ZooScope

Tag: Satire

  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Dir. Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones. EMI Films. 1975.

    In the opening scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail [1], a grassy hill is shown with the sound of horse’s hooves—only for a skipping King Arthur, and coconut-clomping servant to appear, sans horse. This sets the scene for the finest ever cinematic use of imaginary horses.

  • White God. Dir. Kornél Mundruczó. InterCom Zrt. 2014.

    White God (dir. Kornél Mundruczó, 2014) depicts the story of Hagen [Bodie and Luke], a mixed-breed dog, and his relationship with Lili [Zsófia Psotta], a young girl who is sent to live with her emotionally distant father [Sándor Zsótér].  Unwilling to pay the newly implemented ‘mongrel fee’ imposed by the Hungarian government in a desperate attempt…

  • Carnage. Dir. Simon Amstell. BBC. 2017.

    What would the world be like if everybody was vegan? According to Simon Amstell’s vision of the future in Carnage, it’s a peaceful utopia in which the young vegans of tomorrow frolic in fields and enjoy food much more, knowing that nothing was taken from an animal, albeit one in which the older generations of ex-meat-eaters…

  • Gone Girl. Dir. David Fincher. 20th Century Fox. 2014.

    On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne receives an unexpected phone call from his neighbour, who has spotted his indoor pet cat wandering outside the house. When Nick returns, not only does he discover that his cat has been misplaced, but his wife, Amy has disappeared too. Leaving a staged crime scene…

  • Mon Oncle. Dir. Jacques Tati. Gaumont (France), Continental Distributing (USA). 1958.

    Mon Oncle (1958), as many of Jacques Tati’s films, focuses on the character of Monsieur Hulot, a bumbling but lovable man who fights a constant battle against the modern architecture and consumerist culture of post-war France. His use of the old cultural form of silent comedy to do so means that the film is predominantly…

  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Dir. Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones. EMI Films. 1975.

    This iconic scene fully exemplifies the film’s absurdist representation of the violence of the crusades, particularly the disproportionate violence of the Western invaders. It explores this using the similarly lopsided power-dynamic of the animal-human relationship, the surreal treatment of which exposes the arbitrary hegemony, and divine mission of the white Christian crusaders as a lie.…

  • Gone Girl. Dir. David Fincher. 20th Century Fox. 2014.

    Stereotypically, cats are represented as sly, sexy, intelligent, manipulative and mysterious creatures, and all of these characteristics are embodied in Gone Girl’s (dir. David Fincher, 2014) complex anti-heroine Amy Dunne. In order to understand Amy’s immensely complicated character, who only exists in flashbacks during the film’s opening scene, the film projects Amy’s character onto her husband Nick’s…

  • A Matter of Loaf and Death. Dir. Nick Park. BBC. 2008.

    Beloved characters Wallace and his side-kick canine Gromit return for another film, and this time they are running Top Bun, a brand new bakery. Business is booming for the duo, but a serial killer is on the loose, killing all the bakers in town. While Gromit begins to fear for the pair’s safety, Wallace is…

  • 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…

  • 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…