The Hell of Lies, Denial, and Distraction: Critical Environmental Pedagogy Through Popular Dystopic Films

This chapter discusses the importance of global warming and its representation in popular dystopic films. The chapter analyzes the status of climate change in the era of lies, climate change deniers, popular climate disaster films, cultural hegemony, critical media literacy, and critical eco-pedagogy. It demonstrates that there is an essential connection between critical pedagogy and critical media literacy in education and activism. Neoliberal schooling is taken to task for its standardization, testing, and accountability fetish. This “mainstream” schooling is shown to lead to acquiescence and the development of consumer citizens rather than critical citizens. The development of a critical eco-pedagogy and critical media literacy are proposed as alternatives.