Wetland Portrayal in Modern Films

Abstract

Wetlands are important ecosystems due to their high biodiversity and provisioning of ecosystem services. Historically, however, wetlands were often considered hostile or strange by mainstream societies. These views percolated to stories about wetlands. Wetland stories highlighted their danger, physical encumbrance, or antithesis to civilized society. One of the most prominent ways wetlands are portrayed in modern storytelling is in film. Many films have prominently featured wetlands, and mass media has been shown to influence attitudes and behaviors in the audience. However, there has never been a systematic overview of wetland portrayal. In this study, we apply a thematic template analysis to synthesize wetland portrayal in modern (1980-present) films. Using two plot summary corpus databases, we first identified films that prominently featured wetlands. We then recorded qualitative data on wetlands portrayal by watching each film and coding featured attributes. Our broad objective was to determine how wetlands are used as storytelling devices, specifically by understanding basic portrayal information, narrative elements, themes, imagery, and portrayed biodiversity. We also characterized the attitude of the portrayal to the wetland environment, expecting portrayals to be predominantly negative. We identified and analyzed 163 films that featured wetlands. Swamps were the most frequently featured wetland type and screentime of the wetlands was generally a small part of the narrative. Wetlands were most commonly used as trials and tribulations for the protagonist—most notably as physical obstacles, sites of conflicts with the antagonists, or chase scenes. Prominent themes of wetland portrayal included death, refuge, and ostracism. Attitudes of portrayal leaned negative, and half of films had a statically negative portrayal. Despite this relative negativity, wetlands were directly or implicitly portrayed as productive and biodiverse ecosystems. We suggest wetlands are portrayed in films because their quintessential attributes (e.g., saturation, remoteness, biodiversity) are useful to embellish the stories’ dramatic effects. We also show that some historical attitudes and ideas surrounding wetlands may persist into the fundamental components of modern film storytelling. Wetlands may often be negatively portrayed as environmental caricatures, which could subconsciously harm public attitudes toward wetland conservation and biodiversity.