Author: Sophie Lott
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Donnie Darko. Dir. Richard Kelly. Newmarket Films, Pandora Cinema, United Artists. 2001.
Set in 1988, Richard Kelly’s popular cult classic Donnie Darko deals with the teenage title character’s battle with diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, fits of violent behaviour, and cynicism towards established institutions. Unlike other ‘ordinary’ 16 year olds, Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) has thoughts that are plagued by a man-sized rabbit (James Duval) that simultaneously saves him from, and then…
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Shark Tale. Dir. Bibo Bergeron, Vicky Jenson, Rob Letterman. DreamWorks Animation. 2004.
DreamWorks Animation’s Shark Tale plays with the binary of shark/fish through the characterization of Lenny the vegetarian shark and his performativity of conventionally human gender stereotypes. The family animation draws attention to the common opinion of meat eating as conventionally masculine, relating to an acceptance of violence, and vegetarianism as typically associated with femininity, empathy and compassion…
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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Dir. Garth Jennings. Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 2005.
Garth Jennings’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy introduces its science fiction narrative by destabilizing the assumption that human intelligence is greater than that of all other animals by conceptualizing that they are in fact only “the third most intelligent creature on the planet” and dolphins are the second. A satirical image entitled ‘Why Dolphins are the…