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.

The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass. Chris Weitz, 2007.

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Edition screened: New Line DVD, released 2008. English language. Runtime approximately 113 minutes.


Summary: Mild fighting among animals. 


Details: 

1) A key aspect of the story is that the soul of each human takes the form of an animal that travels with the person. These animals sometimes attack each other, but there are no depictions of violent injury, blood, or death. Encounters are more like short cat fights.


2) Near the end of the film an army attacks an ice bear, including tethering him with ropes and intending to shoot him. The ice bear prevails without noticeable injury. He then gets into a fight with another ice bear and sustains a broken front leg, yet still lands a KO power punch. We see him running off in triumph with his little girl friend hero, so the broken leg must have been on autoheal. The end!


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