Sunday, February 24, 2013

Smiling Dolphins, Sorrowful Horses, and Singing Wolves: Anthropomorphism, Abuse, the Commoditization of Nature, and What This Means for Animals…


       The sound of painful, high-pitched squeals and squeaks.  The sight of dark figures violently thrashing about…and the resultant spray of carmine seawater into the gray air with each rapid movement.  The sickening expressions made by the Japanese fisherman, wielding spears and perched precariously on small scows or swimming nearby in the blood-water…looks ranging from indifference, to complacency, to amusement. 
Each time I view TheCove, these and other horrifying visual and auditory experiences grow ever more alarmingcommencing feelings of anger, helplessness, sadness, and sheer disbelief.  
Welcome to the “Cove.”

       In this 2009 documentary film directed and narrated by famed nature photographer, Louie Psihoyos, viewers learn about the origins and life of captive dolphins, as well as the global plight of cetaceans in general.  Early on, the audience is shown images of Taiji, Japan, a “little town with a big secret.”  We learn that Taiji is a town that “loves” cetaceans, dolphins especially: businesses adorn buildings, buses, and benches with the familiar curved form of a dolphin mid-leap, there are “dolphinariums” where visitors excitedly gather to watch dolphin shows, tourists flock dolphin-themed gift shops filled with—you guessed it—all types of dolphin paraphernalia

       So, what’s the secret?  Taiji is the world’s number-one exporter of dolphins—dead and alive—destined for both “dolphinariums” and dinner plates.  This small Japanese village is home to the “Cove,” a convenient, pint-size natural geographic blip in the coastline, where local fisherman and dolphin trainers entrap dolphins.  After trapping the dolphins, viewers learn that certain dolphins are selected and harvested for export to serve as “actors” in dolphin shows, or are brutally killed and will be turned into food for humans (despite the fact that scientists have proven it to contain up to 2000ppm of Mercury—the maximum level of which, in any type of food, should not exceed 0.4ppm).  Joining Louie Psihoyos is a team of scientists, activists, filmmakers, and other concerned citizens serving as support staff for the OceanicPreservation Society’s mission in Japan…to expose the brutal industry that surrounds dolphin entertainment.  Former Flipper dolphin trainer, Ric O’Barry, teaches us that a dolphin’s “smile” is “nature’s greatest deception.”  Watching The Cove certainly made me hard about the pain and suffering hiding behind all of those “smiles” we see at SeaWorld and on television. 

       That is what upsets me the most; the fact that such incredibly horrible abuse is an industry.  It is carried off on an extraordinarily large scale.  Viewers learn that each dolphin sold for performance purposes can fetch up to $150,000 per dolphin, with the slaughtered dolphins selling at a lower cost for meat.  I am shocked by both the massive scale and the unnatural mechanization of the dolphin capture and kill practices in Taiji.  The fishermen are shown as taking full advantage of nature: turning what could be a peaceful lagoon into a blood-drenched killing zone—the “Cove.”  By exploiting the extraordinarily sensitive sense of hearing and sonar that dolphins possess, the fishermen scare the stressed dolphins into the “Cove” by banging poles on the bottom of the seafloor from their boats.  Closing off the lagoon, the dolphins are trapped, and face their fate 
To me, the most powerful image shown repeatedly through the film is that of the water of the “Cove” stained to a near-maroon hue with dolphin blood, an interval of catch and kill caught on camera undercover by the OPS teamit is an image that never wants to make me see a captive dolphin again.

       Linda Hogan’s “Deify the Wolf” (from her book Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World), like The Cove, similarly makes reference to the commoditized nature that is so pervasive in our society.  Reading Hogan’s piece, which discusses the human fascination and controversy that surround the wolf, I find myself questioning human exploitation of nature, and how such destructive practices have been influenced by the media, and its these human beliefs and practices mean for animals themselves.  Hogan’s writing, riveting and rich, delivers potent images into the minds of readers, enabling her audience to truly “picture” the effects of commoditized nature on both human society and nature itself.

       How does media and nature-based entertainment such as zoos influence human behavior and action?  Hogan recalls on her visit to see wolves in Ely, Minnesota:

One man has come because he wants to see the threatened wolves before they are extinct.  A California woman thinks seeing the wolves would be ‘like in the movies.’  Another man is a trapper who earns $1,500 a year trapping fur animals and says he’ll hunt and trap as long as women wear fur coats."
 
       This passage clearly illustrates the effects of media, advertising, and culture in shaping our relationship to nature.  Hogan’s words show that the images and stories people see and hear about nature come to shape our culture, and thus our relationship to the outdoors and the animals that live “out there.”  I wonder what a wolf would think, with its “golden” eyes facing down the barrel of a shotgun, if it knew a woman would be wearing its fuzzy hide sometime in the not-too-distant future…all because human society has deemed its fur as “fashion…”

       The “golden eyes” of wolves are also discussed in Mary Oliver’s poem, “Meeting Wolf” (from her book Evidence: Poems).  The poem itself, spare and concisely written, discusses a human-animal encounter in which the speaker stands one-on-one with a wolf.  I find Oliver’s poem to be an interesting take on the possible inner feelings of animals who have been exploited or harmed by humans as a product of nature’s commoditization. 

       One writing choice in particular that I enjoyed was Oliver’s repetition of the word “inside.”  “Inside his mouth”/“inside his golden eyes,” are lines that work to transport readers into the very psyche of the wolf in the poem.  In particular, the use of the symbol of “eyes” as a portal “inside” the soul of a living being is quite strong in conveying such a message, since it is nearly universally understood; there is so much information about emotion that can be gleaned from looking into one’s eyes…human and animal.  I feel as though that is Oliver’s main purpose in writing “Meeting Wolf;” to transport her readers into the proverbial “shoes” of the wolf…of an animal that has been so exploited, so ill-spoken of, so dreaded, so hated, so abused by humans….

       The last lines of the poem hold the most power for me, and provide readers with a necessary break from the “me, me, me” mindset of human culture.  Instead, readers are advised to think of their impact on nature, how the environment has been degraded through human action and what that means for the wolf: “He has given me”/“a glimpse into a better but now broken world.”/ “Not his doing, but ours.”  Oliver’s poem encourages readers to contemplate the “domino” effects of human-nature interaction…namely, negative anthropogenic actions, and how other life on earth is impacted, forced to face changes and challenges thanks to us and our, exceedingly commercially-driven, desires.  “Not his doing, but ours.”

       Like Oliver, writer Alice Walker emphasizes the importance of assuming an animal’s point of view when it comes to making decisions that either directly or indirectly impact non-human creatures.  In her piece, “Am I Blue?” Walker describes her memory of “Blue,” “a large white horse” living on the property next-door to her home in the country.  Walker describes her connection to Blue, forged mainly through her offering him apples.  Also similarly to Oliver, Walker makes mention the commonly-used symbol of “eyes” as a portal into which one may view another’s soul: “…I had forgotten the depth of feeling one could see in horses’ eyes” (4). 

       Eyes are mentioned throughout, both Blue’s and Alice’s.  Although some may see this attribution of emotion as observed through Blue’s eyes as anthropomorphism, I firmly believe this to be false.  Animals do have emotion, feeling, and consciousness, as scientific fact has revealed.  It enrages me when people claim animals to be unfeeling or emotionless—of course they feel!  I applaud Walker for comparing her emotion to Blue’s, as it opens up the discussion around animal exploitation and abuse, it urges humans to think, “What would I feel like if I were the animal?  With my daily routine being controlled by someone else, with limited or no choices as to what I can do…”.  Thus, my favorite “eye” passage in the piece is that in which Walker attempts to put herself in Blue’s “shoes:” “If I had been born into slavery, and my partner had been sold or killed, my eyes would have looked like that” (7).  Humans must bring animal rights and feelings to the table when making environmental choices.  It is only fair.

       Visually stimulating and exciting, James Cameron’s 2009 film, Avatar, provides readers with a cautionary science-fiction tale that invites viewers to contemplate their role as humans on earth.  While viewing, I often find myself thinking, “How do my actions as a human affect the world around me?”  The animation of the film is spectacular, vivid images of the Na’vi tribe and their life on planet Pandora work to capture the attention of virtually every viewer, young and old alike.  Although the deep human-nature-animal themes of the film did intrigue me, for the most part, I find the film to be quite disturbing.

       Namely, I find the images of humans mining Pandora for the valuable mineral “unobtanium” to be eerily similar to the situation that is and has been unfolding in the Amazon for centuries.  In Alexamder Zaitchik’s Salon article “To Get the Gold, They Will Have to Kill Every One of Us,” readers learn of the history and possible future for the Shuartribe in Ecuador; a story which resembles that of the Na’vi in Avatar.  Zaitchik’s lush, verdant written descriptions of the Amazon jungles contrasted with his details of the desolate and damaging mining industry mirrors the intense visual animations visible in Avatar.  I was astounded and appalled to learn about this real-life Avatar situation.  Readers are forced to contemplate the consequences of such destructive mining by the Correia Mining Company on the Shuar tribe's land through interviews with the Shuar people—thus enabling their assumption of the Shuar perspective, one which I believe is crucial in understanding the weight of the problem.  As one tribesman put it, “Correia’s mining policy will be the end of everything.  Already the exploratory wells are polluting the waterit is just the beginning.  Eventually everyone here will die from the chemicals.”  Clearly, more people need to take on the perspective of all beingshuman, plant, and animal—in the decision making process when it comes to creating environmental policy.  As Avatar and the real-life Shuar situation reveal, human actions that may benefit one group may mean the destruction of another.

       In regard to humans making non-human decisions, and what this means for animal rights, consider this February 2013 Bloomberg Business article, “Cutting-Edge Canines: The World of Dog Plastic Surgery” by Mark Ellwood.  Ellwood describes the plastic surgery methods humans employ as a means of boosting their pets’ “appeal.”  I was horrified to learn that American dog owners spent about $62 million on plastic surgery in 2011 (according to pet insurer, PetPlan).  Readers may wonder why “pet plastic surgery” persists…I find myself cringing when I read this article, learning about “Neuticals” and “Caninoplasty.” As Ellwood describes, human desires are driven by media and based off of human ideals, including—horrifyingly—those of “The American Kennel Club,” an organization meant to promote the “dogness” of dogs.  This article clearly demonstrates how nature has been commoditized and is being sold by the media—in this case, as pet owners see the “idealized” image of their companions on television, in movies, on commercials, they are compelled to partake such abusive practices...all so that their pet will lookpun intended—“purr-fect.”

       Dog nose jobs?  Really, people?

Erica Cirino

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