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Description

With warmer days and more frequent natural disasters, it is clear to see climate change and global warming on the rise. It is more important now than ever to spread awareness about climate change’s consequences and how we can address them. Both nature and women are oppressed by patriarchal, capitalist systems, which is why we are interested in the intersection of gender and nature in environmental media. Our hopes are to tap into an under-studied field of environmental communication by analyzing eco-horror films, which are horror films with environmental messages. Using ecofeminist rhetorical theories, we analyze how three eco-horror films personify Mother Nature through the Gaia theory and use parallelism to chart similarities between women and nature. Thus, we wish to analyze the trends in portrayals of women and nature and underlying persuasion in the films’ message about combatting the deterioration of Earth. We have selected three movies to be analyzed: Mother! (2017), Gaia (2021), and Apostle (2018). We can use this research to expose how women and nature are represented in media for the public to shape their perspectives on climate change and climate action. Our end goals are to present at the Western States Communication Association annual convention and submit the findings to Environmental Communication.

Publisher Location

Las Vegas (Nev.)

Publication Date

Fall 11-21-2025

Publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Keywords

Climate Change; Films and Media; Ecofeminism; Mother Nature; Gaia Theory

Disciplines

Communication | Social and Behavioral Sciences

File Format

PDF

File Size

2400 KB

Permissions

Google Drive\Institutional Repository\OUR_OfficeOfUGResearch\Symposia\2025 Fall Symposium

Comments

Mentor: Emma Frances Bloomfield

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Exploring Themes of Gender and Nature Through an Ecofeminist Analysis of Three Eco-horror Films


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