ZooScope

Tag: Chicken(s)

  • 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…

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

    Ostensibly, the transformation of a dog into a footstool in Beauty and the Beast operates as a humorous pun.[1] Visually, it works: Sultan in footstool form is around the right size, his tassels stand in for a head and tail and his decorated legs make convincing paws. Furthermore, the transformation of a dog into a footstool plays on…

  • Samsara. Dir. Ron Fricke. Oscilloscope Laboratories. 2011.

    Samsara (2011) is a non-narrative documentary directed by Ron Fricke.[1] “Samsara” is a Sanskrit word for the cycle of birth, life and death. Through this theme, the film aims to ‘illuminate the links between humanity and the rest of nature, showing how our life cycle mirrors the rhythm of the planet’.[2] One particular sequence depicts the different…

  • Fantastic Mr. Fox. Dir. Wes Anderson. 20th Century Fox. 2009.

    Mr. Fox in Fantastic Mr. Fox is a charismatic selfish father that puts his own wants and needs before his family. The narrative follows Mr. Fox and his many escapades of stealing chickens and putting his family and town into harm’s way by interfering with three powerful corporate farmers. After being fooled one too many times, the…

  • We Bought a Zoo. Dir. Cameron Crowe. 20th Century Fox. 2011.

    We Bought a Zoo is a film loosely based on a memoir of the same name by Benjamin Mee which describes his purchase and restoration of the failing Dartmoor Wildlife Park – subsequently renamed Dartmoor Zoological Park – in preparation for its reopening. In the film, the death of Benjamin’s wife has led to a…

  • Povelitel’Mukh / Lord of the Flies. Dir. Vladimir Tyulkin. Kazakhfilm. 1990.

    Vladimir Tyulkin’s Lord of the Flies (Tyulkin, 1990), shot in Kazakhstan on the eve of the Soviet Union’s fall, discusses imperial, social, and human fragility within the microcosm of ‘Grandpa’ Kirill’s yard. As Kirill states, “My yard is… a state in miniature… I look upon the numerous breeds of animals living in my yard as nations”. Kirill,…

  • Animals: Friend or Food?. Dir. Jason Young . National Film Board of Canada. 2003.

    Animals, a documentary film directed by Jason Young, follows a young couple’s journey through a year-long experiment in raising their own livestock on a farm in Nova Scotia. The re-birth of the abandoned farm the couple takes over mirrors his re-birth as he changes from urbanite to farmer. After questioning their relationship with animals, the two…

  • Earthlings. Dir. Shaun Monson. Nation Earth. 2005.

    Fig. 1 The original release poster for Earthlings, the film’s oft repeated challenge to the viewer to ‘make the connection’ features prominently alongside pictures of plants, animals and the evil emperor Commodus (representing humankind).   ‘How do you know if someone is Vegan? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you’. So proclaims an increasingly popular meme. Type preachy into…

  • Fantastic Mr. Fox. Dir. Wes Anderson. 20th Century Fox . 2009.

    2009 saw Wes Anderson turn his unique eye for detail and style to stop motion animation, with his adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. The film has a distinct and consistent colour scheme of warm oranges and browns, changing only to show the warehouses and homes of the evil farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean.…

  • The Plague Dogs. Dir. Martin Rosen. United Artists. 1982.

    Based on Richard Adams’ 1977 novel of the same name, The Plague Dogs[1] follows the story of Rowf and Snitter, who escape from an animal research centre after Rowf’s cage is left unlocked, finding themselves in the heart of the Peak District. The dogs hope to find a master, but every human encounter is hostile. Running out…