Animals on Screen

Injuries

Animals as Symbols

Retirement

Popularity of Animal Actors

Alternatives

What You Can Do

Roll Camera

Remember “Hi Ho Silver, Away,” Lassie, Flipper, or J. Fred Muggs? If you do, you’re showing your age, but you’re also showing you’re aware that animals have been used in television and film for decades. Maybe Chance, Sassy, and Shadow are more to your taste (Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey) or 101 Dalmatians. How about “Yo quiero Taco Bell”? We often delight in these animal actors but how much do we know about their lives on and off the set? Do they have paparazzi following them? Do they drink from water bowls made of Waterford? Are their trailers stocked with biscuits, bananas, oats, herring?

And Action

In the 1925 version of Ben Hur, 150 horses were killed during the famous chariot scene. Over the years, many other animals have suffered severe injuries and death during rehearsals and taping of other films and shows. Even as recently as 2005, during the remake of the movie Flicka, a horse was injured and had to be euthanized.

In 1940, the American Humane Association (AHA) created its Film and Television Unit. The mission of this unit is to protect animals while on the film or television set. Although the unit offers guidelines on appropriate care during preproduction, it does not monitor preproduction training. Also, the unit does not conduct background investigations of trainers to determine if they have ever been convicted of animal-related charges or violations of the Animal Welfare Act. The AHA Film and Television Unit, which has on-set jurisdiction from the Screen Actors Guild, observes approximately 850 productions a year with nine full-time field staff.

Take Two

Maybe a more basic question needs to be asked. Should we be using live animals, especially those taken from the wild or raised in captivity without appropriate habitat and familial support, to entertain us in film and television shows? From MGM’s lion to TriStar’s horse, from artsy films to Disney cartoons, animals have played their part, but at what cost?

Often animals are reduced to mere symbols on film. They do not stand for themselves but are rather a concept, a means to an end. Moby Dick and Equus are not about the animals but about the humans’ working out their issues with the animals as objects of the humans’ rage and torment.

TV shows such as Mr. Ed do not portray horses as horses but as animals who speak in order to communicate with the human actors. When animals are portrayed as other than who they naturally are, the audience gets a distorted view of their true characteristics.

That’s a Wrap

What happens to aging film and television stars? Some go on to do infomercials but what of the aging animal actor? He or she often winds up in a roadside zoo, as prey in a canned hunt, or as a research specimen in a biomedical laboratory. Rarely does the retired animal actor have the cushy existence afforded an aging diva. Some are lucky enough to find homes in animal sanctuaries where they are cared for the rest of their lives or they are adopted by caring individuals. But there are not enough sanctuaries or caring humans to support all the animals used in film and on television.

Cut

Popular television shows and movies often spawn the creation of kitsch. While some of the items sold are harmless, the popularity of animals in films often creates a glut of these animals. To satisfy the demand, these animals are often overbred or captured, bought, and sold with little regard for their care.

For instance, following the release of 101 Dalmatians, Dalmatians became popular dogs. Many people who bought these dogs found out just how challenging having a working dog can be so shelters then were inundated with dumped Dals.

The popularity of Marcel the capuchin monkey on Friends focused attention on keeping wild monkeys as pets. After Marcel’s debut on the popular sitcom, the United States saw an increase in the number of monkeys being brought into and sold within its borders.

Quiet on the Set

Today’s technology allows film and television producers to use animatronics and other computer –enhanced and digital animation to create all types of animal likenesses; they do not need to use live animals. However, even if live animals are not used, caution is still needed when electronically depicting animal behavior. There should be no gratuitous behavior toward them. Nor, should they be made to perform absurd and unnatural behaviors. These acts do not promote healthy relationships between humans and nonhuman animals.

We can, however, see animals in their natural habitat living their normal lives by viewing documentaries. Documentaries offer viewers a glimpse of the real animal in real life—not a screen writer’s version or a director’s perception. Documentaries, if done well, give the viewers an opportunity to learn some aspect of the lives of the animals depicted in the documentary. Hopefully the more knowledge we have of their true lives, the more likely we will be to save them from destruction.

Take Action to Help End Animal Use in Film and Television

What can you do to change what is happening to animals forced to perform for our entertainment in film and on television? First, you can choose to avoid viewing those films and shows that depict animals as mere props with little regard for their nature and their needs. Other humane actions include:

• Educate your friends, family, and coworkers to help them determine if a movie or show is gratuitous toward animals.
• Lobby to ensure regulations protect animals who are performing in films and television and that these regulations are enforced.
• Write sponsors of shows that depict gratuitous violence toward live or computer-created animals that you will no longer buy their products.

October 2009

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