2017/10/06 by Jade Olson · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature #Rhetoric and Communication Studies #Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
paper · doi:10.1080/1533015x.2017.1366879
openalex publication_date 2017/10/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/03/27
Environmentalist voices like the Earth Liberation Front have been labeled “eco-terrorists.” The 2011 documentary film If a Tree Falls explores how “eco-terrorism” troubles the unstable border between activism and terrorism. This essay offers a textual analysis of the film's negotiation of the activism/terrorism dichotomy, arguing that it both destabilizes and reifies dominant paradigms for understanding eco-revolutionary activism as environmental communication. I suggest that the film cultivates for its audiences a space of critical engagement with the complexities of such activist practices in the age of terror anxiety, contributing welcome nuance to the public conversation about radicalization in environmental activism.