Cinematic climate change, a promising perspective on climate change communication

Abstract

Previous research findings display that after having seen popular climate change films, people became more concerned, more motivated and more aware of climate change, but changes in behaviors were short-term. This article performs a meta-analysis of three popular climate change films, The Day after Tomorrow (2005), An Inconvenient Truth (2006), and The Age of Stupid (2009), drawing on research in social psychology, human agency, and media effect theory in order to formulate a rationale about how mass media communication shapes our everyday life experience. This article highlights the factors with which science blends in the reception of the three climate change films and expands the range of options considered in order to encourage people to engage in climate change mitigation actions.

The Effect of Interest and Engagement in Learning Science on Adults’ Scientific Competency and Environmental Action

“…This result does not mean that interest in learning science emphasized by frontline researchers (e.g., Jack et al, 2014Jack et al, , 2017Lin et al, 2012Lin et al, , 2013Palmer, 2004) is no longer important. Instead, it reveals that as soon as learners' interest is triggered, follow-up engagements of deep-learning such as learning opportunities enabling dialectical nature of mediation (Sakellari, 2015), transdisciplinary connection, mediated engagement, meaningful discovery, and selfdetermined inquiry (Jack et al, 2017) play a critical role in promoting their long-term scientific competency and environmental action. One possible implication of this finding is that when learners' interest is triggered by the exhibitions, demonstrations, or aesthetic perceptions, well-designed follow-up learning opportunities such as dynamic interactions between the learning resources and the learner or reflective evaluation on the learning content and context (e.g., Lin, Hong, Chen, & Chou, 2011;Lin et al, 2012) are more likely to promote learners' advance learning outcomes.…”

Storytelling for Social Change: Leveraging Documentary and Comedy for Public Engagement in Global Poverty

“…As with other gaps in understanding about audience‐level effects from viewing social‐issue documentaries, this area is largely untouched in prior literature. The two exceptions focus on climate change: Sakellari () found that United Kingdom audiences were both more concerned about climate change and motivated to take some kind of action after watching The Age of Stupid , attributed to the film's emotional and ethical appeals. In an examination of the comedy documentary film and book No Impact Man, which follows the journey of a man attempting to live a zero‐carbon‐output life, DeLaure (, p. 447) focuses on the importance of personal agency via the optimistic framing of comedy, “as it enables us to see ourselves not as helpless victims in a tragic doomsday scenario, but as imperfect actors who are both guilty contributors to the problem and agents responsible for its amelioration.”…”

Digital media and the modern-day pet trade: a test of the ‘Harry Potter effect’ and the owl trade in Thailand

“…Furthermore, equipped with education materials, films can also produce positive outcomes (Yong et al 2011). There is a growing body of literature that links digital media and sentiments related to conservation, and this may even extend beyond the wildlife trade to address other global environmental issues, such as climate change (Lowe et al 2006, Sakellari 2015. Whether in the form of film or on social media platforms, it is our responsibility to consume content conscientiously and at the very least, to be aware of conservation issues associated with wild animal content (Nekaris & Campbell 2012).…”