Animal deaths in movies

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 3:01am

Why is everyone so hung up against animal deaths in movies? I remember the huge controversy over WINTER PASSING due to Zooey Deschanel's character throwing a cancer-suffering cat into a river. Then there was I AM LEGEND'S controversial treatment of its animal creations. BAMBI's mom, Simba's father, what's the deal with everyone getting so hung up on animals getting killed off in movies when human beings are shot to death or worse in plenty of films?

[killertofu333]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 3:16am

I guess because we've been so conditioned and we're used to seeing people die all the time because of the CSI's and Law & Order's of the world. I suppose seeing animals killed/hurt isn't something people see nearly as often so in turn get super worked up when that's portrayed in films and TV. I hate to admit it but I've actually teared up when I saw an animal (probably a dog) get hit by a car in a movie, but did nothing when I saw all the battle scenes in Braveheart (or insert any other movie with tremendous amounts of blood and guts). I guess I'm just weird.

[Plum]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 3:32am

The animals being killed are often relatively helpless pets who are dependent on the humans around them, whereas in Braveheart it's a bunch of guys going at each other with sharp objects. You expect death in a crime or war movie. Not so much pet death - that's usually still played for shock value.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 9:21am

Unfortunately, I think you have a very valid point, killertofu333. I will admit I'm a HUGE CSI fan- Catherine & Gil rule all; see my avatar

I love animals. I have always had rabbits as pets my whole life. I work for PetSafe- www.petsafe.net if you're interested

A certain scene in FATAL ATTRACTION hunts me to this day...

I love people and I hate to see anyone hurt or killed, but... I think we have become desensitized to it as a society.

Updated On: 12/23/08 at 09:21 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 9:30am

Oh I know what you mean. Bambi's mother had it coming. She had it comin'. She only had herself to blame. If you had been there, if you had seen it, I betcha you would have done the same.

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 9:44am

i remember my mom laughing at me because i changed the channel because i knew a dog was about to get kicked or something on chapelle's show, so i switched it to law and order.

re: winter passing...
there was this topic on the boards at imdb going on and on about "how could she kill an innocent kitten" and then someone started in with "well maybe the kitten wasn't really innocent" and that sparked a debate about whether kittens in general were really innocent or not. XD

[Taryn]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 10:05am

If you didn't cry when you were little when Bambi's mother and Mufasa died, you have no soul.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 10:49am

Old Yeller. If you don't cry at the end of that film, you have no sould.

In terms of books, the last 50 pages or so of Where the Red Fern Grows always gets me crying. I remember reading it for the first time in 6th grade and lots of kids in our class, boys included, were bawling by the end.

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 10:51am

i cried at the end of "stone fox" when i was in 4th grade.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 12:12pm

I don't care about animals OR humans being killed in movies.

[Weez]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 2:03pm

I'm a total misanthrope. I hate people generally. So I don't often care when they get offed in movies. But I love animals, so I'd rather they stayed with us. I'm sure parents would rather not watch movies where kids die, and someone whose kid flew off to Iraq could live without watching any war movies.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 2:53pm

It depends on how its handled. I was incensed when the directors of the already-stupid AMITYVILLE HORROR remake used the murder of the family dog to create suspense. On the other hand, I thought the dying dogs in the THE THING remake were pretty daggone cool.

But people do go overboard. I remember vigorously telling a very smart friend about the classic film FORBIDDEN GAMES, which is this incredibly powerful film about children and war with lots of devastating themes. All he could talk about was the fact that a dog got shot at the beginning and I was like "THAT was all you got from this movie??"

[grnsmwhr]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 3:31pm

Why is it that animal lovers don't like humans? Children are innocent and yet some of my animal loving friends wouldn't shed a tear over a child dying but will over a dog.

[EVIE]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 3:34pm

I can't stand to see animals suffer and or die on TV/movies. I've only watched Old Yeller and Bambi twice in my whole life. TLK, All Dogs go to Heaven and the first Land Before Time still make me cry. As does White Fang. Oh and I skip that terrible doggie scene in American Psycho. As far as people dying on the screen, it depends on who their character was!

[justme2]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 4:18pm

Don't ever watch "The Yearling" then...

[Roscoe]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 4:26pm

Don't ever watch:

RULES OF THE GAME -- there's a famous hunting scene involving the onscreen shooting of assorted rabbits and pheasants.

ANDREI RUBLEV -- there's a particularly unpleasant scene showing the real death of a horse.

APOCALYPSE NOW -- there's a particularly graphic sacrifice of an ox during a religious ceremony.

But by all means, watch TITANIC and see all those people drowning. Enjoy!!

[Shawk]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 4:31pm

The thing for me is, and some here have already touched on it, is that in, for example, a war movie, usually the people involved made choices that took them to that place, whereas the animals are not able to make a choice about where they are and what happens to them.

[Weez]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 4:38pm

Why is it that animal lovers don't like humans?

Get a pet. Work retail. It doesn't matter what order, but when you've done both of these things in sufficient quantities, you'll understand.

[killertofu333]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 4:42pm

Weez has a good point. When you're foaming up mocha lattes for suck-asses and coming home to a pet who missed you all day.......honestly which is better?

[Marianne2]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 5:28pm

I'm going to agree with Weez. Maybe it's not that we want people to die, but they just get frustrating to deal with. Especially if they are ungrateful for what you are doing for them. Since working in an animal shelter for a few months now, the cats I work with are usually happy when I come and pay attention to them. Even for just 5 minutes or so, it is more than what some of them got before they ended up in the shelter.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 5:32pm

Sorry Adam,

I have 'no sould'.


And I'm sure they didn't throw a real cat into the river, it's illegal.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 5:36pm

I remember when Independence Day first came out, in the cinema everyone cheered when Boomer jumped to safety, just as millions of people were being exterminated.

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 5:42pm

i'm going to go by what the director told me himself... there was a script in the bag. no kitty. the kitty lives with his brother.

you see, what they did, was they did this *sneaky* little trick where the kitty went in the bag, they stopped taping, took kitty /out/ of the bag, put the script in the bag, started taping again, and then she dropped the bag.

those crafty movie men and their trickeries of smoke and magic mirrors!!

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 5:49pm

Because the animals are dependent upon us and all they give is love. It's hard to watch them being mistreated. I know I can't bear to watch it.

I couldn't even watch the guy shoot the cow in Napoleon Dynamite!

[xxnewgirlxx]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 6:20pm

I come home to these faces every night. That's why I hate seeing bad things happen to animals.