Category: Imaginary Animals: No
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How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Dir. Ron Howard. Universal Pictures.2000.
For as much as this film teaches us about the meaning of Christmas, it equally teaches us about the relation humans hold with animals, through both interaction and perception. The protagonist, The Grinch, lives in a cave at the top of Mount Crumpit with his dog Max, after running away from his adopted home in…
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Train to Busan. Dir. Yeon Sang-ho. Next Entertainment World. 2016.
Content warning: This article contains images of real animal death. The opening of Yeon Sang-ho’s action-horror film Train to Busan (2016) interprets the circumstances that lead to the epidemic at the centre of the ‘zombie apocalypse’ genre through an incident with a farmer and a deer. Considering the film’s narrative is characterised by a linearity…
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An American Tail. Dir. Don Bluth. Universal Pictures.1986
“There are no cats in America“ Don Bluth’s An American Tail is a 2D animation family film in which the human drama of religious persecution, poverty and immigration at the end of the 19th century is narrated through the eyes of a Russian Jewish family of mice, the Mousekewitz, and particularly through Fievel, the seven-year-old…
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Hocus Pocus. Dir Kenny Ortega. Walt Disney Pictures. 1993
Thackery Binx is one of the central figures of Hocus Pocus, and in doing this the film considers the status of domesticated animals within society and cinema. Hocus Pocus acknowledges cats’ role as a domestic sphere defenders. Binx is specifically transformed into a cat because of the meanings we associate with them in our society,…
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Mason’s Rats. Dir. Carlos Stevens. Netflix. 2022.
“Like World War fucking IV.” The Love, Death and Robots’ episode, Mason’s Rats, centres around conflict regarding control and the co-existence of humans and animals, specifically rats, in a world dominated by technologically advanced humans. Significantly, the identities of the two clashing forces – the rats and Mason – are used to portray the errors of internecine fighting, with…
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28 Days Later. Dir. Danny Boyle. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2002.
Boyle’s 28 Days Later presents a devastated post-apocalyptic world in which a highly infectious rage virus spreads through humanity, causing those infected to be struck with mindless violent rage. The opening laboratory scene depicts the origin of the virus and moment the infection is first transmitted to humans. The spread to humans happens through chimpanzees…
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We Need To Talk About Kevin. Dir. Lynne Ramsay. 2011. Youtube.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to mourn Mr. Snuffles, who was snuffed out.“ Lynne Ramsay’s psychological thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin portrays the debate of nurture versus nature through the relationship of an emotionally distant mother and psychopathic son. The purposeful inclusion of a guinea pig who serves as a vessel for…
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Me and You and Everyone We Know. Dir. Miranda July. IFC Films. 2005
Me and You and Everyone We Know – fish scene Goldfish have been domesticated by humans for thousands of years, and Me and You and Everyone We Know invites an engrossing encounter with the sea animal as it appears in a plastic bag swaying on top of a fast-moving car. This clip of a fleeting…
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Sing. Dir. Garth Jennings. Illumination Entertainment. 2016
Illumination Entertainment’s Sing is a computer animated film that follows a group of anthropomorphic animals taking part in a singing competition that interferes in the contestants’ privates lives, representing society and human struggles through them. In this scene, the money heist, gorillas perform mundane human tasks like singing and driving. Johnny is a large and…
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Wendy and Lucy, Dir. Kelly Reichardt, Oscilloscope Pictures (2008)
A Photo of Lucy who stands at the front of the shot panting, and her owner Wendy who stands behind her, separated by a chain-linked fence. (1) Wendy and Lucy (2008) Whilst spending the majority of the film searching for her lost companion after getting arrested for stealing dog food she can’t afford from a…