Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.


Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.


Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.


These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

Rock ’n’ Roll High School

Rock ’n’ Roll High School. Allan Arkush, 1979.
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Edition screened: New Concorde DVD, released 2001. English language with Gabba Gabba Hey. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: Inappropriate handling of a mouse.

Details:
1) Mary Woronov handles a white mouse very roughly, 19:11-20:00, swinging it by the tail while she talks with her hands. There is a brief return to this, 23:03-23:14.
2) The mouse’s cage begins to shake violently at 24:05, simulating the vibrations of loud music, until the smoke-bang suggestion that the mouse has exploded at 24:20. Despite the popularity of referencing “exploding white mice,” there is no actual depiction of a mouse exploding, nor would such a visual effect fit in the intentionally silly and innocent Rock ’n’ Roll High School.

Rock ’n’ Roll High School is popularly quoted and noted for five reasons:
• the spurious exploding white mice.
• the entertaining presence of P.J. Soles, Mary Woronov, and Paul Bartel.
• the disconcerting presence of Clint Howard.
• performances by The Ramones.
• the only filmed performance of Marla Rosenfield, who steals every scene in which her minor character ‘Cheryl’ appears. Vidcap of Herself thanks to Aveleyman!

Bally Op-Pop-Pop backstage with The Ramones.

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