1. Helen Hughes
2. Christie Milliken
It turns out that a film does not have to be a slice of the world, but rather the rhythm of the world itself breathing. It’s not just about ecology; it is an ecology in itself. Weaving a web of perception with the flow of light and shadow, we capture the long-numb connections between us and the land, living beings, and even ourselves. What touched me the most was that the author said that because of its dynamic nature, films can best approach the constantly evolving pulse of the world. This explains why in certain scenes I always feel that time is not passing but emerging: when Pluto is struggling in futile effort on the tape, when Tarkovsky’s stalker is trudging, what accumulates frame by frame is not the story but the breathing of life itself as it attempts to break free from the freeze.
It turns out that when we gaze at the screen, we are simultaneously being followed by the movie. It quietly modifies the way we view a tree, a cloud or a ruin outside the window. What movies have taught me is not how to save the world, but how to relearn to see. See how all things continue to become all things, and see how oneself is also a fleeting trace in this flow. This kind of viewing, in itself, is a gentle resistance.
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NOTE ：
Ivakhiv expanded Pierce’s three stages of experience (first, second, and third) into three forms of the world created by film:
- geomorphic: Corresponding to landscape and land
- biomorphic: Corresponding to animals and life
- anthropomorphic form: Corresponding to human identity
This classification reconstructs the history of cinema, re-reading genres such as Westerlies, monster films, and psychological films from an ecological perspective.
Problem：
- Theoretically intensive, the “process-relationship” framework rejects static duality and emphasizes flow and ternary interaction. Therefore, the discourse is filled with lists, repetitions and limitations, making reading challenging.
- Ambiguous political stance: Emphasizing perception and intuitive understanding, but not leading to a clear political stance, with a preference for polysemous and ambiguous film texts.
- Essentially, it is a gradualist stance, viewing humans as a species that evolves nearsighted in complex and contradictory adjustments.