EARTHLINGS Review

I’ve never heard someone saying about Earthlings, “The Greatest Film I’ve ever seen on Earth.” Most people who watched it got shocked and lots of them say that they felt like vomiting for its brutality. Actually, I did not feel sick while watching the film. Even though I had known the contents and how it looks before I saw, I felt remorse for not feeling queasy; I was like becoming a person who is shameless and cold-hearted. Yet, I was eager to shut down my laptop throughout the whole video. At the moment I finished about one-third of it, I didn’t want to look on it anymore. I don’t know whether I was avoiding the reality or simply was unbearable to see such cruel scenes. Tears came into my eyes. It is uncertain whether it was a tear of self-blaming or just a tear of a pity. On just now, I don’t want to eat meat. However, the reason why I cannot promise to be a vegetarian is that I don’t have the courage to control my appetite in front of delicious looking steak. I am a ‘weak’ person.

Before I watch the film, I had skeptical thoughts about it. I had a doubt that why the author made it and persuade people to watch it though there would be no change without an instant shock. Only a few people become vegetarians. Most people do not stop eating meat even after knowing it is a cruel, shocking, and impersonal behavior. The author might not want everyone to stop eating meat also. Indeed, the most difficult thing for human beings is to restrain their instinct. The instinct is the fundamental desire to eat, sleep, and be free. Is it wrong to live depending on instinct? Is it wrong to hunt and eat animals for your desire? Is it wrong to follow your desires?

Actually, it is totally groundless if you say you’re going to be a vegetarian with a love toward animals. At the moment you determine not to eat meat, how about eggs? Then how about plants? It makes a conclusion that you shouldn’t eat anything that has a life. What comes meaningful when you simply stop eating meat? It won’t help to make a better world. Slaughterers would continually kill animals brutally as before because that brings them money. The motive for slaughterer is people’s consumption. Their goal is to make more consumption and more money. Then, it comes different in purpose between the slaughterers and the normal people. Attitudes toward animals are different. Meat is a way to earn money for the slaughterers while it is a way to satisfy desires for the normal people.

I had these kinds of thoughts before I watched the film. However, after I watched it, it was unable for me to say those words again. It was a SHOCK in a real sense of the word. I realized that there are serious ethical problems in the process. Eating food which is processed through ethically wrong methods makes person a puppet. People always want to regard themselves as moral men. They behave hypocritically. Look at the people who volunteer or donate for others. Do all of them do such things with sincere mind to help other people? What is different between ‘to love people’ and ‘to love animals’? No matter how humans are selfish, if someone wants to love and help other beings, knowing what condition they have for the first is the right order. It is an irony to put a chunk of meat into your mouth with an illusion that you are a moral person who can think of other beings.

            

“Animals have same desires as human do; food, shelter, companionship, freedom of behavior, avoidance of pain.”

I have two puppies in my house. When the first one was little, I raised him in the cage for convenience. However, what really made me sorry was that he scratched the cage and moved round and round to get out from it. Eventually, it was to take him out. When I brought my second puppy, I didn’t even take out the cage. But what happen to most animals right before slaughtered? They scratch the cage and move round and round, as my puppy did, and they even suffer a stroke with a desire to be free. And they slowly go to death. The slaughtered animals are no different from my puppies. Yet, why is it unendurable for me to watch my puppies suffering while it’s not toward animals that I take in.

Meanwhile, there are some methods the author used to effectively send his messages. He tried to convince people by adopting striking structure and background. If the structure of the film was focused on showing the reason why we have no choice but to eat meat, people would justify killing animals. If the background music was jazz instead of ‘documentaric’ music, the film would not be a critical documentary but a fun play instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RR6gFMlRgfQ

My attitudes toward 'Earthlings' totally changed after I watched it. At first, I was not sensible about slaughtering animals, but now I became cynical about it and I even feel uncomfortable about eating meat. However, I'm not sure that this feeling will remain for a long time. I'm afraid that I may find myself eating a piece of pork tomorrow. Yes, I'm a weak person. Yet, I don’t think that eating meat itself should be blamed. It's because most people around the world don’t know how the meats they eat come to their dining tables. However, the task we should accomplish is to let more people know and criticize the fact. Then, there would be changes in social attitudes and furthermore, there would be changes in treatment toward animals. Perhaps, this might be the purpose of the author making the documentary. Though not everyone can be a vegetarian, it is acquired to make a world wave considering the author’s purpose.