Tribune. In this year 2021, the Cannes Film Festival has decided to create an ephemeral selection “cinema for the climate”. But what can cinema do for the climate? And more generally for the ecological or social crisis? Undoubtedly more than we imagine… Since it exists, the 7e art has played a major role in the construction of our collective imaginations and has largely influenced movements in history.
Thus, when Jules Verne (1828-1905), in 1865 imagined in From the Earth to the moon, the propulsion of a shell housing three men towards the terrestrial satellite, he did not yet know that it would inspire HG Wells (1866-1946) in 1901, whose novel The First Men in the Moon would be adapted by Georges Méliès (1861-1938) for the cinema in 1902 in Journey to the Moon, nor that this story would seed many later works that would feed off each other: The Woman on the Moon, in 1929, where Fritz Lang stages the moon landing of a rocket, which will directly inspire the Soviet film by Vassili Jouravlev Cosmic Voyage in 1936, but also Irving Pichel and his film Destination Moon …
In 1969, the human imagination had worked enough for the evocative power of the project to mobilize energies and allow it to materialize during the first Apollo mission.
An influence for better or for worse
This influence of cinema was also used, for better or for worse, by many political powers during the 20th century.e century. Between 1933 and 1945, one thousand two hundred feature films were shot in Nazi Germany, from romantic comedy to historical fresco to support the war effort. On the American side, while the Marshall Plan negotiations were in full swing, Eric Johnston, president of the American Chamber of Commerce and of the Motion Picture Association of America was dispatched in 1947.
In exchange for the billions allocated to the reconstruction, Eric Johnston imposed to have 60% of the broadcasting rights on European screens. With the intention of establishing American culture and businesses there: Coca Cola, jeans, supermarkets, cars, suburban pavilions … He declared before the anti-American activities commission: “American cinema is, and must always be, a weapon in the fight against communism. “
We humans are a fabulous species. Our psyches are shaped by the individual and collective narratives that we develop and share; our perceptions are influenced by the stories we are told. We can roughly use this talent to manipulate opinion or we can, with integrity, craft works of art that set viewers free and open up new perspectives.
You have 66.71% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.