https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i2.079
Who Speaks for the Climate Child? Child-Centred Narratives and Ecological Vulnerability in Contemporary Eco-Cinema
ANKITA BARUAH
Student, M.A. 4th Semester
Department of English
Dibrugarh University, Assam
Abstract: The representation of childhood narratives in contemporary climate storytelling remains an understudied area, as critical attention continues to privilege adult-centred perspectives. Despite growing global concern about ecological vulnerability, cinematic representations of children’s experiences and viewpoints are rarely foregrounded. It is important to address this gap in understanding how children can serve as insightful interpreters of environmental concerns, often demonstrating resilience and imagination equal to that of their adult counterparts. By addressing this gap, the study undertakes a comparative examination of two contemporary films, Village Rockstars (2017, India) and Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012, USA), to explore how eco-cinema repositions children’s agency within ecologically fragile landscapes.
Both films centre on young female protagonists—Dhunu and Hushpuppy—who navigate environments marked by ecological decline and uncertainty. Through child-centred narratives, the films depict the interconnection between childhood and ecology, presenting children as active agents who interpret and respond to unstable environmental realities. The paper contributes to the fields of Child Studies and ecocritical visual culture by analysing how children make sense of ecological crises through imagination, creativity, and lived experience.
The study also examines cross-cultural representations of climate and childhood, demonstrating how children from different social and environmental contexts negotiate ecological imbalance. Ultimately, it argues that child-centred climate narratives offer alternative ways of understanding environmental crises, providing perspectives that differ significantly from dominant adult narratives.
Keywords: Child narrative, ecological vulnerability, eco-cinema, visual storytelling, eco-childhood, child studies
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