Reel Nature
America's Romance with Wildlife on Film
Published on 26. May 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-0-295-98886-3 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the History of Science Society's Watson Davis and Helen Miles Davis Prize in the History of Science.
From the early exploits of Teddy Roosevelt in Africa to blockbuster films such as March of the Penguins, Gregg Mitman's Reel Nature reveals how changing values, scientific developments, and new technologies have come to shape American encounters with wildlife on and off the big screen. Whether crafted to elicit thrills or to educate audiences about the real-life drama of threatened wildlife, nature films then and now have had an enormous impact on how Americans see, think about, consume, and struggle to protect animals across the globe.
For more information about the author go to: http://gmitman.com/
From the early exploits of Teddy Roosevelt in Africa to blockbuster films such as March of the Penguins, Gregg Mitman's Reel Nature reveals how changing values, scientific developments, and new technologies have come to shape American encounters with wildlife on and off the big screen. Whether crafted to elicit thrills or to educate audiences about the real-life drama of threatened wildlife, nature films then and now have had an enormous impact on how Americans see, think about, consume, and struggle to protect animals across the globe.
For more information about the author go to: http://gmitman.com/
Reviews / Votes
"Mitman's research, nuanced and satisfying, contributes to both film theory and ecocritical theory and explores the ways in which they should not be separated."- Stephanie Lyells (Journal of Ecocriticism) "How the wildlife documentary got from Roosevelt to Disneyworld is a story of charlatans, hucksters, crooks, imaginative cameramen, brilliant zoology and shameless appeal to the sex and violence of life as cinema audiences have grown to expect it to be. Mitman . . . tells the American version of this lurid celluloid safari."
- Tim Radford (The Guardian) "American wildlife film-makers . . . abandoned truth in favor of more alluring lode stars. Reel Nature is an admirable history of why they did so. . . . Very well told."
- Stephen Mills (Times Literary Supplement) "While nature films have had a positive impact on our understanding of nature, the whole truth about our place in the web of life has been left on the cutting-room floor."
(Booklist)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Seattle
United States
Target group
Adult education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
464 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-295-98886-3 (9780295988863)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
09/2012
1st Edition
University of Washington Press
€29.49
Available for download
Persons
Gregg Mitman is William Coleman Professor of the History of Science and Interim Director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Content
Prologue
1 / Hunting with the Camera
2 / Science versus Showmanship on the Silent Screen
3 / Zooming In on Animals' Private Lives
4 / Wildlife Conservation through a Wide-Angle Lens
5 / Disney's True-Life Adventures
6 / Domesticating Nature on the Television Set
7 / A Ringside Seat in the Making of a Pet Star
8 / Global Visions, Tourist Dreams
Epilogue
Notes
Credits
Index
1 / Hunting with the Camera
2 / Science versus Showmanship on the Silent Screen
3 / Zooming In on Animals' Private Lives
4 / Wildlife Conservation through a Wide-Angle Lens
5 / Disney's True-Life Adventures
6 / Domesticating Nature on the Television Set
7 / A Ringside Seat in the Making of a Pet Star
8 / Global Visions, Tourist Dreams
Epilogue
Notes
Credits
Index