Luis Vivanco's guest appearances

Luis Vivanco

Gund Institute Podcasts

Al Gore

Mark Bradford

Jon Erickson

Gus Speth

Rory Waterman

Molly Brown

Andrew Hoffman

Andy Revkin

Joe Roman

Leif Richardson

Travis Reynolds

Yolanda Chen

Chuck Ross

Bryan Foster

Carolyn Finney

OwlTail

Anthropocene Imaginaries

We like to accept nature films as realistic representations of the natural world. On some level, they are. But revelations of animal staging and fakery, the widespread use of computer generated imagery, and the emergence of nature films emphasizing themes of Intelligent Design, have reinforced an interesting, perhaps unexpected and even profane, fact: nature films exist as a powerful context for examining questions of creation, creators, and the hand of humans in shaping, both conceptually and physically, the natural world. Drawing on ongoing work on the cultural history of nature films, this talk asks the question, in what ways do the kinds of stories about creation constructed in contemporary nature films help us understand and grapple with pressing concerns of the Anthropocene, such as human responsibility for habitat destruction, climate change, and biodiversity loss?

Luis Vivanco: Nature Films and Anthropocene Imaginaries