UC San Diego

This thesis presents a critical intervention in the emerging fields of ecocinema and transnational film studies. Moving beyond ecocinema studies'engagement with environmental and ecological issues, I argue for a new methodology that analyzes the complex interlacing ecologies of cinema from a transnational perspective. My reading of two films by Chinese director Ning Hao, Mongolian Ping Pong (2005) and Crazy Stone (2006), employs Bakhtin's notion of the chronotope and his concept of horizon and environment as an analytical directory to the different perceptual horizons of director, characters/ actors and audience intersecting in Ning's films. The first chapter discusses some of the problems and limitations that the premise of ecocinema as a critical paradigm engenders. The second chapter sets out to shift the perspective as to where the ecological significance of cinematic works is located. I argue that Ning's meditation on the cultural changes and economic pressures within contemporary Chinese society represents only one aspect of his films' ecological implication. Their actual intersection with the environment happens within the institution of cinema. Where the horizon exists as both a physical entity and perceptual modality, the chronotopes of films establish a zone of direct contact between the characters and (transnational) audiences. Thus, the production, distribution, and consumption of film require scholarly attention beyond the scope of transnational or ecocritical approaches alone. Films mean and do different things in different places, contexts and times. The exchange between film and viewer carries ecological significance