Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Research shows that an increasing number of people suffer from the emotional consequences arising from the confrontation with climate crisis (CC), often referred to as eco-anxiety. Due to a lack of opportunities to express and process these emotions, a common response is to withdraw from talking about the CC leading to a constructed silence around the topic. Creating settings for collectively learning to live with the CC seems promising, especially in highly individualised societies like Sweden or Germany. This thesis aims to contribute to this debate by exploring if and how engaging with movies thematising the CC can facilitate its collective processing. Small-scale bottom-up film clubs are chosen as an analytical entry point for everyday life interactions that can facilitate emotional experiences and provide access to difficult issues such as the CC. With the help of a qualitative interview study applying an Interaction ritual theoretical perspective and using recent research from media psychology on the role of eudaimonic (truth-seeking) entertainment experiences, I answer the following research questions: What is the motivation and driver to engage with the climate crisis through climate film clubs? And: How do film clubs guide thoughts, emotions, and feelings? The study has shown an urgent need to address the emotional challenges connected to the CC. While film clubs cannot solve people´s individually experienced eco-anxiety, they provide a setting for collective experiences to facilitate meaningful interactions and promote social bonding. My study, therefore, highlights the importance of researching emotions as collective rather than individual experiences to better understand how meaning is co-created around the CC. Future research could investigate the long-term effects of film clubs and similar formats in creating solidarity and hope and include a more comprehensive selection of participants to find more generalisable benefits.