ECO-CRITICISM - Piranha 3D (2010)

The Theory:

Ecocriticism is the study of literature and environment from an interdisciplinary point of view where all sciences come together to analyze the environment and brainstorm possible solutions for the correction of the contemporary environmental situation. Ecocriticism was officially heralded by the publication of two seminal works, both published in the mid-1990s: The Ecocriticism Reader, edited by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm, and The Environmental Imagination, by Lawrence Buell.

(courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-criticism)


The Story:

courtesy of: http://terrordaves.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/piranha-3d-poster.jpg

Fisherman Matt Boyd (Richard Dreyfuss) is fishing in Lake Victoria, Arizona when a small earthquake hits, splitting the lake floor and causing a whirlpool. Boyd falls in and is ripped apart by a school of piranhas that emerge from the chasm and ascend the vortex.

Jake Forester (Steven R. McQueen) is admiring attractive tourists as spring break begins. He reunites with his old crush, Kelly (Jessica Szohr) and meets Derrick Jones (Jerry O'Connell), an eccentric pornographer, as well as Danni Arslow (Kelly Brook), one of his actresses. Derrick convinces Jake to show him good spots on the lake for filming a pornographic movie. That night, Jake's mother, Sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue), searches for the missing Matt Boyd with Deputy Fallon (Ving Rhames). They find his mutilated body and contemplate closing the lake, however, this is made difficult by two thousand partying college students on spring break who are important for bringing revenue to the small town. The next morning, a lone cliff diver is attacked and consumed by the marauding fish.

Jake bribes his sister and brother, Laura (Brooklynn Proulx) and Zane (Sage Ryan), to stay home alone so that he can show Derrick around the lake. After Jake leaves, Zane drafts Laura to go fishing on a small sandbar island. They forget to tie the boat down and are stranded in the middle of the lake. Meanwhile, Jake goes to meet with Derrick and runs into Kelly, who invites herself onto Derrick’s boat, The Barracuda. Jake meets Crystal Shepard (Riley Steele), another of Derrick’s actresses, and cameraman Andrew Cunningham (Paul Scheer).

Julie takes a team of seismologist divers — Novak (Adam Scott), Sam (Ricardo Chavira), and Paula (Dina Meyer) — to the fissure. Novak speculates that the rift leads to a buried prehistoric lake. Paula and Sam scuba dive to the bottom and discover a large cavern filled with large piranha egg stocks. Both are killed by the piranhas before they can alert the others to the discovery. Novak and Julie find Paula's corpse and pull it onto the boat, capturing a lone piranha, which they take to Carl Goodman (Christopher Lloyd), a marine biologist who works as a pet store owner. He explains that it is a super-aggressive prehistoric species, long believed to be extinct.

Julie, Novak, Fallon, and Deputy Taylor Roberts (Jason Spisak) try to evacuate the lake, but their warnings are ignored until the piranhas begin to attack the tourists. Novak boards a jet-ski with a shotgun to help while Fallon drags people to shore and Julie and Taylor try to get swimmers into the police boat. A floating stage capsizes from the weight of the panicking guests, pulling a electric wire which mutilates few tourists. Almost everyone in the lake is either wounded or killed by the piranhas or panicking guests who were recklessly driving their speed boats.

Meanwhile, Jake spots Laura and Zane on the island, and forces Derrick to rescue them. Derrick crashes the boat into some rocks, flooding the rooms below deck. Kelly is trapped in the kitchen while Derrick, Crystal and Drew fall overboard from to the impact of the collision. Crystal is devoured and Drew is presumambly killed. Meanwhile, Danni manages to get a partially eaten Derrick back on board.

Deputy Fallon makes a last stand, taking a boat motor and using its propellor to shred and kill many piranhas. After the chaos settles, Julie receives a call from Jake pleading for help. Julie and Novak steal a speed boat and head off towards the kids. Julie and Novak reach Jake and attach a rope to his boat. Julie, Danni, Laura, and Zane start crossing the rope, but the piranhas latch onto Danni's hair and ultimately devour her. The others make it to safety, but the rope comes loose. Using Derrick's corpse as a distraction, Jake ties the line to himself and goes to save Kelly. He ties Kelly to him and lights a flare after releasing the gas in a pair of stored propane tanks. Novak starts the boat and speeds away just as the piranhas surround Kelly and Jake. They are dragged to safety and the propane tanks explode, destroying the boat and killing most of the piranhas.

Mr. Goodman calls Julie on the radio, and Julie tells him that they seem to have killed the majority of the piranhas. Terrified, Goodman tells her that the reproductive glands on the piranha they obtained were not mature, which means that the fish they were fighting were only the babies. As Novak wonders aloud where the parents are, a human sized piranha leaps out and knocks him into the water.

(courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranha_3d)


The Criticism:

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"Piranha 3D" centers on a massive piranha attack on Lake Victoria, Arizona, and Sheriff Julie and Novak's efforts to control the situation and survive the bloodshed. The film depicts a situation wherein the characters need to stop the invading species before they do further damage.

courtesy of: http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/arts/photos/2010/08/19/arts-3-d-top-584.jpg

The film falls under eco-criticism because it depicts the conventional man versus nature situation. An invading species, usually a threat to the entire population of the are being attacked, must be stopped by the main characters in order to save the people in that place. In "Piranha 3D", main characters Sheriff Julie Forrester and Novak discover a subterranean lake after an underwater earthquake reveals it. The troubling matter is that thousands of prehistoric piranhas, hungry for flesh, are also released from being imprisoned inside the cave. What's even more troubling is that it is the spring break season, wherein thousands of young students are having wild and wet fun in the lake. Together with her son Jake, Sheriff Forrester and Novak attempt to stop the piranhas from a full-on attack on the students celebrating in the lake. Whether or not they stop the attack is what the viewer needs to find out, however, by watching the movie and seeing whether man finally triumphs over nature.