The Presence and Portrayal of Climate Change and Other Environmental Problems in Popular Films: A Quantitative Content Analysis

Abstract

How have popular films responded to–or avoided–the climate and nature crises? To begin to answer this question systematically, quantitative content analysis was applied to 250 of the most-rated fictional films on IMDb that were released between 2013 and 2022. We found that climate change existed in 12.8% of these films, while a global environmental problem (climate change, freshwater pollution, marine pollution, air pollution, deforestation, species extinction and biodiversity decline, or toxic waste) existed in 26%; the presence of climate change, as well as common climate impacts, increased substantially over time; when climate change and other environmental problems were present, they were generally mentioned in just one or two scenes, and their gravity and/or urgency was not emphasized. As the first systematic, large-scale analysis of the presence and portrayal of climate change and other environmental problems in fictional narratives in the academic literature, this article illustrates a potentially productive area of future research, which is discussed.