great autumn movie season--if you're a guy. Male heroes, both historical and fictional, have  entertained wide audiences this fall. A down-and-out boxer Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) gets back in the ring to win back his daughter from protective services after his wife is killed in Southpaw (2015). Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) saves the IMF in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015). Straight Outta Compton (2015) showcases male heroes and villains in the battle over hip-hop. Beasts of No Nation (2015) takes an all-male approach to a story explored with more nuance and a female perspective in Rebelle (The War Witch) (2012). And we can't forget the authentic performances Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, and Michael Fassbender provided in the bio-pics Black Mass (2015), Bridge of Spies (2015), and Steve Jobs (2015). Women get short shrift in this fall line-up. But so does the environment.

Although Robert Redford and Nick Nolte show off the beauty surrounding the Appalachian trail in A Walk in the Woods (2015), and Beasts of No Nation highlight the human and environmental disasters caused by a tragic civil war, neither of these films explicitly addresses ecology. Despite the slew of what Dan Bloom calls cli-fi films from 2013 and 14, including Snowpiercer (2013) and Interstellar (2014), the most environmental film I've seen this year has been the comic sci-fi film The Martian (2015). Despite a narrative focused on bringing astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) home from Mars, The Martian places ecology at its center. As Watney explains in a video blog entry, "In the face of overwhelming odds, I'm left with only one option: I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this."

Because of this focus on scientific solutions, The Martian is the best example of ecocinema I've seen in the theatre this year. As an expert botanist, Watney draws on his knowledge of the natural world in order to survive on what seems like a lifeless planet. Watney even declares, "Mars will come to fear my botany powers." Watney recognizes the need to draw on nature rather than technology for survival and constructs a livable space using natural elements and bi-products instead of artificial (and perhaps toxic) chemicals.

He reclaims water by following nature's recipe: "Take hydrogen. Add oxygen. Burn." But most importantly, he builds an organic farm and grows potatoes using his own waste mixed with the dehydrated and purified waste from crew members who left him behind. The film takes the time to show the meticulous process Watney must follow to grow crops in Mars's arid soil, following  a pattern primarily highlighted in eco-docs about sustainable agriculture. With the potatoes he grows and (of course) the help of a loyal astronaut crew, Watney survives to teach new recruits about his approach. At the end of the film, he tells a class of future astronauts, "Yes, I did in fact survive on a deserted planet by farming in my own shit. Yes, it's actually worse than it sounds." It's also sends a powerful eco message: To thrive, humans must preserve the natural resources that sustain them.

Central Illinois Feminist Film Festival 2016 Call for Submissions

Central Illinois Feminist Film Festival

      

Eastern Illinois University

Call for Submissions

Deadline: February 1, 2016

Festival: March 22, 2016

We are looking for films of high artistic quality that satisfy at least two of the following criteria:

• Films created with an emphasis on gender and/or social justice issues
• Films that link local and global issues
• Films created by people underrepresented in the media field (women, people of color,  queer/transgendered people, people with disabilities)
• Films made by people from the Central Illinois area

How to submit:

• Submit through Film Freeeway: https://filmfreeway.com/festival/CIFFF
• Send a link to your Vimeo, YouTube, or other source to rlmurray@eiu.edu

Guidelines:

• Films should be short: under 30 minutes in length.
• Films should be labeled with your name, address, and email address, andthe title of your film.
• In your cover letter, explain how you and your film fit our criteria and include a two-three sentence synopsis.

Note: There is no submission fee for this film festival.

This film festival promotes the mission of our Women’s Studies Program: to promote an understanding of how issues related to gender, age, race, economic status, sexual identity, and nationality affect women's lives and the communities in which they live. In order to promote an equitable and sensitive environment for all persons, Women’s Studies also responds to issues affecting women on campus and in the community.

Send Queries to: Central Illinois Feminist Film Festival

Women’s Studies Program, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL 61920

Attn: Robin L. Murray

Thanks to UC Davis Film Fest for information regarding the Call

The Sacred Place Where Life Begins: A New Rhetoric of Arctic Homes

The rhetorical documentary The Sacred Place Where Life Begins (2013) draws on the voices of Gwich’in women to address more explicit environmental concerns, oil drilling on the coastal plains of the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The opening shows a map of this corner of Alaska, highlighting it as one of America’s last and greatest wildernesses, but it is also the homeland of the Gwich’in people. Gwich’in women powerfully articulate what they will lose if the U.S. opens this area for drilling. The Gwich’in homeland includes parts of Alaska and Canada but more importantly, it overlaps with the range of the Porcupine Caribou. The Gwich’in rely physically, culturally, and spiritually on the porcupine caribou herd, so much so that their t-shirts read, “Caribou is Our Life.” Oil drilling in this Arctic Refuge coastal plain will threaten this herd because that is the site of the herd’s birth and nursing range. Because they rely on the caribou for their life and culture, for the Gwich’in, the area is “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins.”

This short film takes the time to provide evidence for this threat. According to research, oil drilling in this critical caribou calving habitat drives away female caribou and calves and diminishes calves’ survival rates. Opening the coastal plain of the refuge to drilling would have tragic consequences for the Gwich’in, who are inherently connected to the caribou. Shots of caribou carcasses emphasize this connection. For Gwich’in women such as Sarah James, drilling means “drilling into our hearts and our existence.” The film also draws on legal evidence to make its point. Because the caribou and Gwich’in people share this symbiotic relationship, drilling in the refuge also violates the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. According to the Declaration’s Article 8, section 1, “Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right to not be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.” Because drilling will disrupt the caribou on which their culture and livelihood rely, it also violates this article.

The documentary provides a short history of this movement, showing news footage and articles to substantiate the tribes’ fight for their culture. The Gwich’in have fought this drilling since 1988 and now gather every two years to protect the coastal plain. Gwich’in women highlight the multiple ways the tribe uses the caribou for food, clothing, shelter, tools, and medicine. As Kay Wallis of Fort Yukon explains, “As the caribou go, so will the Gwich’ in go.” Their responsibility is to protect the caribou habitat.The rest of the documentary gives voice to these Gwich’in women, who each provide reasons why the caribou should be preserved. In the first segment, several women demonstrate the relationship between the caribou and Gwich’in people. Footage of the caribou accompanies each assertion about how the caribou sustain them. The next section draws parallels between women as life givers and the caribou. For the Gwich’in, the caribou are like children who must be nurtured instead of slaughtered. Velma Wallis of Fort Yukon, Alaska asserts, “As women we have the fundamental role to speak out on behalf of mother earth. There’s been enough destruction. It’s time for healing. It’s time for women’s spirituality, and it’s time for women’s connection.” Images of the April 2010 BP oil rig explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico highlight the dire consequences of doing nothing. In the next sections, women are designated the keepers of traditional knowledge and the protectors of the Porcupine caribou herd. Because the caribou can’t voice for themselves, it is the duty of the Gwich’in women to speak for them, they say. Darlene Herbert of Fort Yukon puts it bluntly, “You cannot put your oilfields there. That’s where caribou go to breed.”

Ultimately, as Charlene Fisher of Beaver, Alaska explains, they are stewards of the land. For her, “as an indigenous person we’re always looking to protect our land. We are bound by these lands, so the refuge is almost like a border to us. We were always taught to be careful, to give back to the earth. Don’t take too much. Protect the land.” Protecting the caribou also provides a way to honor ancestors and provide hope for the future. A poster asks, “Will the caribou go the way of the buffalo? Or will you save our Arctic way of life?” Photos of stacked buffalo bones illustrate their horrific history. “All we’re asking is to make sure we have that one little area, the sacred place where the caribou give birth to their young. Keep that place protected for all time. To fight for this future, they reach out to the world and offer suggestions for change to protect the refuge. “This is our home. This is our land,” they declare. Although requests for viewers to sign petitions and write to Congress so they will vote for the Arctic Wilderness Act end the film, the Arctic as home serves as the strongest argument to stop drilling.

Screwball Dance

Screwball Dance

blinds open

earrings fly

safety pins fall

I fall

skirt splits

staples mend

not

Katherine Hepburn

not

Bringing Up Baby.