ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general overview of developments in the rapidly growing field of ecocinema (ecocritical cinema) studies since the publication of the first volume of Ecocinema Theory and Practice in late 2012. We review key publications in the field and broaden the ontological and methodological scope of ecocinema studies. What was a new field in 2012 has become a bustling global crossroads for rethinking the ways that media and ecology intersect not only with issues of race, class, disability, gender, and sexual identities but also with the new configurations of environmental justice and the information economy. We further consider the intertwining of ecocinema studies with the accelerating pace of global environmental change, arguing that it is no longer possible, or ethical, for cinema and media scholars to ignore the material and cultural consequences of the production, distribution, and exhibition of motion pictures. Finally, we provide an overview of the chapters in the collection and point toward potential areas for future research in the field, highlighting ways in which the contributors to this volume present new discourses and emerging ecocinema communities that offer radical alternatives to the neoliberal capitalist status quo.
