This document discusses moving from an anthropocentric to a relational gaze in cinema. It describes how current cultural works often view nature from a human-centered perspective that has led to global environmental changes. It argues for adopting a more relational perspective that considers our interdependence with the natural world. The document also discusses how the author's film practice aims to foster a dialogue with nature and shift towards a more ecological sympathy.

1. the ecocidal eye:
beyond the anthropocentric to a
relational gaze in cinema
we understand and relate to the world by
the cultural works we create
cathy fitzgerald, nz/ireland
Sunday 17 June 2012 1

2. PART 1: the
anthropocentric gaze
The 9 planetary boundaries recently adopted by the UN 2012
How have we managed to create such global change?
Sunday 17 June 2012 2

3. ʻThe Great Accelerationʼ (last 50 years) in “Welcome to the Anthropoceneʼ viral video (2012)
Sunday 17 June 2012 3

4. A profound crisis of
‘civilized’ culture
Sunday 17 June 2012 4

5. CULTURAL ROOTS / characteristics of anthropocentric gaze? the hero, King
Gilgameshʼs affect 4500 years ago in ancient Iraq
Sunday 17 June 2012 5

6. The idea of the ʻGreat Chain
of Beingʼ, was and continues
to be an incredible powerful
and in this example, a visual
metaphor of divinely inspired
hierarchy, giving man
dominion over all he
surveyed
Sunday 17 June 2012 6

7. Joseph Wright of Derby:
Experiment on a bird with a gas pump
Ironically while the enlightenment saw great improvements for humanity, for
the natural world it was the dawn of new dark age
Sunday 17 June 2012 7

8. ...that continues today in our biotech age
Nature 2000: continuing desires: cathy fitzgerald
Sunday 17 June 2012 8

9. Nature has almost disappeared from our view, almost like in the movie ‘Soylent Green’ 1972
Sunday 17 June 2012 9

10. ‘probably no substantial dimension of film history that is so widely admired by a public audience
and so frequently utilised in academic contexts has been so thoroughly ignored by film critics,
historians and theorists as the nature (wildlife) film’, film theorist, Scott MacDonald 2006
Sunday 17 June 2012 10

11. Bergerʼs highly influential book in early 70s unpacked the politics and power inherent
in visual culture that perpetuates & supports dominant ideologies
18.
18.
Sunday 17 June 2012 11

12. in european art Berger drew our attention to the fact that women were often portrayed in paintings as ʻthe surveyedʼ, as property,
for male pleasure and prestige, that there is a power relationship in how men survey women, represent them and how men treat (exploit) women.
‘the surveyed, as property; there is a power relationship in how
women are surveyed, represented and how men treat (exploit)
women’ - the male gaze
Sunday 17 June 2012 12

13. It was the ʻmanifest destinyʼ of the invading
Europeans to grow and develop this EMPTY
new land
Sunday 17 June 2012 13

14. American Progress John Gast, 1878
Sunday 17 June 2012 14

15. in recent ecocritical analysis of visual imagery the term ʻecopornographyʼ
would appear to both be useful and bring attention to the politics of
contemporary nature/indigenous representations. ≈
Sunday 17 June 2012 15

16. in very recent ecocritical analysis of visual imagery the term ʻecopornographyʼ
would appear to both be useful and attract attention to the politics of contemporary nature/indigenous representations.
Sunday 17 June 2012 16

17. such cultural works have done little to overcome our estrangement from the natural world
Sunday 17 June 2012 17

18. • Scott MacDonald who coined the word ʻecocinemaʼ believes
• experimental cinema has potential in
ʻretraining perceptionʼ....allowing an
examination of the conventions of media-
spectatorship (and production) that
largely ignores the earthʼ
18
18
Sunday 17 June 2012 18

19. IDENTIFY RESOLUTION: RELATIONAL
PART 2: towards a relational gaze in cinema and my arts practice
Sunday 17 June 2012 19

20. When one starts to look at ‘Nature’ in a creative practice,
one feels like one is in a hall of mirrors
Sunday 17 June 2012 20

21. Sunday 17 June 2012 21

22. Leading ecocritical thinkers are turning back to consider uncivilised worldviews where the
word and concept of ʻnatureʼ didnʼt exist
Tim Mortonʼs ʻDark Ecologyʼ
Sunday 17 June 2012 22

23. Jensen reminds us over and over that indigenous people from many parts of the world
never, ever see the world as a metaphor, the way it has become in the west.
Sunday 17 June 2012 23

24. ... artists should move towards
ʻan ecological sympathyʼ
Sunday 17 June 2012 24

25. ... in ʻlawyer-speakʼ, Polly Higgins suggests for peace and for the survial of all
species that ʻthat we must urgently extend our duty of care to all lifeʼ
Sunday 17 June 2012 25

26. I have been interested in the moments in my
films where I stop speaking and allow space
for other non-human presences
Sunday 17 June 2012 26

27. see 40 yr+ residency in this forest as a
continuing dialogue - my relational films
becoming an audiovisual diary that I
share with other humans online.
:-)
n followers
...15 millio
rtfilm.com
ecoa
Sunday 17 June 2012 27

28. looking/listening with my camera and mic is
certainly making me much more aware of the
vast complexity of the dynamics of the living
communities & elements - my
neighbours that I need to relate to
Sunday 17 June 2012 28

29. ‘Tending’ Anderson writes suggests a healthy tension, a specific application of
wisdom, of culture practices that fosters active relations
Sunday 17 June 2012 29

30. ‘the future has an ancient heart’
A tiny forest in-the-making, in rural ireland, may have something to teach us about
one most important living communities on the planet on which so
many of us depend, as well as teaching us a thing or two about the wisdom of
employing more kincentric perspectives in our cultural activities”
Sunday 17 June 2012 30