Save the Trees

Jennifer Smith

Nina Perez

WST 3015

4/14/10

The movie FernGully is environment friendly movie trying to promote eco- consciousness. Even though the movie serves a good purpose it still has moments that support stereotypes and myths.

We’ve discussed in class the myth that men can only contribute to nature with destruction (Perez 4/7). In the film humans are the destroyers and oppressors of nature but men are the only humans shown actually doing the damage. It’s males that are operating the machinery that is cutting down trees and Zak is the person responsible for releasing Hexxus. Even the big bad Hexxus, who represents all the pollution and toxins that infect nature, is depicted as being male.

The women are they only people who are actually shown to have real power over nature. Crysta and Magi Lune both have the power to make things grow and can communicate with the trees, feeling their pain. Crysta is even able to get the creatures in the forest to listen to her. I think one of the reasons so many films depict women having deeper connections with nature than men might have to do with the fact that women are some times more affected by pollution than men. In our reading “Women and the Environment” the text mentions how “in terms of environment health, women and children show the effects of toxic pollution earlier than men do” (Kirk 536).

Nature in this film is depicted as passive. The fairies (mainly the female) are in charge of protecting and healing the forest while the humans and their machines try to destroy it by cutting down trees and polluting the water and air. FernGully shows how humans have oppressed nature, including the creatures that share the environment with them.

The fairies that live in the forest, that respect and love nature, are shown wearing more primitive clothing similar to what history books show us Native Americans once wore. The fairies clothing included earthy tones and even some garments made out of flower petals, representing things you would see in their environment. This depiction of clothing can be problematic in some ways. In class we discussed stereotypes that exist related to the environment; that by being Native American you automatically have a deeper connection to nature (Perez 4/7). With the humans in FernGully wearing more traditional clothes you would see in society today (pants, shoes, t-shirts, and hats) the movie is feeding into the myth, since they are the ones who seem to not care about the damage they are inflecting on the world.

I was glad that at the end of the film Zak realized how important it is to take care of our world and that humans do have the ability to help keep the Earth alive and healthy. Unfortunately we can’t do it all on our own. In the reading “Rose Moon”, Steingraber asks why “we’re always the ones that have to do the abstaining?” (557). Our government and large corporations need to become more environmentally aware and take steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

This movie was made, not only to entertain children, but also to educate and show people how their actions are affecting and harming the world. Its targeted audience is children, trying to show them early on how to be more eco-friendly so when they grow up they treat the world with love and respect. An important message in this film to remember is that “everything in our world is connected by the delicate strands of the web of life, which is a balance between the forces of destruction and the magical forces of creation and that every living creature has the power of creation” (Kroyer Chapter 18).

Works Cited

FernGully--the Last Rainforest. Dir. Bill Kroyer. Perf. Tim Curry and Robin Williams. Twentieth Century-Fox, 1992. DVD.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. "Woman and the Environment." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 535-48. Print.

Perez, Jeannina. CL1 117. 7 Apr. 2010. Lecture.

Steingraber, Sandra. "Rose Moon." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 549-58. Print.