Fishing For Animal Rights In The Cove: A Holistic Approach to Animal Advocacy Documentaries (original) (raw)
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Three Faces of Advocacy: The Cove, Mine, and Food, INC.
The Cove, Mine, and Food, INC. each use the documentary genre to advocate for change, whether in regards to mass wild animal kills, companion animals in natural disasters, or the modern food industry. The films, however, present views of human-nonhuman animal relations that vary greatly. Where The Cove regards dolphins as beings who deserve freedom, Mine explores the view of companion animals as property. Food, INC., finally, treats farm animals solely as a food source.
Why Whales: The Hierarchies of Love and Animal Protection, 2023
Which animals deserve our protection and why? How do we justify which animals we care about and place at the forefront of our campaigns? Which animal qualities move us and why? How are intelligence and proximity to other perceived-as-human qualities shaping our advocacy, care and love? Why do we care for whales? In 2021 I conducted research in Iceland for my BA thesis, examining the cultural significance of whales and interspecies relationships. Hunting, fishing, mythology, research and activism are different aspects of this human–whale relationship spectrum. Drawing on my ethnographic data, in this presentation I will re-examine how whales moved from being a monster of the sea, to a merely bigger fish, to a protagonist of campaigns about the protection of the Ocean. Why do so many people feel the need to advocate for them and why are their mammalian, family-oriented nature and intelligence the cornerstones of the argument for their protection? I believe speciesism and anthropocentrism shape the ways we chose to advocate for certain animals at the expense of others. Also, we project human qualities onto these animals, to justify our unjustifiable preferences. By using the example of whales and the discourse around them in Iceland, I will be countering the hierarchies of our love and inequalities of animal protection.
Journalism and Media, 2022
Images of nonhuman animals may be effective tools in producing climate concern and empathy for animals, particularly if animals are shown in natural habitats. Visual and narrative analysis of the documentary Racing Extinction identifies a practice of selectively recognizing the individuality of certain animals. Despite emphasizing the intrinsic worth of often-marginalized animals, Racing Extinction reproduces the marginalization of domesticated animals raised for consumption and less charismatic marine life. A close reading of the film’s animal imagery also reveals a spatialized bias—visualizing violence against marine life overwhelmingly in China and Indonesia and by comparison associating the U.S. with indirect climate harm rather than the direct killing of animals. Intertwining a decolonial ethic with a critical animal studies perspective, this paperreveals how disjointed imagery of nonhuman animal suffering facilitates racial scapegoating, masks the exploitation of marine life by the U.S. and partitions uneven ethical responsibilities towards nonhuman animals. This is contrasted to the documentary Seaspiracy, which advances a universal, non-speciesist ethic of “mutual avowal”, contextualizing images of violence against marine life