The Orchid in the Land of Garbage: an Ecocritique of Terrence Malick's Film Badlands (1973)

Gabriella Blasi

doi:10.1215/22011919-3615415

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The Orchid in the Land of Garbage: an Ecocritique of Terrence Malick's Film Badlands (1973)

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

The Orchid in the Land of Garbage: an Ecocritique of Terrence Malick's Film Badlands (1973)

Gabriella Blasi

Environmental Humanities, Vol.5(1), pp.55-75

2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-3615415

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Abstract

Cultural Studies

Historical Studies

Through a figural analysis of Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973), this paper seeks to contribute to a more defined role of film criticism in contemporary environmental thought. The analysis focuses on the relation between humans and nature in Badlands and revolves around the ontological question of what it means to be free human beings in the world of nature, intended as a finite, temporal world. From an ecocritical perspective, Badlands' 1950s setting lends itself to a retrospective illumination of the forces that have contributed to the present problematic human-nature relation within "free" capitalist systems of thought and consumption. However, a figural analysis reveals that Malick's insistence on images of waste and death assumes a far more existential value, opening up possible deeper reflections beyond economic, social and political critiques.

Details

Title: The Orchid in the Land of Garbage: an Ecocritique of Terrence Malick's Film Badlands (1973)
Authors: Gabriella Blasi (Author) - University of Queensland
Publication details: Environmental Humanities, Vol.5(1), pp.55-75
Publisher: Duke University Press
Date published: 2014
DOI: 10.1215/22011919-3615415
ISSN: 2201-1919
Copyright note: Copyright © Blasi 2014. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). This license permits use and distribution of the article for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work is cited and is not altered or transformed.
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450807902621
Output Type: Journal article

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