The extinction of experience, nature-deficit disorder, environmental generational amnesia — all of these terms have been used to describe the disconnection between human beings and the natural world. Now, a new study on Disney films confirms what many have suspected: there is a growing trend of “nature disconnection” in Western culture.
“Disney films are part of Western culture and tend to influence the mental representations and development of many generations of children throughout the world,” Anne-Caroline Prévot-Julliard, Romain Julliard, and Susan Clayton wrote in their study, which was published in the journal Public Understanding of Science.
“Disney films present modern myths, and they all include natural elements and animals. Although they often are based on well-known and classic tales, Disney films also reflect the social representations and meanings of the time in which they were produced.”
The scientists from France and the United States examined 51 Disney animated movies as well as 9 Pixar animated movies from between 1937 to 2010. They discovered that over the past 70 years natural settings have become less and less present in the films. When they are present, they are now more likely to be cultivated and simplified rather than wild and diverse.
For their study, the researchers used video-analysis software to time each scene that contained an outdoor green nature setting, outdoor non-green nature setting, indoor setting, or other setting. In addition, the researchers tallied the number animal species appearing in each film. Animals that were part of the plot were excluded.
“Over the first 40 years, with almost no exception, the majority of outdoor scenes had green nature as a background. Over the past 30 years, one-half of all the movies reviewed for this study had more than half of their outdoor scenes in places without a trace of green nature (such as a city center). Furthermore, when green nature was shown, it became increasingly represented as human-influenced and species poor,” the researchers wrote.
The researchers have two main concerns.
First, they fear that individuals’ connection to nature is no longer being properly nurtured in Western society.
“Animals and green nature seem to play an important role in child development,” they wrote.
For example, research has found that children who spend more time playing outdoors have a stronger sense of self-fulfillment and purpose than those who don’t. Another study found children with ADHD who regularly play outdoors have milder symptoms than those who don’t.
“Second, these results suggest that the filmmakers have a decreasing complexity of the representation of nature, which may be attributed to their own nature disconnect,” the researchers explained in their study. “The increasing distance of nature may have important consequences for the ability of society to understand and appreciate the complexity of surrounding natural environments and biodiversity, as well as to involve a large number of people in conservation issues.”
