After watching March of the Penguins I was browsing the internet while I was trying to figure out which direction to take the essay in, because there were too many possibilities for the topic. Soon I found myself watching Monty Python, when the perfect sketch to start this paper on comes on. A newspaper reporter comes on saying "Penguins, yes penguins what relevance do penguins have with the furtherance of medical science? Well strangely enough quite a lot" He moves into a joke about research not being accidental. Then he picks up of the penguins "Nevertheless scientists believe that these penguins, these comic flightless web-footed little b@$#ards are un-wittingly helping man to fathom the uncharted depths of the human mind." The news cast flips to the scientist who introduces himself then states "...having been working on the theory postulated by the late Dr. Kramer that the penguin in intrinsically more intelligent than the human being." From there a multitude of science spoofs lead to the confirmation of this theory of penguins being smarter, even though it is clearly pointed out that the penguin's brain is smaller than of a human being. This causes the penguins to rise up and take over the roles of humans. After careful consideration I decided to discuss this clip as there really is no better way to introduce how animals are used in film as entertainment. Whether it is a crazy Monty Python sketch or the heartwarming love story that is March of the Penguins both were created for many reasons, but the most influential was the desire to earn money. For now just keep Monty Python on the back burner it will have significance later, lets shift to dealing with the questions being posed about March of the Penguins. How did March o...
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...ot just as animals is heavily influenced by the media surrounding the pet store business .
Now, back to Monty Python, in this sketch the scientists are highly flawed research, and produce ridicules amounts of errors yet the result is the takeover of the penguins. In the animal film industry films are produced to make money, these films rely on enticing the most people. To do that they create their own themes, forms, and images to do this, these have at this time become so engrained in the way that people perceive film which does not have these elements would seem wrong. At the end of the day the primary motive of filmmakers are to make money, yet through their themes they reinforce and recreate the values of society, to me it seems as flawed and ridiculous a system to show society's values as much as the science that lead to penguin domination was highly flawed.
When individuals are provoked and questioned, it evokes an emotional and intellectual response which prompts them to reflect on their pre existing attitudes and values. Jane Harrison’s play ‘Rainbow’s end’, explores three Aboriginal women provoked by the realisation of the social and psychological barriers which prevent the indigenous Australians to be accepted. Similarly, in Sean Penn’s film ‘into the wild’, exhibits confronting experience of living alone in the wild, forcing him to reconsider his disbelief of needing human interaction in life to be fulfilled. When discoveries are provocative, it can evoke an emotional response to challenge their belief ultimately leading to reconsider and re-evaluate their previously held perspective. In
It is within those years that they discover the different ways that imagination and humanity can alter the way you think. Halberstam brings up this point within a lengthy analysis of the movie March of the Penguins. At first view this film is simply documentary of a group of penguins as the mothers leave to find food and the fathers stayed to protect the eggs. At first glance, this is true. But Halberstam presents a second interpretation. She states that “Most often we project human worlds onto the supposedly blank slate of animality, and then we create the animals we need in order to locate our own human behaviors in ‘nature’ or ‘the wild’ or ‘civilization’” (275). This idea changes the way we think about most man-made documentaries, showing how we don’t just document the animals, but we add our own human narrative to them. Enforcing ideas such as authority, gender roles, and even heterosexuality. That may seem like a stretch to some. But Halberstam states that we use these animals to study these ideas. To directly quote “Animated animals allow us to explore ideas about humanness” (276). What exactly does she mean by this statement? She uses the term animated to describe these penguins. But to any movie-goer who has seen this film know that it follows a group of real live penguins. Her use of the word animated in this case describes what it is like to be
There is a myriad of other films, some produced by groups like PETA and ASPCA, where the intent is solely to inspire sympathy by parading superfluous images of abused animals in front of the viewer. Blackfish could have taken that route, it certainly would have been simple for the film-makers; however, they opted for a sensible and logical fact-based structure to support their message. Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the film’s director, succeeded in providing viewers like myself -- viewers who value facts over feelings, an excellent and well-documented look at the physical and mental treatment of these captured animals. The filmmakers provided enough evidence to support their claims which asked the viewer to question the killer whale’s aggressive behavior when in captivity and then allowed the viewer the make their own judgments based on the facts being
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is a satiric comedy about the quest of King Arthur. The movie starts out with Arthur, King of the Britons, looking for knights to sit with him at Camelot. He finds many knights including Sir Galahad the pure, Sir Lancelot the brave, the quiet Sir Bedevere, and Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Lancelot. Through satire and parody of certain events in history (witch trials, the black plague) they find Camelot, but after literally a quick song and dance they decide that they do not want to go there. While walking away, God (who seems to be grumpy) come to them from a cloud and tells them to find the Holy Grail. They agree and begin their search. While they search for the Grail, scenes of the knight's tales appear and the reasons behind their names. Throughout their search, they meet interesting people and knights along the way. Most of the characters die; some through a killer rabbit (which they defeat with the holy hand grenade), others from not answering a question right from the bridge of Death, or die some other ridiculous way. In the end, King Arthur and Sir Bedevere are left and find the Castle Arrrghhh where the Holy Grail is. They are met by some French soldiers who taunted them earlier in the film and were not able to get into the castle. The movie ends with both King Arthur and Sir Bedevere being arrested for killing a real-life man who was a historian.
Attenborough’s and Irwin’s purpose is to educate the audience and to inspire respect for the animal kingdom. Attenborough achieves this by using factual information to
Attenborough’s and Irwin’s purpose is to educate the audience and to inspire compassion for the animal kingdom. Attenborough achieves this by using factual information
A documentary is an informative film that aims to position readers to accept one version of the events or topics expressed. All documentaries posses the ability biased and present an altered version of reality to persuade audience positioning. ‘Blackfish’ is a captivating and inspired documentary released in 2013 concerning the inhumane captivity and domestication of Orcas at SeaWorld for pecuniary advantage. The film, directed by Gabriella Cowperthwaite positions viewers to adopt a dominant reading position on the topic of whale subjugation. The documentary utilises techniques such as expert verification, emotive language and the humanisation of whales to position dominant viewers to accept the ideology that captivity is deleterious
Different forms of media are created constantly, sometimes even to address an idea in order to educate the audience, so they may learn from past mistakes. In today’s society, there have been countless films, where an idea was discussed or shown that educated society. Genres such as literature, theater, and film influenced today’s society as demonstrated by the movies the Crucible, which addressed false accusations with no proof, and The Day After Tomorrow, which addressed the debated issue of global warming’s effects.
Although both March of the Penguins, directed by Luc Jacquet, and Nanook of the North, directed by Robert J. Flaherty, distort the subject of the respective films, they do so to different extents. Since March of the Penguins follows animals’ journey, humans do not understand the emotional capacity of them and cannot relate to them because of the vast differences in life experiences. To make it easier for the audience to relate to the emperor penguins, Morgan Freeman, the narrator, anthropomorphizes them and describes certain actions in ways that humans can empathize with. For example, when the penguins were searching for their mate and mated with them, the scene was portrayed romantically, as if the penguins were humans. It is highly unlikely
Zootopia (Byron Howard Rich Moore 2016) is an extremely successful film about a bunny named Judy. Within the film there are many direct and obvious themes, but a more implicit theme that I found while watching was, Our preconceived fears about certain groups as a society are directly reflected in Zootopia. I will be using the formal elements: camera angle, camera distance, and sound to argue my point. In the scene I will be analyzing, Judy just finished her press conference and claimed that all predators were savages. She gets off the podium and has an encounter with her friend, Nick, who is a predator. He is mad that Judy made this general statement about predators. Nick scares Judy and acts as though he has
After reading the articles,”A Change of Heart about Animals”, by author Jeremy Rifkin, “Hooked on a Myth”, by author Victoria Braithwaite, and “Of Primates and Personhood: Will According Rights and “dignity” to NonHuman Organisms Halt research?”,by author Ed Yong, I both agree and refute some things that are represented in all three articles. In the articles by Rifkin and Yong, I believe that there should be more examples present. In my opinion they were just making assumptions rather than stating facts in order to backup their claims. For example in the article by Rifkin he states” They feel pain,suffer and experience stress, affection,excitement and even love--and these findings are changing how we view animals” (Rifkin 2). By him saying this statement shows that he only states this statement off of what he thinks rather than off of logic and research. On the other hand in the article by Braithwaite’s article, her use of scientific words,and logic, showed me that she knows a lot on that subject. For example she uses words such as,”If you look at thin sections of the trigeminal nerve, the main nerve for the face for all vertebrates, fish have
A style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity which exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Aggressive Humor inspired by early comedy theories from people like Plato (360 B.C.) to more increased hostile joke theories like Bryant (1977) and Zillman, Bryant and Cantos (1974). Slapstick emphasizes on the idea that most (if not all) of comedy is based on some form of misery whether physical or emotional. The idea that pain is just a part of life makes it instantly relatable towards the average audience member.
To begin, Peter Singer is widely known for popularizing the term “speciesism”, which is a term that views only humans as morally considered (Gruen, 2017). Singer emphasizes on how speciesism favours humans interests (Gruen, 2017). In a way, it is a form of discrimination. Rather than race, it is prejudice against species. Singer argues that by giving humans a special moral status and denying that to animals is unjust, and is what speciesism essentially is (Gruen, 2017). He provides examples as to how animals are constantly experimented on; such as applying electric shocks on them in order for them to perform several tasks, and monkeys having metal collars around their necks (Singer, 2009, p. 42, 44). Singer claims, from a scientific point of
Similarities between fairy tales are evident all throughout the tales. A specific similarity that I thought was important was the element of some kind of deal made between the protagonist and the antagonist of the story. For example, in Rapunzel, The Little Mermaid, and Jack and the Beanstalk. In Rapunzel, the two parents were stealing a plant called a rampion from an old witch and she didn’t like this. She made a deal with them that they could take as many plants as they wanted as long as when their first born child was born, they would give it to the witch. In The Little Mermaid, a mermaid named Ariel is sick and tired of living under the sea. She observes all the fun that humans get to have and she wants to be apart of it. She makes
According to Aristotle (who speculates on the matter in his Poetics), ancient comedy originated with the komos, a curious and improbable spectacle in which a company of festive males apparently sang, danced, and cavorted rollickingly around the image of a large phallus. (If this theory is true, by the way, it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "stand-up routine.")