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Cradle to Crave: The Commodification of the Environment in Family Films

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Landscape and the Environment in Hollywood Film

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Abstract

This chapter follows directly from Chap. 1 in acknowledging the impact of genre when it comes to animated “family friendly” films. After a discussion of the political economic considerations when it comes to commercial entertainment for the child audience, the chapter analyzes WALL-E, Ice Age: The Meltdown , and Ice Age: The Meltdown . In its analysis, this chapter pays close attention to identify the omissions, or silences, contained in these films when it comes to the presentation of environmental problems and their solutions. Here, silence can be ideological, and may relate to the positioning of young audiences as consumers instead of citizens. The portrayal of landscape also is significant, for it can either serve to raise alarm about environmental issues or to assuage concern by asking “What problem?”

This chapter is derived, in part, from an article by Ellen Moore published in Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture on March 16, 2015, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2015.1014391 [accessed May 11, 2017].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA, USA

    Ellen E. Moore

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  1. Ellen E. Moore
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Correspondence to Ellen E. Moore .

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E. Moore, E. (2017). Cradle to Crave: The Commodification of the Environment in Family Films. In: Landscape and the Environment in Hollywood Film. Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56411-1_2

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