Directors Commentary: Problem and Approach

Our assigned problem was to define and illustrate the critical concept of speciesism, comparing it to sexism and racism. We were questioned: are you speciesist if you favor intelligent, emotional animals with eyes, face and body type like ours? The reading in Infinite Nature was in Chapter 11, page 161-167.
After some research, we discussed the best way to present the problem to the general public in video format. We knew we wanted to act (we all could have been great movie stars). We knew there were several crucial points that needed to be covered. First, the viewer had to be made aware of the fact that we give severely preferential treatment to humans. In order to drive this point home, we compared treatment of animals with treatment of humans. In doing so, we introduced our three actresses, and facetiously placed them in positions in which humans frequently place animals (at the end of a fishing line, on a plate, tied to a tree) in order to let the audience see the absurdity of putting humans in these positions. These scenes are meant to be humorous, they are also meant to make the audience think. The next crucial point was the definition, which we wrote out for the audience to see. In order to emphasize it, it was presented by batman (played by Kat Miles). The third point was to inform the viewers of two differing world views: the commonly world view where humans are on the top of the ladder above all other species, contrasted with the world view where humans and other species are all part of a smaller bush. We demonstrated these and discussed them for the audience. The last point was kind of a disclaimer: we informed viewers that we were not urging them to get rid of their pets or serve rats at the dinner table. We were not trying to make a PETA video, nor were we trying to shock or disgust our viewers with unpleasant scenes of abused creatures. Our goal was to make viewers question where they considered themselves in relationship to other species, and to facilitate thought, which is the point we ended on, along with a beautifully sung rendition of “This Land is Your Land.”