ZooScope

Category: Imaginary Animals: No

  • Cinderella. Dir. Sir Kenneth Branagh . Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 2015.

    During Ella’s journey from a happy, sweet child, to the mourning servant of her stepfamily, to cherished wife of the King, her fundamental characteristics are consistent. Her mother tells her to ‘have courage and be kind’. The message is not subtle: this exact phrase is repeated another 9 times in the film. For the sceptics…

  • Harvey. Dir. Henry Kosta . Universal Pictures . 1950.

    In Henry Kosta’s film Harvey (1950), the simple power of the imagination, entwined with the light-hearted childish nature of the protagonist Elwood P. Dowd (James Stewart) acts as a tool to undermine and distinguish the evident psychological disturbances that lie beneath the surface of the plot.  Harvey, a six-foot three-and – a – half – inch tall hare,…

  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Dir. Chris Columbus. Warner Bros. 2002.

    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets utilizes horror film narratives and their depiction of monstrous animals in order to reveal a deeper complex message regarding human-animal relationships. The franchise’s reliance on Ophidiophobia acts to highlight the negative animalisation assigned to animals such as snakes, whilst the treatment of the Basilisk by humans in the film…

  • John Wick. Dir. Chad Stahelski. Summit Entertainment. 2014.

    John Wick is an exploration of domesticated animals and their hierarchical standing. The entire narrative centres around a revenge plot following the killing of Wick’s dog. It raises important questions of domestication, anthropomorphism, and worth. Following the opening montage of scenes detailing the loss of Wick’s wife, he is shown to have been given a…

  • Mad Max: Fury Road. Dir. George Miller. Warner Bros. 2015.

    Miller’s use of post-apocalyptic colour is deliberate and ground-breaking. Mad Max: Fury Road is saturated with reds and oranges. Immediately following a fight scene that results in a lead-character casualty, the colouring changes to a palette of deep blues and blacks. This immediately creates an association around the characters within of death; alongside the Crow…

  • Jurassic Park III. Dir. Joe Johnston. Universal Pictures. 2001.

    “This is how you make dinosaurs?”       “No. This is how you play God.” [1] Jurassic Park III revolves around the dinosaurs of the island ‘Isla Sorna’; genetically modified and inevitably abandoned in a previous movie of the franchise. It follows a wealthy family who have lost their son on the island, and try to pay their…

  • Hannah Montana: The Movie. Dir. Peter Chelsom. Walt Disney Pictures. 2009.

    Hannah Montana: The Movie is about Miley Stewart, a secret pop sensation known as Hannah Montana, getting caught up in the perks of her famous life. Her fed-up father, Robby Ray, forces Miley to visit her family on her hometown farm in Crowley Corners, Tennessee. Robby Ray threatens to take away Hannah Montana forever if Miley…

  • The Fox and the Child. Dir. Luc Jacquet. Pathé. 2007.

    Luc Jacquet’s The Fox and the Child depicts an unnamed girl (Bertille Noël-Bruneau) exploring the French countryside and following its animal inhabitants. She develops an obsession with the titular fox and it becomes more trusting, but the girl disastrously oversteps the boundary and attempts to make the wild animal her pet. The film is interested in binaries…

  • Black Swan. Dir. Darren Aronofsky. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2010.

    The movie Black Swan could be assigned to a psychological horror movie that was directed by Aronofsky and released in 2010. The film deals with the main protagonist Nina who is a promising ballet-dancer but at the same time very childish, shy and submissive. To be chosen for the lead role of “Swan Lake”, she…

  • Beginners. Dir. Mike Mills. Focus Features. 2010.

    Beginners (2010) follows a middle-aged man named Oliver and his father’s dog, Arthur, a Jack Russell Terrier, after his father has passed from cancer. Arthur is portrayed in a very non-animalistic way. He never barks, only really making a sound when he is crying as Oliver tries to leave him at home alone. Arthur just…