Thoughtful, insightful, heartbreaking essay. The history of animal cruelty is horrible in cinema. And it baffles me AH closed its eyes on a few films. I respect film crews that use CGI over animals. It's not totally authentic, but you at least know no actual animal was harmed.
Back in college, a professor screened the movie Little Big Man, a revisionist (and great) western starring Dustin Hoffman. There's a horiffic scene in which the U.S. Cavalry is massacring men, women, and children in a Lakota Sioux encampment. During the scene, horses are also killed and many of the other students—all of them white—audibly reacted to the horse murders. There were gasps. I was taken aback by the reaction and chastisted my fellow students for reacting more strongly to the death of the horses than they did to deaths of the Indians. But, over the years, I've realized that the students were reacting to the real fear and potential injury of the horses. The horses didn't know they were in a movie. Of course, the actors knew they were acting. The stunt people knew they were stunt-acting. I don't know that the other students were conscious of why they reacted so strongly to the horses' deaths. But I think that it's far more difficult to suspend one's disbelief when it comes to animals in films, especially when we're talking about the days when animals weren't protected at all in moviemaking.
I agree with you. As I am a lover of every type of animal, it was really difficult to read this post.
Once I went to Switzerland on a trip. I remember that the tourguide told us about the purple cow that usually appeared in Milka adverts (Milka is a brand of chocolate). The thruth behind that image was that, a real cow was painted with that colour, her skin absorbed the toxic parts of it and in the end the cow died. It was very shocking for me to hear that.
I really hope that no animal or person is going to be damaged again but I'm afraid, after reading your post, that the possibility for that to happend still exist.
Thank you as always to share your experiences with us!
Thoughtful, insightful, heartbreaking essay. The history of animal cruelty is horrible in cinema. And it baffles me AH closed its eyes on a few films. I respect film crews that use CGI over animals. It's not totally authentic, but you at least know no actual animal was harmed.
I hadn't thought about the Little Big Man incident in years. So I think I might write about it. Thank you for writing your post.
Back in college, a professor screened the movie Little Big Man, a revisionist (and great) western starring Dustin Hoffman. There's a horiffic scene in which the U.S. Cavalry is massacring men, women, and children in a Lakota Sioux encampment. During the scene, horses are also killed and many of the other students—all of them white—audibly reacted to the horse murders. There were gasps. I was taken aback by the reaction and chastisted my fellow students for reacting more strongly to the death of the horses than they did to deaths of the Indians. But, over the years, I've realized that the students were reacting to the real fear and potential injury of the horses. The horses didn't know they were in a movie. Of course, the actors knew they were acting. The stunt people knew they were stunt-acting. I don't know that the other students were conscious of why they reacted so strongly to the horses' deaths. But I think that it's far more difficult to suspend one's disbelief when it comes to animals in films, especially when we're talking about the days when animals weren't protected at all in moviemaking.
have you seen the film Nope? It plays around in this world a lot
I agree with you. As I am a lover of every type of animal, it was really difficult to read this post.
Once I went to Switzerland on a trip. I remember that the tourguide told us about the purple cow that usually appeared in Milka adverts (Milka is a brand of chocolate). The thruth behind that image was that, a real cow was painted with that colour, her skin absorbed the toxic parts of it and in the end the cow died. It was very shocking for me to hear that.
I really hope that no animal or person is going to be damaged again but I'm afraid, after reading your post, that the possibility for that to happend still exist.
Thank you as always to share your experiences with us!