ZooScope

  • Ratatouille. Dir. Brad Bird. Buena Vista Pictures. 2007.

    Brad Bird’s 2007 computer-animated film Ratatouille uses its mode as animation to estab­lish an alternate logic to the real world, enabling communication between humans and animals. The turning point that establishes this communication is when Lin­guini captures Remy in a jar. After asking a series of aggressive questions, Linguini calms down, and begins to take a more…

  • Ratatouille. Dir. Brad Bird. Buena Vista. 2007.

    In a world where humans are relentlessly attempting to control and train animals, it is intriguing to see this portrayed in reverse in Brad Bird’s, Ratatouille.[1] Remy the rat is depicted as significantly smarter than the human (Linguini), as he teaches him how to cook and navigate his way around a kitchen; whilst Linguini remains predominantly confused…

  • Ratatouille . Dir. Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava . Walt Disney Pictures. 2007.

    The final shot of Ratatouille, the image of a rat in the restaurant sign, symbolises the fantasy of the rat and human worlds crossing, and the idealisation of a rat chef being accepted by human society. However, this is ultimately impossible, as darker themes lurk beneath this image. The sign features a silhouette of a rat…

  • Beauty and the Beast . Dir. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. Buena Vista Pictures. 1991.

    Beauty and the Beast, Disney’s early 90s offering follows the protagonist Belle, a clever and beautiful woman. Frustrated at her small town life, she hungers for adventure. She rejects the relentless advances of Gaston, the loathsome but handsome villain and instead falls in love with a ‘hideous beast’; a former prince who has been cursed…

  • Kes. Dir. Ken Loach. Woodfall Films. 1969.

    Kes (dir. Ken Loach, 1969) depicts working class Billy using his kestrel training as a means of escaping the grim reality of life in the industrial north, while the juxtaposition of industry with local nature represents the man-made depression of the mining town. In the scene we see Billy’s first glimpse of the kestrels in flight.…

  • Flushed Away. Dir. David Bowers and Sam Fell. Paramount Pictures. 2006.

    Within Flushed Away, the scene of Roddy meeting Sid for the first time utilises their anthropomorphism to project, not only social class, but bullying societal pressures and to scrutinize those who do not conform. Illustrating Roddy’s adopted social class is the way in which he is anthropomorphised, assuming the role of the upper class. However, Roddy’s upper…

  • IRIS. Dir. Albert Maysles. Magnolia Pictures. 2014.

    There are few people who wouldn’t be intrigued by Iris Apfel. The nonagenarian fashion icon with statement eyewear, accessories hanging like Christmas decorations, and a unique outlook on life. It is no wonder then why legendary documentarian Albert Maylses focuses on her as subject of his penultimate documentary film, IRIS (2014). Plunging us deep into her creative…

  • Shaun the Sheep The Movie. Dir. Mark Burton and Richard Starzak. Studiocanal. 2015.

    Restaurant scene Starzak and Burton challenge our perceptions of human and animal intelligence in Shaun the Sheep The Movie. Aardman excel in casting the animals as intelligent and exasperated by humans, meanwhile humans are portrayed as less so, and oblivious to animal antics happening directly in front of them. The scene in which the sheep dine…

  • Shaun the Sheep The Movie. Dir. Mark Burton and Richard Starzak. Studiocanal. 2015.

    Shaun the Sheep The Movie trailer Following his introduction in Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave, the woolly star, Shaun the Sheep, received his own spin off show creatively named Shaun the Sheep. Nearing the 20th anniversary of the nation’s introduction to him, the eponymous sheep was given his own movie. Shaun the Sheep The Movie follows the antics…

  • Gremlins. Dir. Joe Dante. Warner Bros.. 1984.

    An inventor of dubious talent visits Chinatown trying to find his son a Christmas present, where he is sold a strange fluffy creature; a Mogwai. The creature comes with three rules: do not expose it to bright light, do not get it wet, and do not feed it after midnight. Within due time however, all…

Got any book recommendations?

Get In Touch