Date of Award
Spring 2025
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department/Major
English
Additional Department
Creative Writing
First Advisor
Leah McCormack
Second Advisor
Krista Scholten
Third Advisor
Robert Welch
Keywords
National Park Service, Stephen Mather, Screenplay, Eco-Criticism, Biopic, Political Thriller, Creative Nonfiction, National Park History, Film and Media Studies
Subject Categories
Arts and Humanities | Creative Writing | Film and Media Studies | Nonfiction | Screenwriting
Abstract
NPS-1 is a biopic/political thriller feature-length screenplay that follows the true story of Stephen Mather, a public relations whiz and self-made millionaire who dedicated his fortune to lobbying for the creation of the National Park Service, eventually becoming its first director. Navigating political obstacles on the path to establishing the NPS, Mather struggles to conceal his history with manic depression as his erratic behavior becomes an increasing threat to the success of his campaign. Alongside his reliable but in-the-dark assistant Horace Albright, Mather navigates the ethical minefield that comes with park policymaking: can a push for road development, or border expansion, or tourist amenities, protect and promote nature without also compromising it? While structured in a traditional three-act format with intermittent flashbacks, the film’s unique contribution to its genre(s), according to Ernst Gombrich’s schema and correction model, is its occasional shift into the voyeuristic perspective of natural elements as they observe Mather on his quest to create the NPS. As the story progresses, more evidence arises to suggest these are not independent perspectives but rather hallucinatory projections of Mather’s internal, increasing confliction, reflecting his fear that the very elements he seeks to protect are silently watching him, condemning him, and displaying disturbing imagery to warn him of potential consequences. Reaching for the bar set by neighboring films like Patton, Thank You for Smoking, Miss Sloane, and Molly’s Game, the NPS-1 screenplay embraces shrewd, cutting dialogue and a captivating yet self-destructive protagonist, whose volatile mental state serves as their own rising stakes. The screenplay aspires to pay kindness toward the inherent imperfections of those who strive to do good, as well as the flaws in the good they attempt to achieve. Neither vilifying nor glorifying Stephen Mather as a notable figure in the eco-critical debate, NPS-1 offers instead the empathic suggestion that before Mather was the NPS’s first director, he was merely a man struggling to manage a pain his society deemed shameful.
Recommended Citation
Ziegler, Johanna G., "NPS-1" (2025). Honors Thesis. 352.
https://red.library.usd.edu/honors-thesis/352