Who’s the “wild” one now? Exploitation of non-human animals as seen in the animal advocacy documentary The Ghosts in Our Machine

• Autores: Danial Azhar
• Localización: Animal Ethics Review (AER), ISSN-e 2696-4643, Vol. 1, Nº. 1 (Special Issue: Communication and Advocacy), 2021, págs. 19-27
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In our consumer-driven societies, nonhuman animals(NHAs) are widely exploited and mistreated to support our consumption habits.The exploitation of NHAs has become common innumerous multibillion-dollar industries, from food to fashion, cosmetics and medicine.Yet amongstallthis, NHAs have a llies who advocate for the irrights, sentience and life without suffering to be recognized. Nonhuman animal activists have several communication strategies at their disposable, with documentary films being one that have grown in popularity and influence. Assuch, the purpose of this article is to determine the effectiveness of one NHA advocacy documentary, The Ghosts in Our Machine (Marshall 2013), through at heoretical discussion of its audiovisual elements.The analysis finds that the documentary is an exercise of empathy and compassion, focusing on the individuality of its nonhuman animal subjects and depicting the fulfilling lives they may lead away from human exploitation. Contrasting the lives of captive NHAs being exploited in the meat, dairy and fur industries with that of a small cast of rescued individuals, The Ghosts in Our Machine (henceforth Ghosts) takes a contemplative and intimate approach to expose the viewer to the malpractices of ten hidden from us.The viewer is not shocked through gory images, but rather made witness to the intimacy of interspecies relations.