9 - Myths and Ideologies

By Olivier, Hélène  and Corinne 

Introduction

            This week’s screening was an interesting documentary called If a Tree Falls, in which the environmental issues were the central theme. Daniel McGowan and other “eco-terrorists” made some drastic actions in order to make the world realize the crucial state of our planet. On our free time, we had the pleasure to watch Richard Desjardins’ documentary film L’erreur boréale. Deforestation is the main topic addressed in the film. Through those two documentaries, we had the chance to develop our understanding of environmental issues as well as many other factors involved

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

            If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front is a documentary film of 85 minutes and is directed by Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman. This movie was produced in the United States in 2011 and features Daniel McGowan, his friends and family and allies of the Earth of Liberation, or commonly called ELF. The film is about Daniel McGowan who was a regular kid and went to Catholic school. Child of a New York police officer, he became an activist. After college, McGowan realized the impact and the wide spread of the environmental problems and he decided to join the environmental movement. He started by writing letters and petitioning and after, he engaged himself in civil disobedience. These methods were ineffective and he decided to go further with his actions.  He and his group of activists did property destruction through arson. Nevertheless, it was well established that they would never hurt someone. They were making these gestures with the only intention to bring down the big companies.   They were targeting these companies who drastically neglected the environment; they were prioritizing profit. McGowan and his group had valid reasons to target these companies, however, their actions were too harsh. In addition, in the movie we saw many protests and we could have noticed the brutality made by the police officers towards the activists. Throughout the movie, we can see that McGowan and the ELF members are troubled and are questioning themselves. They feel this way because the gestures they are making towards the companies have serious consequences. In the end, McGowan is imprisoned because one of the members of the ELF, Jake Ferguson, denounced him to the FBI.  

            While viewing this film, we can see the different point of views and this allows us to make our own opinion on the subject. There are environmental and terrorist issues, like the co-producer Sam Cullman says in the short interview linked below.  For Daniel McGowan and the members of the ELF, the environment is a central aspect of their lives and they want to inform the population of the issues concerning this. They wanted to shock the companies. However, the methods they used were drastic and unorthodox. That is well illustrated by the famous proverb: “The freedom of one ends where the other begins”. Because of those actions, the big businesses didn’t only lose money, they lost years of constant effort and many employees lost their jobs. They were trapped in an unpleasant situation because they didn’t want to change the way they were working and they encountered a lot of issues. Similarly, the FBI and the OSP had a greater workload because of the activists and they had to review their priorities because of this crisis. The three parties should have changed the way they operated. Moreover, the movie demonstrated a bias towards Daniel because we felt sorry for him when he got arrested. The producer presented scenes where we saw Daniel’s girlfriend and family crying at the moment of his arrest and this is when we saw the authorities as the cruel characters. 

            When viewing If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, we can make associations within the concepts learned in class such as participative democracy, capitalism, basis of our governments, ideologies, democracy and media. First of all, a participative democracy means that, to establish big projects and to achieve our objectives, teamwork is crucial. In the movie, we saw that McGowan recruited some individuals to help him protest and to make his plans possible. Also, in the protests, we clearly saw the teamwork of the authorities to try to maintain a peaceful environment. Moreover, capitalism is one of the first reasons why big companies neglected the environment. As another example of a concept, one of the two types of laws of John Locke, the natural law, explains that we cannot violate other people’s property. It has been deeply violated by the activists in the film. The companies who deprive the individuals who appreciate nature have also violated it, as well as the police who did not let the activists protest freely.  For the second type of John Locke’s law, the natural rights, it explains that individuals have the right to life, health, liberty and property. We understand that the ELF deeply violated this natural right because they destroyed the property of big companies. In addition, Locke also states that we have the right to revolt in certain circumstances, which was shown in the movie with the protests. Furthermore, we learned that ideologies were a set of beliefs, habits that shaped our comprehension of life. In the movie, we understood that there was a clash of ideologies between the ELF and the businesses. They had different opinions on the subject of environment and it is well illustrated in the documentary where we can easily present the different point of views. We can also relate the concept of media, which explains that citizens are very dependent of the media. It also says that social medias play a public service function to the movie. In the documentary film, it illustrates very well that the media shapes our understanding of the world. They name tagged the ELF as eco-terrorist, which was exaggerated. It is well structured because even though some of the scenes are not in chronological order, we still understand the story and its issues.

L’erreur boréale

            L’erreur boréale is a documentary film directed by Richard Desjardins in 1999. Desjardins is a singer, songwriter, documentary filmmaker, and social justice activist. His co-producer on the project L’erreur boréale was Robert Monderie, who is a Quebec scriptwritter and filmmaker. Filmed in Northern Quebec, this 68 minutes documentary addresses the issue of deforestation.  More precisely, Richard Desjardins discusses the devastating effects of clear-cutting on the environment. Through the documentary film, Desjardins and Monderie explain that the Quebec citizens are duped by the government as well as by the companies involved in the forest industry. The two filmmakers claim that the forest’s legislation is violated by the forestry and that the government prefers to accommodate the forest industry instead of protecting the environment. Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie denounce the atrocities committed against forests and, more importantly, try to make people understand the importance of this natural resource. With the documentary film L’erreur boréale, the filmmakers try to reach as many people as possible, so that the population will be aware of this environmental disaster, taking place in Northern Quebec. The following link brings to the complete film L'erreur boréale, which won multiple awards such as Le Prix Jutras for the best documentary film of 1999.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrY-ZCc9cFM

            Through the screening of the documentary film, it was possible to relate certain concepts viewed in class, such as the relationship between documentaries and media or myths and ideologies. In the first place, documentary films are a reliable way to propagate a set of beliefs and ideas. Through L’erreur boréale, the filmmakers Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie promote the idea that the government, concerning the forest industry and the impacts on the environment, is fooling the people of the province of Quebec. The filmmakers use their documentary film to propagate their ideas and beliefs on the deforestation and forestry in Northern Quebec. Desjardins and Monderie, also bring a critique on the government in place. The filmmakers of L’erreur boréale make a judgement on the effectiveness of the actual democratic government. As the philosopher John Locke stated, they believe that the government must govern in the interest of the governed. Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie strongly consider that the Quebec government supports and encourages the development of the forest industry, regardless the consequences on the environment. In the same vein, Desjardins and Monderie also think that the Quebec government does not respect their engagements towards society regarding of the ground rent of the forestry. In the same line of thinking, Richard Desjardins bitterly believes that the Quebec government does not govern in the interest of the population, as opposed as to the interest of capitalist companies. Therefore, the filmmakers of L’erreur boréale use the media of documentary film to propagate their ideas and beliefs concerning the development of the forest industry and clear-cutting in Northern Quebec. Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie prove their points by using an efficient film structure stuffed with powerful images, meaningful rhetorical speeches and deep reflections. 

Personal response

            Both the viewing of If a Tree Falls and L’erreur boréale taught us about environmental issues, but also about how they are perceived by different groups of people. It was interesting to be given various points of view, which made it easier to have a greater understanding of the issue. In the documentary we have watched in class, we learned about the main activists’ motivations that lead them to do such extreme actions. We found interesting to see how Daniel’s family was involved in the situation and how they had to deal with all this. We can relate more to the human side than only seeing what the eco-terrorist did. Often, we tend to forget about the “villain’s” family because usually the “victim’s” side is more described. Though, that was not the case in If a Tree Falls.

            In L’erreur boréale, Richard Desjardins’ purpose is to spread the information about the deforestation to as many people as possible. Consequently, we had the opportunity to learn more in depth about deforestation, more precisely about the process called clear-cutting. Before the screening of the documentary, we had a vague idea of what clear-cutting was about. L’erreur boréale allowed us to truly understand this phenomenon. Also, Desjardins argues that the governmental actions are bias and tend to please the forest industry instead of protecting our environment. Once again, we were aware of those kinds of actions but it was shocking to learn more about what is really going on.

            The visioning of those two documentaries surely challenged our own perception of the world. It seems to us that even though we do hear about environmental issues quite a lot, we do not even know half of what has to be known. One of the most shocking parts of If a Tree Falls, in a certain way, was when Daniel’s wife testifies about how she perceives this hard situation. Our initial point of view was that these eco-terrorists were wrong to make such drastic actions even for a good cause. We thought they fully deserved to go to prison. However, we realized how it could affect their family and entourage. This “human perspective” challenged our solid convictions.

            It is possible to relate the common topics discussed in the documentaries to the present student crisis in our country. Like the eco-terrorists and Desjardins, the “carré-rouge” students are fighting for something they strongly believe in. Their actions aim to speak up their mind. The most drastic ones are willing to go through anything to reach their goal.  We also related the conflicts involving the police, as it happened in If a Tree Falls.

            Another possible connection would be to the documentary called Trou Story, which is also produced by Richard Desjardins. The film presents the environmental growing issue caused by mines in Quebec. The “Plan Nord” is also discussed and criticized. In the following trailer, there is a brief scene in which people are showing their disagreement. Once again, that relates to the student crisis as well as the two documentaries.

Conclusion

            All things considered, these documentary films showed us how politics and Medias are closely related to each other. We can also observe that capitalism and the protection of the environment are not meant to share the same points of views. As a team, we enjoyed our screenings because it allowed us to have a greater understanding of the different world’s ideologies. This is our retrospective on the subject of myths and ideologies; we are looking forwards to read your comments.