I.

Introduction
The Pixar animated film Finding Nemo (2003) has long been recognized as a cinematic
work that achieved both commercial and artistic success (Ni Nyoman et al., 2020). At the
beginning of the story, the film depicts the moving adventures of a clownfish named Marlin in
search of his son, Nemo, who was kidnapped from the Great Barrier Reef and ended up in an
aquarium in Sydney (Goulet, 2024). However, beyond the narrative of a father's love for his son,
the film presents a cultural text rich in ecological implications. In the context of the current
climate crisis and global marine environmental degradation, Finding Nemo can be read as an
ecological allegory that implicitly discusses the problematic relationship between human
civilization and the aquatic world (Adithian, 2025).
To unravel these layers of ecological meaning, this article uses the theory of Ecocriticism,
an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that focuses on the study of the relationship between
cultural texts and the physical environment (Wajid, 2025). This field emerged as a response to
the anthropocentric tendencies in previous critical theories that failed to include ecology as an
important category of analysis, equivalent to race, class, or gender. Fundamentally, ecocriticism
seeks to: (1) analyze how nature is represented in texts, (2) interrogate the cultural assumptions
underlying human relationships with nature, and (3) promote ecological awareness and ethics
(Rishma & Gill, 2024).
This article aims to fill a gap in the study of animated film ecocriticism by placing
Finding Nemo under an ecological lens (Rai, 2024). Although there has been much research
discussing this film from a narrative or psychological perspective, ecocritical research remains
limited (Jamillah & Ayiz, 2024). We argue that this film effectively depicts three major
ecological issues: (1) Critical Anthropocentrism, which is shown through the narrative of human
domination and exploitation; (2) The Importance of Place, shown through the contrast between
the vital Great Barrier Reef and the deadly aquarium; and (3) The Aquatic Crisis, captured in the
depiction of modern threats to marine life. Through this analysis, we aim to show how Finding
Nemo functions as an environmental education tool that encourages viewers to adopt an
ecocentric perspective (George & Sunitha, 2024).
Ecocriticism hasdeveloped through three main “waves.” The First Wavefocused on the
appreciation of nature and wilderness literature,tending to be essentialist and less theoretical. The
Second Wave, which was more advanced, began in the 1990s and introduced complex termssuch
as ecofeminism, environmental justice,and urban ecocriticism, challenging the rigid
nature/culture dichotomy (Bladow,2022). The latest development, or Third Wave, increasingly
embraces interdisciplinary approaches by involving post-humanism studies,ecology-oriented
objects, and media analysis in addition to literary texts (Wajid, 2025).
 In the context of visual media, ecocriticism examines how films, television, and digital
media shape public understanding of the environment (Suawi, 2025). Animated films, especially
those geared toward families, have tremendous power to instill ecological values in young
audiences. While earlier Disney films were often criticized for perpetuating pastoral views
(nature as a harmonious, conflict-free backdrop) or for overly personifying animals without
ecological depth, Pixar films have the potential to more explicitly portray the vulnerability of
ecosystems (Rai, 2024).
Previous research on ecocriticism in animation has explored themes of pollution and
consumerism (e.g., in WALL-E or FernGully) (Patzner, 2024). Specifically for Finding Nemo,
several brief studies have identified themes of marine conservation, but these are generally
limited to the moral message at the end of the story. There has been no in-depth analysis of how
the film cinematically constructs a binary opposition between natural space (the Reef) and
human-dominated space (the Aquarium) as a critique of anthropocentric domination (Rai, 2024).
This gap will be addressed by this study, which expands ecocriticism theory to the analysis of
film narratives centered on water crises (ecocriticism).
Theoretical Framework
The main theoretical framework of this article is based on two key concepts of
ecocriticism: Anthropocentrism and Exploitation, as well as the concept of Ecological Place.
A. Critical Anthropocentrism
Antroposentrisme adalah pandangan filosofis yang menganggap manusia sebagai pusat alam
semesta dan satu-satunya entitas yang memiliki nilai intrinsik. Ekokritisisme berusaha untuk
membongkar pandangan ini dan menggantikannya dengan ekosentrisme, di mana semua
kehidupan memiliki nilai yang setara (Thiyagarajan, 2025).
In Finding Nemo, anthropocentric dominance is clearly seen through:
1. Dramatization of Non-Place: The view of the aquarium in the dentist's office
represents a man-made environment, a controlled and confined space (simulacra), which is the
opposite of the ecological reality of the sea. The fish there, called “The Tank Gang,” have lost
their natural place and live in alienated existential conditions.
2. Humans as an Absolute Threat: Human characters (dentist P. Sherman and his niece
Darla) are portrayed as an almost mythological threat. P. Sherman is a collector/exploitative
figure, who takes Nemo from his habitat for personal satisfaction, a metaphor for the trade in
exotic pets that destroys ecosystems.
B. The Concept of Ecological Place

Place has an important and emotionally charged meaning in literature (Larsen, 2024). In
this article, we will distinguish between three types of place in film:
 1. Vital Place (The Reef): The Great Barrier Reef is depicted as a vibrant ecosystem, full
of natural dangers (sharks, jellyfish), but also full of connections and communities. It is an
authentic and ecocentric place, where fish live with their autonomy.
2. The Colonized Place (The Aquarium): The aquarium represents a space of
colonization and domestication controlled by humans. The contrast between Marlin's desire to
return to the sea and the Tank Gang's attempt to “escape” (return to their true place) is central to
the film's critique of ecological separation.
3. Liminal Space (The Open Ocean): Marlin's journey across the ocean is a liminal
space, showing that ecological dangers come not only from humans (such as fishing nets and
pollution), but also from nature itself. However, the dangers here affirm the natural cycle of life
and death, in contrast to the artificial death in the aquarium.

Article Methodology and Structure

This study will use qualitative textual analysis with an ecocriticism framework, focusing
on the narrative, visual, and dialogic aspects of Finding Nemo. The primary data is the film
Finding Nemo (2003) itself, while the secondary data includes key ecocriticism texts.
Structurally, this article will be divided into four main sections after this introduction:
1. Theoretical and Conceptual Review: An in-depth review of the concepts of
anthropocentrism, ecocentrism, and place in the context of aquatic ecocriticism.
2. Analysis of Anthropocentrism and Exploitation: Analyzing human characters and
man-made objects (boats, nets, aquariums) as symbols of domination and environmental ethical
failure.
3. Analysis of Place and Ecosystem: Analyzing the visual and narrative contrasts
between the Great Barrier Reef, the open ocean, and the aquarium as representations of different
ecological spaces.
4. Conclusion: Summarizing the findings and implications of Finding Nemo as an
ecological text that promotes environmental ethics.
By analyzing the ecological layers in Finding Nemo, this article aims to enrich the
discussion on children's visual media and its responsibility in shaping ecological awareness amid
global marine environmental challenges.
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