To eat or not to eat, that is the question : Earthling Review Revised

           
        No wonder it earned the nickname “vegan maker.” It really portrayed the ugly side of humans as if the director wanted to make the viewers throw up. Especially in the slaughterhouse scene, the workers slit the throats of cows that were hung by their legs. As the narrator politely explained, the cows were usually conscious while the whole process of killing was going on. The bleeding really warned the viewers that the next one hour and ten minutes would be painful.

From the beginning, this film clearly showed that we, humans, are “speciesist”. According to the film, “speciesism”, a similar concept to racism and sexism, is a prejudice based on different species. Because humans can overpower animals, we exploit other species just to serve our needs regardless of their thoughts, emotions, reactions and even lives. The director addressed the main five areas of the film: pets, food, clothes, entertainment, and science. Although many interesting ideas and vivid images are presented in all five areas, personally I really want to focus on food.

     

     In the beginning, it starts with the quote by Australian philosopher, Peter Singer: “Killing an animal is in itself a troubling act. It has been said that if we had to kill our own meat we would be all be vegetarians.” A very sound quote indeed, as it is portrayed in the film, it really is disgusting. However, let’s look at this quote from a more realistic view point. Do we have to kill our own meat? The truth is that we do not need to throw ourselves in those painful processes just in order to eat meat. If we have money, we can eat any kinds of meat from turkey to beef without cutting throat or shooting captive bolts into their brains. We do not need to endure the unnecessary guiltiness.

Of course, this argument sounds very “speciesist”, and I also agree on that criticism. To some people, it is really arrogant toward the animals who share many common aspects with humans which makes them very equal to us. But not everything is idealistic. It might turn a few people into vegetarians due to some sort of inspiration. But this refutation cannot force people who want to continue their meat diet. This eating habit is not just an option that can be changed easily. It is a habit that is reinforced during whole life and a part of the individual’s life style which people and the society should accept the difference.

Now let’s talk about how the film portrayed this issue on the screen. In the movie, the white word appears shortly. After, the film shows the footage related to the word. As an example, the word “Dehorning” appears, then the movie shows the video of dehorning the cow with a huge wrench. Personally, this presentation method was very neat to develop on many ideas. Also most of the scenes, there was not any dialogue but narrations. But in some special parts, narration dies out and a short dialogue by the people in the scenes come out. As an example, when slaughtering pigs, the narrator stopped talking and the voice of the butcher comes in. This tried to move the audience more toward to the director’s opinion. Also, as I already mentioned, many colorful and strong images allowed viewers to engage in the film more deeply.

Because of those methods, films are well-structured. From the division of five different areas to minor sections, the contents are ordered very well that audience can grasp the idea more easily. However, there are also some problematic parts in the video clip. During the food section, blood was all over the scenes. The director never hesitates to provide the nastiest scenes such as conscious pigs that are splashing blood all over the floor while tied up to a rope. This part contained unnecessary violence. By the word “unnecessary” here, it means that the director exploited violence, and it seems like he forgot the main goal of the film which is to change people’s “biased” behavior. While watching the film, I felt really disgusted that the scenes make me to look at other places but not the screen. However, when the film finished, it really did not have an influential effect on me because I had no problem eating meat that day. It kind of came to me that although the visual images really imprinted the sickening feeling, in the long term, there was not any significant effect at all.

Overall, this movie is a significant film that portrays well about the dark side of the human race. It really makes us to look back on ourselves. The director succeeded to induce viewers to reflect of their actions and pay more attention about the world that surrounds them. However, there are also some drawbacks. Few violent scenes of the film are unnecessary if we consider the objective of the film. Personally, I suggest that it would be fine to watch this film for greater spectrum. One thing to keep in mind is that you should be careful not to expect too much. If you are inspired by the film and feel like becoming a vegetarian, then go ahead. If you are not, well, why don’t you go have some nice sirloin steak as a prize for enduring the torturing film.