A History of Animal Horror Cinema

Gregersdotter, Katarina; Hållén, Nicklas; Höglund, Johan

doi:10.1057/9781137496393_2

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…To the best of our knowledge, this article is the first systematic study of animal antagonistic roles in films, with previous works mostly consisting of cinematographic overviews (Fuchs, 2018; Gregersdotter et al, 2015; Lennard, 2019), or in‐depth single movies analyses (Francis, 2012; Neff, 2014). Overall, the number of animal‐horror movies produced increased constantly since the beginning of the surveyed time and the relatively low number of titles in the last 5 years is likely a result of a delay in the upload of titles on the websites screened.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the purpose of this review, we followed the definition of animal‐horror cinema given by Gregersdotter et al (2015, p. 5): ‘fictional movies where the animal seeks to challenge the predominance of the human through physical, sometimes consumptive, violence’. We considered movies produced from 1 January 1950 to 31 December 2019, with no constraints on language or country of production.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Red in tooth and claw: A review of animal antagonistic roles in movies

Chiacchio

Pigoni

2022

People and Nature

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Although cinema narrative represents a fundamental communication tool in framing public opinion, whether a negative representation of certain species in the context of animal‐horror movies might increase the attitudinal hostilities towards them remains an aspect of wildlife perception that is poorly studied. Here, we reviewed online sources from the last 70 years to describe the negative representation of animal roles in horror and disaster movies. Specifically, we described species diversity, how the animal was depicted, the cause for its aggressive behaviour and how it came in contact with the human characters. By means of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), we also highlighted three main typologies of animal‐horror movies. The dataset consisted of 263 titles produced world‐wide from 1950 to 2019. The results showed that animal representation is transversal yet uneven, with five species groups out of 18 appearing in more than half of the movies. There were significant associations between species, their representation and the different kinds of movies they appeared in, with some species groups appearing more commonly in certain types of film plots rather than others. Together, the results suggested that both the themes and topics of animal‐horror movies were often the result of a combination of factors, including fashion‐driven audience interests, societal and political concerns, and technological availability at the time of production. Whether this repeated and variegated representation can increase attitudinal hostility remains however unclear. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Red in tooth and claw: A review of animal antagonistic roles in movies

Chiacchio

Pigoni

2022

People and Nature

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“…Similar devices have been frequently employed to use dogs as a way to transmit ideas and assumptions about race [ 28 ]. Due to their real historical use to uphold colonial and eugenic hierarchies, dogs are especially well placed to transmit these assumptions [ 28 – 31 ]. A few movies deal directly with this history through their dog protagonists.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A few movies deal directly with this history through their dog protagonists. For example, White Dog (1982), explicitly deals with the way dogs were used as tools to capture runaway slaves by trying to ‘deprogram’ a dog that was trained to attack Black people [ 31 ]. Most films, however, feature specific dog breeds that subtly transmit assumptions about race.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The making of a (dog) movie star: The effect of the portrayal of dogs in movies on breed registrations in the United States

Weir

Kessler

2022

PLoS ONE

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The media is a powerful force that can affect the welfare of the domiciled dog population. Dogs have long been in human stories and their depictions can create demand for the breeds shown. While previous research has found that this effect can last for up to ten years after the release of a movie, how this phenomenon occurs is unknown. This paper examines if how a dog is portrayed in a movie is associated with a subsequent change in American Kennel Club breed registrations for that breed. Following a systematic literature review, four key themes were identified in how dogs are portrayed in the media; dogs portrayed as heroes, as anthropomorphised, as embodying the ideals of Western societies (Whiteness and heteronormativity) and as boundaries between wilderness and human society. Forty movies from between 1930 to 2004 were analysed, resulting in 95 dog characters scored, and hierarchical multiple linear regression was run. Movies with dogs portrayed as heroes were followed by significant increases in the number of American Kennel Club breed registrations for the breed shown, while anthropomorphised dogs were followed by significant decreases in the number of dogs registered for up to five years after a movie’s release. These results indicate that how dogs are portrayed may be an important driver of demand for breeds. Future work should investigate whether these portrayals may have negative welfare implications for real dogs by leading to owners having unrealistic expectations for dogs or increasing demand for dogs with in-breeding related disorders.

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A History of Animal Horror Cinema

Cited by 2 publications

References 7 publications

Red in tooth and claw: A review of animal antagonistic roles in movies

Red in tooth and claw: A review of animal antagonistic roles in movies

The making of a (dog) movie star: The effect of the portrayal of dogs in movies on breed registrations in the United States

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