Laura Talley
Bump: Project 2 Revised
This Movie is dedicated to the Animals
The definition of realm is “an area of responsibility or rule.”[1] This word is a great representation in the field of Animal Humanities if Homo sapiens consider planet Earth their home; therefore, it is the duty of the Homo sapiens species to take care of and protect all other life forms on this planet. Since Earth is home to humans, this responsibility is a necessity and should be upheld to the highest degree as humans are the prominent cause of all troubles relating to animals. Pain is a universal language; it is understood by all life forms. For the Homo sapiens to believe that animals do not speak this language and ignore their responsibility is a violation of life. Such speciesism is what lead to the dilemma facing animals, historically and even more so presently.
1 A video on Youtube.com about animal abuse and a list of responsibilities that humans should have at all times.[i]
When one thinks of caring for animals, they automatically think of the tactics used for the prevention of pain and suffering: the distribution of information to the ignorant public, the protesting of animal cruelty and the lobbying for the passing of laws that prevent malice in all forms and promote animal rights. Awareness in the prevention of animal cruelty is enormous, and by all means, should continue to grow. While I am an advocate of these tactics, I am most passionate about the care and well-being of the animals after such horrendous acts of brutality have been inflicted upon them. The awareness of this aspect of animal humanities is nowhere near what it should be. I believe that it should be just as big as prevention, if not bigger. After such traumatic events, the physical and psychological damages are hard to overcome and can last a lifetime. These injuries are less publicized because most humans do not want the responsibility of dealing with them. This is a growing problem throughout the world and something must be done.
After an animal is rescued from abusive living conditions, immediate veterinary care is the priority for the physical damages. However, most animals coming from these situations have trouble trusting humans making it difficult for the doctor to help them and monitor their progress. If an animal does recover, they have trouble trusting humans who resemble their abusers and could possibly attack out of retaliation or have behavioral issues or anxiety. These types of troubles are a form of aversion psychology – drawing away or dislike.
It is hard enough dealing with humans that have emotional problems, but animals who cannot speak? Humans just need to have the patience to learn their language and listen to what they are telling us. There are a select few people that have accomplished this who are known as certified Behavioral Specialists and they “specialize in animal behaviors such as aggression, depression, or dementia.”[2] “[s.i.c.]Effective applied animal behaviorists will have expertise in (a) behavior modification, so they know the techniques that produce changes in behavior, (b) the normal behavior of the species they’re treating so they can recognize how and why your pet’s behavior is abnormal, and (c) teaching and counselling people, so they can effectively teach you how to understand and work with your pet.” [3] Hopefully, with the right rehabilitation, the animal’s trust can be restored and behavioral issues can be rectified. However a loving family is just the right medication an animal needs to fully heel from these trust and behavioral issues.
2Oreo was thrown off a roof by her previous owner. “Though she survived the traumatic fall that broke her two front legs and more and was physically recovering, she was killed yesterday by the ASPCA, which insisted that she was too aggressive to be adopted. The ASPCA told reporters that as she began healing from her injuries, she simultaneously began showing aggression — “growling, lunging and trying to bite people who came too close.” [4][ii]
There are several causes why post-trauma care is less publicized. First, societies and groups for animal humanities are more focused on the prevention of cruelty and advertising the immediate effects of it; moreover, to remove the animals from the cause of the cruelty. The ASPCA (America Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) commercials and most of its website along with P.E.T.A’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) website, which has a list of what companies do not test on animals, are proof of this.
Secondly, society is fickle; the public only cares about what is happening at the current moment. Once the affair is over, people are only interested in the outcome. The public has to be told of what is happening instead of searching for the information themselves. Only then do they take a stand. But usually this stand does not last long as people are not interested in the after process; unless you’re a celebrity.
This brings me to my third point. Society responds to celebrities and what they think, feel, do, and advertise for. Therefore, it is important that we carefully choose who we consider celebrities. The high-quality celebrities use their status to make people aware of animal abuse and mistreatment. Dan Aykroyd and Sarah Mclachlin were both involved with ASPCA commercials.[5] Actor Joaquin Pheonix not only narrated the documentary Earthings, but made a video for P.E.T.A. entitled Cold-Blooded Horrors which centers on exotic skins and furs used in the fashion industry.[6]
3ASCPA Sarah Mclachlin commercial[iii]
While all of these reasons are wonderful in advertising for the prevention of animal cruelty, there do not appear to be any advertisements for after care or showing the later repercussions for these survivors. After some research, it appears there are no celebrities advocating for this. It appears the closest a celebrity has come to do this is Heroes star Hayden Panettiere. Hayden went to Tajii, Japan to fight against the yearly dolphin slaughter and inform people in the United States of her efforts, and that the Japanese government was feeding the dolphin meat, which is very high in mercury, to the public under the false pretense of other exotic whale meat.[7] But again, this was more of the preventative nature. So with no advertisements for post-trauma conditions, the public is uninformed and ignorant. But society does respond to literature and movies that celebrities appear in. This leads to my next topic.
It is a wonder why a film like Earthlings, as powerful as it is, is not as well known as other documentaries such as Supersize Me. While it was in a format that was easy to follow and showed accurate information, it was not a “blockbuster” that people would flood theaters to see, such as 2010’s Alice in Wonderland and How to Train Your Dragon, because it would not interest the public as a whole. It must be put into terms that the dense public can understand: entertainment.
4 The most popular movie genre as determined by weekend gross for 2009.[iv]
My long term idea is to make a movie. Some may think that this is more of a short term goal; however, for my schedule and budget, it would have fall into the long term category. Also, if my acting career takes off and we, the production company, are able to make more than one movie of this kind, the more information is distributed. It seems that audiences are starting to be more entertained by genres such as “Thrillers” and “Action Conspiracy.” With this in mind, the plot for this movie would be focused on the change of hierarchy of the food chain and speciesism. It is a typical story of the oppressed versus the oppressor, only the humans are now the ones being overthrown and repressed by a new species of the planet. Only a few of these other new species (now named “Others”) is sympathetic to the human race, which is physically and mentally suffering from the long era of abuse. Through a series of action adventures and dramatic conspiracy dialogue, one of the humans is able to confront their King to learn how and why such events have happened. The human learns that the Others took notice of our existence and used the same manner of exploits as we did to animals to overthrow humans. Then, the King asks the human “How, in any way, have we treated you any different than you have treated animals?” This should cause some thought within the audience as a compilation of images of slaughterhouses and animal abuse are played. Throughout the entire movie, the human’s appearance changes slowly to be more animal-like. The Other’s form also slowly changes into more human. This is so that at the climax between the King and the human, there is a distinction that the now human-like Other is the cause of pain to the animal-like human; making the connection that the original human is the cause of pain for animals. Of course, there has to be a happy ending…or does there? Not if we do not change our ways. Given the proper advertisement, I believe this would be a movie that people would like to see and leave reflecting over; but of course it would have to be advertised as an action/adventure/conspiracy.
This would allow actors and actresses to put their craft to use for the purpose other than advertising against animal cruelty, but rather as a way to help prevent the abuse altogether. Portraying a life form that suffers at the hand of another will, hopefully, make them think about the way they treat animals for their fashion and products. While describing how they prepare and perform these roles in interviews, this should be able to give the audience who listens the same understanding.
Meanwhile, since I am currently a broke college student, I will keep trying to heal those that are already injured to the best of my ability by either rejoining the animal hospital I previously worked with before I came to school full-time or by obtaining a job with a rescue group in the local area. In the meantime, I recently became aware of the student pre-veterinary society and am looking into joining the Students Against the Cruelty of Animals society, both here at UT.
If I am ever able to make this movie or make a difference in preventing any kind of animal abuse, I just hope that I am able to inspire someone else to do the same. But in order to do this, people need information in its entirety. With more distribution and exposure to such information, only then can we humans take charge of our responsibility in the realm of animal humanities and make it pure again.
Word Count: 1802
Word Count Without Quotes: 1634
http://lauraanimalhumanities.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/this-movie-is-dedicated-to-the-animals/
[1] Dictionary.com. Thesaurus.com. 2010. http://thesaurus.com/browse/realm (accessed March 27, 2010).
[2] Marinelli, Deborah A. “Careers in Animal Care and Veterinary Science.” In Careers in Animal Care and Veterinary Science, by Deborah A. Marinelli, 24. New York: The Rosen Publishing Company, Inc., 2001.
[3] American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. ASPCA Behavior: Finding Professional Help. 2010. http://www.aspcabehavior.org/articles/32/Finding-Professional-Help.aspx (accessed March 27, 2010).
[4]Ernst, Stephanie. On Oreo, Mabel, and Killing Abused Animals. November 14, 2009. http://animals.change.org/blog?category_id=living_with_aniamls&page=2 (accessed April 15, 2010).
[5] American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Aminals. About Us: ASPCA Commercials. 2010.http://www.aspca.org/about-us/aspca-commercials.html (accessed March 27, 2010).
[6] People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. User Action: Joaquin Pheonix Reveals Cold-Blooded Horrors. 2010. https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3003 (accessed March 27, 2010).
[7] The Cove. Directed by Louie Psihoyos. Performed by Ric O’Barry. 2009.
[i] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L1lOwzmMXQ
[ii] http://change-production.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/wordpress_copies/animalrights/2009/11/oreo.jpg
[iii] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc
[iv] http://ddunlop.com/2010/01/recapping-2009-most-popular-movie-genre/
