Hollywood's Dirtiest Secret

The Hidden Environmental Costs of the Movies

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Film, Direction & Production, History & Criticism, Performing Arts
Cover of the book Hollywood's Dirtiest Secret by Hunter Vaughan, Columbia University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Hunter Vaughan ISBN: 9780231544153
Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication: March 12, 2019
Imprint: Columbia University Press Language: English
Author: Hunter Vaughan
ISBN: 9780231544153
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication: March 12, 2019
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Language: English

In an era when many businesses have come under scrutiny for their environmental impact, the film industry has for the most part escaped criticism and regulation. Its practices are more diffuse; its final product, less tangible; and Hollywood has adopted public-relations strategies that portray it as environmentally conscious. In Hollywood’s Dirtiest Secret, Hunter Vaughan offers a new history of the movies from an environmental perspective, arguing that how we make and consume films has serious ecological consequences.

Bringing together environmental humanities, science communication, and social ethics, Hollywood’s Dirtiest Secret is a pathbreaking consideration of the film industry’s environmental impact that examines how our cultural prioritization of spectacle has distracted us from its material consequences and natural-resource use. Vaughan examines the environmental effects of filmmaking from Hollywood classics to the digital era, considering how popular screen media shapes and reflects our understanding of the natural world. He recounts the production histories of major blockbusters—Gone with the Wind, Singin’ in the Rain, Twister, and Avatar—situating them in the contexts of the development of the film industry, popular environmentalism, and the proliferation of digital technologies. Emphasizing the materiality of media, Vaughan interweaves details of the hidden environmental consequences of specific filmmaking practices, from water use to server farms, within a larger critical portrait of social perceptions and valuations of the natural world.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In an era when many businesses have come under scrutiny for their environmental impact, the film industry has for the most part escaped criticism and regulation. Its practices are more diffuse; its final product, less tangible; and Hollywood has adopted public-relations strategies that portray it as environmentally conscious. In Hollywood’s Dirtiest Secret, Hunter Vaughan offers a new history of the movies from an environmental perspective, arguing that how we make and consume films has serious ecological consequences.

Bringing together environmental humanities, science communication, and social ethics, Hollywood’s Dirtiest Secret is a pathbreaking consideration of the film industry’s environmental impact that examines how our cultural prioritization of spectacle has distracted us from its material consequences and natural-resource use. Vaughan examines the environmental effects of filmmaking from Hollywood classics to the digital era, considering how popular screen media shapes and reflects our understanding of the natural world. He recounts the production histories of major blockbusters—Gone with the Wind, Singin’ in the Rain, Twister, and Avatar—situating them in the contexts of the development of the film industry, popular environmentalism, and the proliferation of digital technologies. Emphasizing the materiality of media, Vaughan interweaves details of the hidden environmental consequences of specific filmmaking practices, from water use to server farms, within a larger critical portrait of social perceptions and valuations of the natural world.

More books from Columbia University Press

Cover of the book The Columbia Guide to Online Style by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book American Force by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book Insurmountable Simplicities by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book The Late Age of Print by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book Weird Dinosaurs by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book Pasta by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book Conservation Genetics in the Age of Genomics by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book The Adélie Penguin by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book Regimes of Historicity by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book Contemporary Japanese Politics by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book The Spatiality of Emotion in Early Modern China by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book Mencius by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book The Political Impossibility of Modern Counterinsurgency by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book Film Noir by Hunter Vaughan
Cover of the book Spells, Images, and Mandalas by Hunter Vaughan
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy