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.

Jurassic Park III

Jurassic Park III. Joe Johnston, 2001.
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Edition screened: Included in Universal Jurassic Park Collection Blu-ray set, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: Dinocentric violence and deaths.

Details:
1) One huge dinosaur kills another huge dinosaur, 26:53-27:27.
2) A pterodactyl falls into the water and is killed/drowned by a giant cage that crashes down on him, 1:05:05.

I enjoyed Jurassic Park III substantially more that the first two Jurassic Park movies, mostly because III lacked the obnoxious Spielbergian cute kiddie crap. 

On the negative side, the special effects were not as good as those in the first two films; just not up to Spielberg’s standards.

On the positive side,
  • Not 60, nor 20, nor even a single close-up of a kid screaming cutely
  • A drastic reduction in Spielbergian charming quips and stupid jokes
  • Only 5 minutes of Laura Dern making gruesome faces, rather than 50 minutes
  • The 90-minute runtime felt like 90 minutes, rather than a 2-hour+ runtime that felt like 4 hours

1986 Williams Pin•Bot and 1985 Bally Fireball Classic in the restaurant.



















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