Tag: HAR: Animal Agency
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Baraka. Dir. Ron Frike. The Samuel Goldwyn Company. 1992.
Ron Fricke’s 1992 documentary film Baraka highlights the darker side of human-animal relations through a sequence comparing two very similar visual images. One scene depicts a crowded subway while another shows new-born chicks on a conveyor belt, presumably being sexed and arranged for meat or egg production.
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Bee Movie. Dir. Steve Hickner and Simon J. Smith. DreamWorks. 2007.
This textbook human thinking opens Bee Movie [2], an animation which follows the film’s aptly alliteratively named protagonist, Barry B. Benson, an aspiring bee, on his search for individuality in a conformist bee society that has worked non-stop for ‘27 million years’. Barry, disillusioned at the thought of working for the rest of his life…
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Two Brothers . Dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud. Universal Studios. 2004.
ean-Jacques Annaud transports us to the richly beautiful Cambodian jungle in the early 1920s , where two tiger cubs, Sangha and Kumal, are born to their stable and loving family unit. Their playful brotherly bond creates many adventures until violence and greed removes the two from the wild and forces them into the human domain…
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Ratatouille. Dir. Brad Bird. Pixar. 2007.
Within Ratatouille, the scene in which Remy figures out that he is able to control Linguini, Brad Bird confounds expectations through undermining the stereotype about the animality of rats, and using the rats as symbols for immigrants. This interaction challenges the human/animal binary and strengthens the anthropomorphism of Remy. The director, Bird, suggests unity within this…
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Ratatouille. Dir. Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava. Pixar. 2007.
Brad Bird’s Ratatotuille challenges how we stereotypically perceive rats through the depiction of the protagonist, Remy. The narrative shows Remy struggling with finding acceptance in human society, despite the exceptional cooking talents he has to offer. In anthropomophising Remy to directly challenge our negative perception of rats, Ratatouille promotes wider messages of hope and perseverance for the underdog, as…
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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…
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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…