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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
Book cover


There is Wonder Here: An Analysis of Snow, Ice, and the Arctic through Ecofeminism, Monsters, and Affect

Term

4. term

Education

Publication year

2020

Submitted on

Pages

45

Abstract

This thesis is an analysis of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), Frozen (2013), His Dark Materials (2019), Wind River (2017), The Terror (2018) and The Revenant (2015) through theories of ecofeminism, affect, and monsters with the purpose of establishing an understanding of what ice, snow, and the Arctic mean for fictional tales. In ‘ice, snow, and the Arctic’ it is understood that the actual instances of these as well as the metaphorical or representatively manifested ones – polar bears, or ‘cold’ characteristics for example – are con-sidered in these analyses. By applying an understanding of Val Plumwood and Anna Bed-ford’s ecofeminist theories of anti-dualism, ethics of care, and ‘writing’ wrongs, as well as Rødje’s approach to affect in images of blood, and Cohen’s readings of monsters as culture, the gender arche- and stereotype breaking-, climate-focused activist-, and visually focusing values of ice, snow, and the Arctic in fiction is established.

This thesis is an analysis of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), Frozen (2013), His Dark Materials (2019), Wind River (2017), The Terror (2018) and The Revenant (2015) through theories of ecofeminism, affect, and monsters with the purpose of establishing an understanding of what ice, snow, and the Arctic mean for fictional tales. In ‘ice, snow, and the Arctic’ it is understood that the actual instances of these as well as the metaphorical or representatively manifested ones – polar bears, or ‘cold’ characteristics for example – are con-sidered in these analyses. By applying an understanding of Val Plumwood and Anna Bed-ford’s ecofeminist theories of anti-dualism, ethics of care, and ‘writing’ wrongs, as well as Rødje’s approach to affect in images of blood, and Cohen’s readings of monsters as culture, the gender arche- and stereotype breaking-, climate-focused activist-, and visually focusing values of ice, snow, and the Arctic in fiction is established.