Table Of ContentEcomedia
Ecomedia: Key Issues is a comprehensive textbook introducing the burgeon-
ing field of ecomedia studies to provide an overview of the interface between
environmental issues and the media globally. Linking the world of media
production, distribution, and consumption to environmental understand-
ings, the book addresses ecological meanings encoded in media texts, the
environmental impacts of media production, and the relationships between
media and cultural perceptions of the environment.
Each chapter introduces a distinct type of media, addressing it in a theo-
retical overview before engaging with specific case studies. In this way, the
book provides an accessible introduction to each form of media as well as
a sophisticated analysis of relevant cases. The book includes contributions
from a combination of new voices and well-established media scholars from
across the globe who examine the basic concepts and key issues of ecomedia
studies. The concepts of “frames,” “flow,” and “convergence” structure
a dynamic collection divided into three parts. The first part addresses tra-
ditional visual texts, such as comics, photography, and film. The second
part of the book addresses traditional broadcast media, such as radio and
television, and the third part looks at new media, such as advertising, video
games, the Internet, and digital renderings of scientific data.
In its breadth and scope, E comedia: Key Issues presents a unique survey of
rich scholarship at the confluence of Media Studies and Environmental Stud-
ies. The book is written in an engaging and accessible style, with each chapter
including case studies, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading.
Stephen Rust is Adjunct Professor at the Department of English at Univer-
sity of Oregon and the School of Writing, Literature, and film at Oregon
State University, US .
Salma Monani is Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental
Studies at Gettysburg College, US.
Sean Cubitt is Professor of Film and Television at Goldsmiths, University of
London, UK; Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, Australia;
and Honorary Professor of the University of Dundee, Scotland.
“This is a timely, well-conceived, and impactful addition to the growing
field of ecologically based cultural studies. Ecomedia: Key Issues power-
fully demonstrates how media and the environment are intrinsically linked.
Media texts reflect back to us and shape our perceptions of and engagement
with the environment. But equally, if not more importantly, this volume
illustrates how media systems are materially imbedded in ecological sys-
tems: dependent on natural resources for their existence and complicit in
the contemporary ecological crisis we face. Collectively, the essays in this
collection aptly untangle these complex ecological webs of connectivity,
revealing the impact of a diverse set of media texts and practices on plan-
etary health. Adopting a global and interdisciplinary approach, the editors
leave no media unturned. Each chapter focuses on a single media, ranging
from film, television, radio, advertising and photography, to comic strips,
video games, the Internet and data vitalization. Divided in three sections
offering engaging analyses of particular media, each chapter is well sup-
ported by case studies, up-to-date scholarship, and discussion questions.
Ecomedia is a must for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of and
reflection about contemporary media culture and practices, and an essential
contribution to unpacking the environmental consequences of the digital
revolution.”
Paula Willoquet-Maricondi, Champlain College, USA
“So much media and communications scholarship is needed to address the
importance of facing up the ‘global challenge’ of our age – namely Climate
Change and environmental issues generally. This exciting new volume cer-
tainly fills a gap, in focusing across aspects of music, games, comics, radio,
television as well as film and much else besides.
The overall scope is impressive, covering so many interrelated media for-
mats and is effectively structured using the prism of frames, as well as the
concept of flow, which is effectively used to analyse broadcast media, while
the notion of convergence captures the interconnecting nature of media for-
mats. It is very useful also to have tightly framed environmental questions
accompanying each chapter.
I highly recommend this book for its broad range of contributions and
insights across this multi-disciplinary research agenda, focused on a broad
range of environmental concerns that will interest scholars and students at
all levels.”
Pat Brereton, Dublin City University, Ireland
Key Issues in Environment and Sustainability
This series provides comprehensive, original and accessible texts on the core
topics in environment and sustainability. The texts take an interdisciplinary
and international approach to the key issues in this field.
Low Carbon Development
Key Issues
Edited by Frauke Urban and Johan Nordensvärd
Sustainable Business
Key Issues
Helen Kopnina and John Blewitt
Sustainability
Key Issues
Helen Kopnina and Eleanor Shoreman-Ouimet
Ecomedia
Key Issues
Edited by Stephen Rust, Salma Monani and Sean Cubitt
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Ecomedia
Key issues
Edited by Stephen Rust,
Salma Monani and Sean Cubitt
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2016 selection and editorial matter, Stephen Rust, Salma Monani
and Sean Cubitt; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ecomedia : key issues / edited by Stephen Rust, Salma Monani and
Sean Cubitt.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Mass media and the environment. 2. Environmentalism
in mass media. I. Rust, Stephen, editor. II. Monani, Salma,
editor. III. Cubitt, Sean, 1953– editor.
P96.E57E35 2016
302.23—dc23
2015009676
ISBN: 978-1-138-78153-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-78155-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-76982-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Stephen: To my loving and supportive parents
Salma: To family near and far (both human and
more-than-human)
Sean: To my brother Terry
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Contents
List of figures xi
List of boxes xii
Acknowledgements xiii
Foreword by Toby Miller xiv
Introduction: ecologies of media 1
STEPHEN RUST, SALMA MONANI, AND SEAN CUBITT
PART I
Frames 15
1 Overview: framing visual texts for ecomedia studies 17
CARTER SOLES AND KIU-WAI CHU
2 Beyond nature photography: the possibilities and
responsibilities of seeing 27
H. LEWIS ULMAN
3 Eco-nostalgia in popular Turkish cinema 47
EKIN GÜNDÜZ ÖZDEMIRCI AND SALMA MONANI
4 The aesthetics of environmental equity in American
newspaper strips 66
VERONICA VOLD
PART II
Flow 85
5 Overview: flow – an ecocritical perspective on broadcast media 87
STEPHEN RUST
