COMS 393 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Ultimate Power, Atra-Hasis, Flood Myth

• School: University of Calgary
• Department: Communications Studies
• Course: COMS 393
• Professor: Rebecca Carruthers Den Hoed

Document Summary

Reading 4: salvador, norton: the flood myth in the age of. Key words: environmental activism; rhetoric; flood myth; apocalyptic; Many researchers consider global climate change scientifically well established but americans confused by complexity & scope. Film, a day after tomorrow (2004), a fictional depiction of a catastrophic event can create a teachable moment of heightened public interest and concern . Hart & leiserowitz (2009) demonstrated film played prominent role in public discourse about global climate change (focus in increase of info seeking behaviour post film release) Film itself supported left-leaning, pro-environmentalist view of global climate change. Tdat articulates a variation of apocalyptic discourse we identify as a flood myth, which offers an alternative template for understanding discourse surrounding global climate change. Both well-established in rhetorical & environmental studies. Apocalyptic rhetoric centres on the idea of a looming catastrophe that threatens all humankind.