The dissolution of ecotopia
The dissolution of ecotopia

Summary/Abstract: The contemporary evolution of popular culture includes a heightened perception of issues such as environmental protection, ecologically sustainable development and animal rights. As a result of the re-conceptualization of nature and the scientific analysis of the human impact on the environment, these issues have now become prominent in the media and, simultaneously, have been included in the educational agenda. Despite all this, environmental ethics is going through a cultural metamorphosis with negative implications, marked by subtextual anthropocentrism and a collective need for spectacle. Ecology and environmental protection are among the most obvious motifs of today’s popular culture, yet the ecological discourse is distorted and fragmented by the media, through artificial reconceptualizations and pseudo-ethical principles displayed in movies and television shows. Through successive interpretations of the culture-nature dichotomy, the concept of ecotopia is dissolved in a complex interplay of biased perceptions and a collective need for spectacle.

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