FRACKING FILMS

Environmental histories often proffer moral narratives about relationships between people and the environments they inhabit. Many of the stories of hydraulic fracturing recounted in documentary films indulge in this tradition. This paper explores how documentary films depict the topic of hydraulic fracturing and how the narratives of filmmakers shape public understanding. The films present narratives that cast their topic along a spectrum of good to evil in order to depict the oil and gas industry and the human and environmental consequences of this revolutionary method of energy production. Each of the documentary films examined in this paper engages primarily with a fundamental question: Does hydraulic fracturing degrade air and water quality and jeopardize the health and safety of people who live in close proximity? The films present a range of nuanced answers to this question that underscore the contested nature of the topic.

Given the significant publicity and Academy Award nomination resulting from the 2010 release of Gasland, this film will serve as the starting point for a discussion of what has, perhaps, grown into a distinct genre of documentary – the fracking film. While Gasland at times makes for a compelling story, the film provides little information that is reliable or accurate about the process of hydraulic fracturing because much of the footage aims to entertain and moralize rather than to educate. The controversy surrounding the accuracy of Gasland and many of its claims about the harmful effects of fracking on public health and the environment prompted other filmmakers to respond with their own narrative accounts. Some of these films resort to moralizing against the oil and gas industry and provide little in the way of geological science. Other films serve merely as rebuttals that defend the oil and gas industry. Many questions remain unanswered about fracking and the science necessary to answer them is still emerging. The documentary films created to provide answers do not always do so clearly or without political intent.