The Power of Fiction: enviromental issues in American cinema

This master thesis deals with one of the current trends in cinema - the so-called climate change film. Film as a popular medium is able to influence public debate and this paper's main objective is to explain how environmental issues can be portrayed in film and how such films shape the climate change debate. In the first, theoretical part of this thesis, the aim is to briefly introduce the history and context of climate change debate from the 1970s to the present day based on sources primarily from interdisciplinary cultural and environmental studies. It also explains how environmental problems started to arise in different art spheres, above all in American cinema from 1995 to the present. The second part analyzes four American feature films of different genres: The Day After Tomorrow (2004) directed by Roland Emmerich's, The Road (2009) directed by John Hillcoat, Before the Flood (2016) directed by Fisher Stevens and Darren Aronofsky's mother! (2017). The final chapter summarizes the findings, explains the currently prevalent apocalyptic narrative and discusses why such approach is not effective and how filmmakers need to transform climate change stories into positive narratives that inspire change and hope