Academic Film Review: Earthlings

Ye Ji Park / 111053 / b4

Mr. Garrioch

English Composition

October 14 2012

                Academic Film Review: Earthlings

                "Mrs. Hicks, finding the girl slow to move, jumped from her bed, seized an oak stick of wood by the fireplace, and with it broke the girl's nose and breastbone, and thus ended her life. I will not say that this most horrid murder produced no sensation in the community," recalled Frederick Douglass, a prominent black leader of the abolitionist movement, of his slavery days that he observed and sometimes experienced by himself of vicious violence upon blacks by whites. In today’s society, in which about two centuries passed after Frederick Douglass' ages, it would be untrue to say that there exists no racial discrimination at all; nevertheless, blacks relish a much happier life than that of their ancestors.

It's surprising that the atrocious brutality whites exerted to blacks had been considered to be perfectly normal and fair in the past. Yet the same bloodshed is prevalent in today's society, only with its subject changed from blacks to animals; Shaun Monson, the writer/producer/and director of the documentary "Earthlings", uncovers this unawareness via exploring the vivid descriptions of animal slaughters for ninety minutes.

"Earthlings" categorizes the humans' cruelty on animals in five parts: pets, food, clothes, entertainment, and scientific research. The first chapter shows animals locked in dirty, cram-full cages of the pet stores. The second chapter portrays the bloody slaughter of pigs and cows, which is practiced without any anesthesia or other methods to appease animals' pain. The third chapter follows India's "Death March" that transports animals to the region where it is allowed to skin. The fourth chapter shows the shackled life of circus animals which are demanded to perform abnormally for the sake of human's entertainment. The final chapter pictures the cold-blooded medical experiments performed on animals, such as dissection without anesthetizing.

All the visual images Shaun Monson displays in the documentary are often shocking and brutal enough to make people feel guilty. A lot of reviewers admit that the video made them reconsider about their causal life of meat dishes -- which is why the video is nicknamed "the Vegan maker". It is doubtful, however, whether this video succeeded in "making" the vegetarians. People did "think" about being vegetarian, but only few actually changed their lifestyle. In other words, "Earthlings" is enough to inspire people to think about change, but not enough to actualize that change.

This "insufficiency" is incurred from three shortcomings of the film: its broad range, prejudiced standpoint, and enumeration of facts. First of all, the video deals with general problem; rather than choosing one specific field about animal abuse, the film covers whole aspects of human violence on animals. Discussion of overall issue is effective to enlighten the viewers that animal violence is not a distant, alien issue for humans but is a ubiquitous problem. The drawback of this approach, however, is that the film has too much content to discuss; some of the details, therefore, is portrayed too briefly that they lack in strong power to persuade the viewer. One person points out that the film "tries to cover the whole spectrum ... that give you fast, short facts here and there". For example, when Shaun pictures animals in the zoos, the image passes so fast that viewers might miss it if they had not been paying close attention on the screen. The reviewer suggests that if the film had included specific acts of zoo staffs mistreating animals, the film would have conveyed much clearer message. In short, because the film deals with general problem, the short cuts of images do not give the viewers enough information or time to ponder about changing their lifestyle. As the reviewer mentioned, the viewers must do their own researches to replenish their knowledge until it reaches enough to lead to realistic action.

Secondly, the stance of "Earthlings" that humans impose too much cruelty on animals is too one-sided. Strongly-biased perspective unintentionally leads the viewers to question, "What about the other side?" Maybe the director picked the most extreme examples among various cases in order to maximize pathos. Maybe there would be some more generous industries that anesthetize animals before slaughter or vivisection. Even if the images are normal, quotidian scenes in animal industry, the "truth" of video is so uncomfortable and guilt-eliciting that the viewers try to deny this truth and justify their current situations. If Shaun had included milder examples of the brutality, or suggested possible objection, the video would have been less biased, thereby raising less disbelief and denial.

Finally, merely listing the facts is not enough to make the viewers of "Earthlings" act. Throughout five chapters, the film clearly shows that animal abuse is omnipresent; however, it does not suggest any solutions to rescue animals from maltreatment. There do exist alternatives; beans and tofu other than meat; synthetic fiber in substitute for leather and fur; tennis competition in place of bullfighting. Instead of suggesting these alternatives, however, the film merely enumerates brutal images over all human life that drive the viewers to think that use of animals is ineradicable. The viewers, thus, feels futile and regards challenge meaningless -- consequently bringing no change in their lifestyles.

"Earthling" is, doubtlessly, one of the greatest definitive animal right films. It introduced a modern version of black discrimination by depicting the brutality of animal abuse while humans think nothing of this violence. Unfortunately, its role stops at merely "introducing" the issue; the film fails to take a further step of eliciting real changes. Shallowness, suspicion, and renunciation, respectively derived from the film's broadness, strongly biased stance, and no suggestion of solutions, prevents the viewers from "being vegetarians". The viewers would need more research that would resolve the drawbacks of "Earthlings". Maybe the film's nickname -- "the Vegan maker" -- is adulation; "the Vegan introducer" would be a little more proper.