Peter Laufer (2014) Weighs in on Animals in Film

A recent article featured on the National Geographic website explores the issue of animals on film, and wonders whether or not technology may have made it possible to eliminate them from the industry entirely. Journalist and academic Peter Laufer weighed in on the subject, bringing into question the potential for exploitation of animals in film:

“What’s the line where use becomes abuse?” asks author Peter Laufer, whose book No Animals Were Harmed borrows the AHA’s sought-after certification slogan. “And what’s a wild animal? Here’s a chimpanzee that’s captive bred for sale. Is that a wild animal, or something else?”

Another reason film directors may choose to avoid working with live animals is that protecting the welfare of the wild animals on a film or TV set can be a time-consuming, and expensive, undertaking. “Technically, it would have been extremely difficult,” Aronofsky told the Directors Guild. Animal actors cannot be counted on to perform the same scene over and over again, so an entire menagerie of look-alikes frequently is needed for a single movie.

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“We lust after the real factor. We want to know that it could be dangerous,” says Laufer. “It’s an ego point: ‘This film was made with a real tiger,’ and that will be on the billboard.”

To read the whole article, continue here.