Voor environmental communication schrijf ik wekelijks een artikeltje. Deze blogpost focust hoe de natuur afgebeeld wordt in populaire media, zoals film. Hieronder een korte analyse van de de film “The Perfect Storm”.
The environment isn’t only used in marketing, advertising and journalism, but also plays a big role in films and television. Recently there’s been a rise in nature documentaries, but there are also numorous fictional movies where nature plays a key role. I’ve chosen a disaster drama film based on a true story situated at sea: The Perfect Storm.
In Environmental Communication in the Public Sphere, the author Cox notes that “it is often the scary and dystopian scripts from literature, film and other popular culture that are invoked and drawn upon in media and public discourse on environmental and scientific developments.” This is noteworthy. If you look at popular movies with nature playing a key role, it is usually scifi movies in which our planet (nearly) gets destroyed. Two very recent examples are: Dune, where a full body suit (a stillsuit), designed to preserve the body’s moisture, is worn in the open desert of the planet Arrakis. The second film is Tenet, where the future human race has become so desperate due to oceans rising and the planet dying, they try to influence the past.
Another movie that focuses on nature but in a slightly different way is ‘The Perfect Storm’. It is based on the disappearance of the fisherboat Andrea Gail in the 1991 ‘Perfect Storm’. Eventhough it is based on a true story, the true events of what happened to the crew and the boat were never uncovered and therefore fictionalized in the movie.
Andrea Gail fisherman and captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) has had a disappointing fishing season in Gloucester. He and his crew desperately need the money and decide to make one last trip, to Newfoundland’s Grand Banks, even though the ocean can be quite spooky this late in the season. When there are not enough fish even on the Grand Banks, Billy decides to try even further, at Flemish Cap. Here they have better luck and catch a good load of fish.
A monster wave hits and the ice machine breaks down. A northbound tropical cyclone, Grace, blocks the way back. As a result, the captain must choose whether to still sail home through the storm or wait for the storm to end at Flemish Cap – with a good chance that the fish will spoil now that the ice machine has stopped working. The captain and crew decide to take their chances. Cyclone Grace, meanwhile, is developing into an extratropical hurricane with an existing low pressure area and a Canadian cold front. The Andrea Gail suffers too much damage in the end. The crew and the ship do not survive the ‘Perfect Storm’.
What I find particularly interesting about this movie is that it is based on a true natural disaster, which is not common in big Hollywood movies. The movie shows that nature can be equally beautiful and terrifying and that mankind is not in control of nature. Unfortunate circumstances and the fear of losing their income, drove the crew of the ship to its downfall.
Sources: Environmental Communication in the Public Sphere, Robert Cox, Phaedra C. Pezzullo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perfect_Storm_(film)#The_Andrea_Gail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Tdw5nG4dQ
Hallo, Gelsenkirchen! 
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