We have already done this in class, but I was just thinking aobut it since I started crying after watching the Pedigree commercial (link)
Why do humans respond more emotionally when the animal dies (I am Legend, Volvo ads (the foreshadowing), etc.) than when humans die?*
*I know humans are technically animals. But I'm using the very generic separation term
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I think it's because we have a tendency to see non-human animals as being completely helpless, and so when the animal dies rather than the human, we have a feeling that it's unjust because the animal couldn't defend itself as well.
Or, as in I Am Legend, because the animal was risking its life to save the human, and the human couldn't save it in return.
*shrug*
Could it possibly be because humans are the cause of the animals misfortune?
just a passing though
...just a side note, but a moment that really struck me was when the dog "smiled" kind of--kind of like, could you say, a human? I think if we can easily identify with them it also helps. Not that many of us depend of dog food sales for homes or live in cages for that matter, but by giving him a human-like characteristic (such as smiling, excitment)are we more easily affected?
Dani: Quite possibly.
Kate: Probably. I mean, whenever we're accepting some new creature, it's always portrayed as trying to find a human characteristic to it. So probably the fact that they're giving the dog a human characteristic is playing to a human's need for connection through similarity.
I would like to argue that I react more emotionally when humans die. Back in freshman year my pet frog died during finals week and I was sad, but just a bit later when my cousin died I was really upset. I think this is quite fallacious in the hasty generalization type.
i think whats meant is in the media like movies or ads or any entertainment, not in real life
I think that another reason that humans respond more emotionally is because we know that the human actors are in the film or ad by choice, but animals don't choose to 'act'. They are trained by whatever method was handy for the director and forced to play out some part. We as viewers don't know if the animal was treated right or if it actually was hurt while it was 'acting' hurt. Animals are really helpless when humans are controlling them.
Post a Comment