ABSTRACT

In the 1920s and ‘30s, the U.S. federal government produced many educational films about national parks and national forests. These films were widely shown in nontheatrical venues such as schools, as well as in commercial movie theaters as shorts before the main feature film. Neglected for decades, these films are of interest now, in the age of global warming, for the way they represent ideas about nature and conservation from a century ago. Significantly, as much as these films depict natural scenery, they also focus on cars, roads, and roadbuilding. This essay focuses on three government films depicting mountains in the interwar years, the first era of roadbuilding in the national parks and forests. These films reveal the state’s role in promoting fossil capitalism and settler colonialism, constructing what was then a new and contradictory idea of ‘wilderness’ in modernity.

摘要

在 20 年代和 30 年代，美国联邦政府制作了许多关于国家公园和国家森林的教育影片。这些电影在学校等非剧院场所以及商业电影院作为主要故事片之前的短片广泛放映。在全球变暖的时代，这些电影被忽视了几十年，但现在却引起了人们的兴趣，因为它们代表了一个世纪前关于自然和保护的思想。值得注意的是，尽管这些电影描绘了自然风光，但它们也关注汽车、道路和筑路工程。本文重点关注三部描绘两次世界大战之间山脉的政府电影，这是国家公园和森林中第一个道路建设时代。这些电影揭示了国家在促进化石资本主义和定居者殖民主义方面的作用，