‘Farmed Animals on Film: A Manifesto for a New Ethic’

This first-of-its-kind book, 'Farmed Animals on Film' is more than just an examination of the use of animals in films, but, more directly, the use of films to help animals. With its examination of over 30 documentaries and narrative fiction films, the book is distinct from the mainstream animal welfare approach to media analysis in that it condemns the instrumental use of animals as a moral crime, whether legal or not. The author often highlights the Holocaust references in many films, which is a sensitive topic that readers and film viewers will reckon with, given that, in a speciesist society, many people may be insulted by comparisons of other animal species’ atrocities to human atrocities. He also advocates for 'naming and shaming' of perpetrators and exposing their use of violence or weapons.

CARRIE PACKWOOD FREEMAN: While the term “farmed animal” may harken us back to children’s tales, the book ‘Farmed Animals on Film: A Manifesto for a New Ethic’ cannot be reduced to a study of playful juvenile fiction nor a curious exploration of the cute or pastoral terrain of pigs and cows in cinema. On the contrary, from the first paragraph, author Stephen Marcus Finn makes it clear he is studying animal rights films and advocating for filmmakers to help society see farmed animals as individuals not food commodities, noting his choice of language is intentional, saying “‘farmed’ is a verb that indicates that the animals are there under duress, their lives dictated by humans”.

Readers will note Finn’s “critical animal and media studies” approach that is distinct from a mainstream animal welfare approach to media analysis in that it condemns instrumental use of animals as a moral crime, whether legal or not… He often highlights the Holocaust references in many films, which is a sensitive topic that readers and film viewers will reckon with, given that, in a speciesist society, many people may be insulted by comparisons of other animal species’ atrocities to human atrocities… He also draws upon ecofeminist and post-anthropomorphism philosophies, all outlined in chapter two for those new to these posthumanist approaches that challenge human exceptionalism.

With its examination of over 30 documentaries and narrative fiction films (live-action and animated), Farmed Animals on Film would serve as a comprehensive class text on the topic of film, food, and animal rights… While the focus on farmed animals may seem specific/narrow to some, consider how humans have made these domesticated animal species the most predominant land animals on the planet, diminishing and replacing wildlife and their/our habitats, and mass producing them in a systematic breeding and killing cycle by the billions that vastly outnumbers human society annually.

For most Westerners, farmed animals and the milk and egg products we take from them, still form the basis of many daily meals. Yet the procurement of these food items comes at a high cost to the individuals who were conscripted into our service against their will (and is environmentally untenable), but this forced captivity (and I would say injustice) often intentionally goes unexamined, even in higher education research. So Finn’s book is comprehensive and foundational in filling the major gap in the scholarly literature in both film/media studies and in animal studies…

The documentaries he examined are from North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Russia, and include a section on home videos and farm sanctuary videos. Regarding the latter, Finn states “Such documentaries should never be discounted. What they sometimes lack in artistry, they might well make up in commitment, in documenting the trials and tribulations as well as the joy of farmed animals”. Examples of films he applauds include: omnibus documentaries like Earthlings (2005) and Dominion (2018); compendium documentaries like Meet your Meat (2002) and Land of Hope & Glory (2017); single-issue documentaries like The Cove (2009); interviews with activists, like Peaceable Kingdom (2009); activists vs perpetrators, like Death on a Factory Farm (2009); plant-based documentaries like Milked (2019); and documentaries quietly following individual pigs and cows, like Gunda (2020) and Cow (2021)…

Finn’s ending manifesto helps the book be not only descriptive in critically documenting what has been produced by filmmakers but prescriptive in recommending what should be produced (and how) to encourage rights for animals other than humans… Manifesto recommendations for filmmakers include focusing on individual animals and their emotions, agency, and point of view, letting us hear their actual vocalizations, and avoiding dressing them up like humans. He advises using digital tech to portray farmed animals rather than any coercive training methods or anything disruptive to their lives and wellbeing.

Conversely, he advocates for “naming and shaming” of perpetrators and exposing their use of violence or weapons. He calls for thoughtful animal terminology that eschews agricultural industry euphemisms and instead uses direct species names, he/she/they but not it, and avoids calling them “nonhuman animals,” which negates them in relation to a human benchmark…

This first-of-its-kind book is more than just an examination of the use of animals in films, but, more directly, the use of films to help animals. This normative objective is captured in Finn’s citing of critical animal studies scholar Randy Malamud ‘s  position that it isn’t enough to declare that no animals were harmed in the making of this film, but rather we should declare how the making of this film helped animals. That is the presumed goal of Finn’s Farmed Animal Rights Manifesto, focused on the billions of individuals many of us consume everyday as objects but could instead start to consider as fellow subjects if more screenwriters, filmmakers, and production companies foster this moral revolution toward a healthy and equitable relationship with our animal kin. SOURCE…

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