Documentary on bestiality premieres at Sundance Film Festival

[southcitymom]

In both the cases you mentioned Oedipus and "The Accused", the story works because it is told from the viewpoint of the victims. Our sympathies are directed at their story not towards the viewpoint of the villain.

Imagine Oedipus if the story was aimed at getting us to understand and sympathize with Laius. I haven't seen "The Accused" but again I'm sure that the story is presented to the viewer NOT from the viewpoint of sympathy for those "poor rapists" but rather from the viewpoint of the awfulness of it and the search for justice ie; the victims viewpoint.

In this documentary on beastiality, the story is told to put forth the viewpoint of the perpetrator, not the victim. Their victims (the animals who even if big and strong, are still helpless in the situation) can not speak. They do not have the ability to form words. If this movie was produced with sympathy for the victim then that would be a different matter.

Just because there is a market for something, doesn't that mean the producer has no accountability.

Well actually one of the victims in the bestiality documentary was a family man who died as a result of having relations with an animal. It's his story that led to the exploration of why people would engage in such behavior. This man was certainly a victim of his own poor choices and I believe his death vividly reinforces the notion that such behavior can have horrible consequences and is not a good thing.

As I said in my earlier post, I think it is laudable to find connectedness with other humans no matter how different they may be from us, so the sympathy argument doesn't hold water with me. You can sympathize with someone and still not approve of their actions, IMHO.

I also think it is not a bad thing to understand why this abnormal behavior occurs. This to me seems the first step in eradicating it. We can not fight what we do not understand.

 

[southcitymom]

In both the cases you mentioned Oedipus and "The Accused", the story works because it is told from the viewpoint of the victims. Our sympathies are directed at their story not towards the viewpoint of the villain.

Imagine Oedipus if the story was aimed at getting us to understand and sympathize with Laius. I haven't seen "The Accused" but again I'm sure that the story is presented to the viewer NOT from the viewpoint of sympathy for those "poor rapists" but rather from the viewpoint of the awfulness of it and the search for justice ie; the victims viewpoint.

In this documentary on beastiality, the story is told to put forth the viewpoint of the perpetrator, not the victim. Their victims (the animals who even if big and strong, are still helpless in the situation) can not speak. They do not have the ability to form words. If this movie was produced with sympathy for the victim then that would be a different matter.

Just because there is a market for something, doesn't that mean the producer has no accountability.

Hey Glow,

What do you think about Equus? The protagonist of that play maims horses and is sexually attracted to them - certain scenes definitely have bestiality overtones.

I think the documentary at question has a built in punishment for the perpetrator - he dies as a result of his animal abuse. So in a way, the animal gets revenge whether it can speak or not. And certainly the death of this man serves as a warning to others.

 

[Glow]

Just because someone dies does not mean that the victim "got revenge"... the perpetrator died as a result of his behavior. Regardless, revenge is a human emotion and not within the range of an animals thinking.

I read your post and do see the point that you are making. I have come to the conclusion that it not just what is beautiful in the eye of the beholder. it is what kind of moral compass does the beholders "eye" have. That is where it rests for me.

 

[southcitymom]

Just because someone dies does not mean that the victim "got revenge"... the perpetrator died as a result of his behavior. Regardless, revenge is a human emotion and not within the range of an animals thinking.

I read your post and do see the point that you are making. I have come to the conclusion that it not just what is beautiful in the eye of the beholder. it is what kind of moral compass does the beholders "eye" have. That is where it rests for me.

Yes I agree that the animal can't have revenge. I should have probably said that karma balanced things pretty immediately. I do think that the fact that a man paid the ultimate price for his sick choices is a built in "this is wrong" card to the documentary.

I very much like your observation about the beholder's compass! Any art is filtered through each person's compass and we can't really know how another person's compass will react.

 

[GlitchWizard]

Yes I agree that the animal can't have revenge.

Just an aside here... I'm not altogether sure animals can't have revenge because of something that happened when I was married to a jerk. I went to a swap meet and bought two beautiful baby fox and kept them in my house as pets. The breeder said "NEVER hit a fox" but he didn't say why. As I am not one to hit anything, I just smiled and kissed the babies and said "no problem." I got home and told my husband "NEVER hit a fox." He asked why not and I said I didn't know.

The fox grew a little, could jump on the bed in the middle of the night and chew your toes. Razor sharp teeth they had! I slept with shoes on! My husband, however, did not. He hit the fox!

NEVER hit a fox.

The fox left his toes alone, alright... but he was rudely awakened in the morning when he rolled over on his pillow and stuck his face into a huge pile of fox doo doo!

The fox were both trained to go out in the garage on the hay and that was the only "accident" in the house.

I'd say it was revenge. If it was not revenge, it was still funny as heck!:woohoo:

 

[southcitymom]

Just an aside here... I'm not altogether sure animals can't have revenge because of something that happened when I was married to a jerk. I went to a swap meet and bought two beautiful baby fox and kept them in my house as pets. The breeder said "NEVER hit a fox" but he didn't say why. As I am not one to hit anything, I just smiled and kissed the babies and said "no problem." I got home and told my husband "NEVER hit a fox." He asked why not and I said I didn't know.

The fox grew a little, could jump on the bed in the middle of the night and chew your toes. Razor sharp teeth they had! I slept with shoes on! My husband, however, did not. He hit the fox!

NEVER hit a fox.

The fox left his toes alone, alright... but he was rudely awakened in the morning when he rolled over on his pillow and stuck his face into a huge pile of fox doo doo!

The fox were both trained to go out in the garage on the hay and that was the only "accident" in the house.

I'd say it was revenge. If it was not revenge, it was still funny as heck!:woohoo:

LOL! My family has a similar story involving my mother, her third husband's cat (who hated my mother) and a pile of poop!

I do think animals can make their displeasure known, but I don't think it processes in their brains as "revenge". But who knows - maybe I'm not giving them enough credit!

 

[GlitchWizard]

LOL! My family has a similar story involving my mother, her third husband's cat (who hated my mother) and a pile of poop!

I do think animals can make their displeasure known, but I don't think it processes in their brains as "revenge". But who knows - maybe I'm not giving them enough credit!

I'd never give my animals credit. They'd charge a huge cage to it and keep ME locked up and fed crappy pet food. ;-)

 

[Dalilah]

I believe many species of animal are capable of revenge. Many. I think humans tend to underestimate animals as a way to differentiate themselves from them.

 

[southcitymom]

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I'd never give my animals credit. They'd charge a huge cage to it and keep ME locked up and fed crappy pet food. ;-)

 

[Dalilah]

I'd never give my animals credit. They'd charge a huge cage to it and keep ME locked up and fed crappy pet food. ;-)

Ha... Fantastic!