Do androids dream of electric sheep?

In this post a number of questions will be explored. The title question will not be among them and none will really be answered. Great start. However the novel 'Do androids dream of electric sheep?’ from the mack daddy of Sci-fi, Philip K Dick (A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Ubik), will be a central work of discussion.

Overall this is an analysis of novels and films in which positive human relationships with animals are a major theme (not those akin to Old Yeller, Skippy or Alaska!).

Graphic Novel Environmentalism

This was an area I had neglected to think about but although my knowledge of this format is limited and esoteric, I am a big fan of comic books and think they are ideally placed for tackling big issues. Why? You might ask. 
As the western graphic novel tradition is based in Sci-fi Fantasy, pretty much anything can happen. This means that nature isn't restricted to abstract personification, it can actually become incarnate as a... swamp... thing.  The examples that stuck out in my mind immediately were Swamp Thing (Alan Moore's version) and the Silver Surfer.  

The Environment In Music: Gorillaz, Sikth, Bad Religion and NoFX

Even more so than with other mediums, in music environmental messages are mixed with other themes. This might just be because two words that are on totally different subjects happen to rhyme quite well, but in lots of cases it's just because the songs are about big business (and all that) screwing things up in a number of ways. Here I look at a few examples from The Gorillaz, experimental metal band Sikth and punk rockers NOFX and Bad Religion.

Surrealism and the Environment: movies

This post looks at three films that hold cleverly delivered environmental messages once you plough through their surreal exterior.

Movies on the Environment: for old people

As previously promised I have searched for and found environmentally themed movies specifically for adults! I say specifically because the others mentioned are not just for kids (seriously, people get decapitated in Princess Mononoke). There are a great volume of films with an environmental message buried somewhere in the subtext but some of the more obvious ones are: Chinatown, Erin Brockovich and the Whale Rider... Unfortunately I have seen none of these movies. Please comment if you have.

One I have seen which could be interpreted as holding an environmental message is Samson and Delilah (2009). This film follows the lives of two fourteen year old Australian aborigines (played by Australian aborigines) and provides an unusual perspective on one of the most marginalised peoples on the planet.

The Environment in Literature: C.S. Lewis & Tolkien

The more I research this very broad topic, the more I realise that allegorical fiction on the conflict between nature and humanity is usually mixed up with other themes.

A lot of the time this simplistic conflict is not there at all and technology and the influence of man can work with nature, or enhance it. Even where it is presented as a conflict between two sides the lines are drawn in lots of different places.

In C.S.Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy, and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings those protecting the natural world, in whatever form, are the good guys. But does a stance that's pro-nature automatically mean a stance that's against science and against progress?

Movies on the environment

Natural history and factual movies aren't eligible here so Al Gore and Man-bear-pig will not be making an appearance. This blog is more about the current situation influencing the type of movies made, like in the late Fifties when every other movie was about a post-apocalyptic future.
Awareness of our effect on the world's ecology has been growing for a good few decades now. One of the best examples of a director influenced by this is Hayao Miyazaki. Any of you who have seen his immensely popular movies might have noticed that he is a fellow tree hugger: Princes Mononoke, Laputa Castle in the Sky and my personal favorite Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

These all have as a core theme man's conflict with nature, and the importance of recovering and maintaining that link. Obviously the thing that makes them work as movies is the awesome animation, music, characters, plot and general conceptual imagination, but Miyazaki's passion for the subject is evident.

As mentioned before only good movies (as certified by me) will make an appearance, so
Wall-E

YES,

Avatar NO!

Music videos on the Environment

There will be more examples to follow but just for starters I thought of Radio Protector by 65daysofstatic, Eyes Wide Open by Gotye and Do The Evolution by Pearl Jam. The last of these is really more about the generally destructive nature of man kind but it's too good a video to leave out.

There are lots of other examples like Michael Jackson's Earth Song, but as this is not only a blog for media expression of environmental issues, but for good music, films etc this type of stuff is excluded!... OK just this one, it is pretty good: Earth Song by Michael Jackson.