Abstract
Gasland (Fox, 2010) is famous for its images of flammable water pouring from the faucets of US citizens affected by the development of ‘fracking’, a technique to extract gas from shale. Using this image, Josh Fox argues that his ‘backyard’, land owned by his family, is ‘everybody’s backyard’ and that the federal state is responsible for protecting it from development to maintain clean water for the future. This paper reports on the impact of this film on energy debates and, drawing on recent papers on collective thinking (Mercier & Sperber, 2011), explores the ways in which sponsored films such as Truthland (2010), and The Grand Energy Transition (Mellott, 2012) attempt to oppose its strongly culturally coded understanding of both individualism and collectivity, rooted in alternative political movements in 1960s America, and enshrined in the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act during the 1970s. Works Cited Fox, J. (Director). (2010). Gasland [Motion Picture]. USA. Mellott, G. (Director). (2012). The Grand Energy Transition [Motion Picture]. Mercier, H., & Sperber, D. (2011). Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 34, 57-11. Truthland (2010). [Motion Picture]. Retrieved July 4, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/user/TruthlandMovie