Making film-landscapes and exploring the geographical resonances of The Lord of the Rings and Whale Rider.

This thesis explores film resonances and film-landscape interactions. Film resonances
refer to the multiple and varied ways people respond to films. Film-landscape describes
the interaction between film and people's experience of landscape, containing a notion
that landscape is always-in-the-making. Film resonances and film-landscape .
interactions are explored in the contemporary New Zealand context, focusing on The
Lord of the Rings and Whale Rider. The thesis explores film resonances at several
levels: analysing film-tours in terms of film-landscape interactions; exploring how the
same films have different resonances and reactions in different places; interrogating the
relationship between popular, government and business responses to films; and
examining the relationship between film and national identity narratives. Together, The
Lord of the Rings and Whale Rider can be used as a prism through which to highlight
particular elements ofthe New Zealand contemporary moment. A multiple method
approach is used, including in-depth interviews, focus groups, conversational
interviews, participant observation and analysis of newspaper articles and internet
movie databases. This thesis adds to and extends current literature by considering The
Lord of the Rings and Whale Rider with a more-than-film approach. It draws on a
mixture of theories, arguing that considered separately, current literature does not fully
address the potential of film-landscape and film resonances. Through a more-than-film
approach, the thesis engages with film resonances and film-landscape interactions in
ways that acknowledge the work film does outside of production or viewing. The thesis
will also be of interest to all those concerned with the power of film and how it has the
potential to influence our landscapes, our imaginations and our identities.