Perception de Ambiguity on Mar 1 2017, 02:11:22 PM wrote:Carmel1379 on Mar 1 2017, 01:07:18 PM wrote:I like close-ups of bugs. But I disliked the anthropomorphisation of the bugs - that their suffering, convulsions and screeching were voiced by humans (or at least vastly exaggerated to something recognisable which is actually very soothing, mollifying). I can see how this can be funny, 'Marshmallow Murder' (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=playnmJB_TI) and 'Terrified Corn Cobs' (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2PlmKWi1DY) are youtube hits and my younger self indulged in that bullshit too, but philosophically anthropomorphisation is repugnant, since nature (insects) is fundamentally impersonal and thus must be dehumanised to the point that it is alien and even anti-human. Examples that depict this are 'Blue Velvet', 'The Hellstrom Chronicle', 'Phase IV' and I was also just reminded of this video (I haven't seen the film yet):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF5xBtaL3YI.
And if the bugs are killed by humans (it's the bugs's judgement day... what an arrogant title), yet when dying they are voiced by humans, then there is a contradiction inherent within the short. Or maybe the humans jokingly voice them, as another demonstration of power. Oh ye arrogant humans, I await the day when RAVENOUS INVADERS CONTROLLED BY A TERROR OUT IN SPACE COMMANDED TO ANNIHILATE THE WORLD will do exactly that.
I mostly agree. The anthropomorphising in this case is cheap and indicative of a perceived superiority by the filmmaker. Does insect murder being voiced by human beings make us care more or make us care less about their demise? Possibly more, but only because it tempts us to think of them as human, which, well, I'm not sure is particularly morally repugnant, we all kill insects every day without even realizing it just by walking around, but it's certainly quite juvenile, it is robbing those beings of their own identity, for the lack of better phrasing. Or as you said, to dehumanize them while still being respectful of them is a much more worthwhile endeavor.
I wouldn't equate those marshmallow and corncob videos with this one, though. Yes, marshmallows and corncobs also are organic, and insect life may be pretty far removed from mammal life, but I can still have a bad conscience about torturing a bug, but burning a marshmallow...not so much.
I think the scariest part about the film is to think that apparently all those cockroaches Manuel De Landa found in his apartment.
>“The film is my tribute to the real master race that will soon inherit the planet,” De Landa has explained. “Cockroaches have not only invaded the flip side of my house (i.e., the back of my kitchen, the other side of my walls, etc.) but they have also taken over some areas of my unconscious….Since I started the film the structure of my nightmares has changed, almost as if I had violated their laws and they were getting ready for revenge.<
I actually respect insect life most of the time, but if my apartment was this cockroach-infested I'd probably be unscrupulous with them as well, and possibly angry enough to make such an "arrogant" film as a way of executing revenge, which may serve my own gratification, but doesn't make it any more worthwhile as a piece of art.
Watching it I couldn't help but be reminded of Joshua Oppenheimer's short film 'A Brief History of Paradise as Told by the Cockroaches' (2002) for some reason, although that one has no murder in it.
Thanks for quoting the director's thoughts/justifications, that clarifies things. So he actually acknowledges the cockroaches ("the new master race") as a worthy opponent of sorts, at least until he demonstrates in the video that he's stronger than them and can do whatever he likes. His alternative titles are also interesting. I'm definitely not someone that'll say "all life is sacred, don't kill insects" and hence condemn the filmmaker, quite the contrary, I view interspecific competition, predatorship and exploitation as an inevitable normality that's sometimes necessary for sustenance (and of one's apartment as it turns out...) - "the harmony of overwhelming and collective murder" as Werner Herzog would say. I don't think I'd feel much remorse if my *habitat* would be this infested either and a fight over the *ecosystem* would ensue.
But as I said, I find the anthropomorphisation simply philosophically problematic, as I feel it's a product of man's arrogance (anthropocentrism) and it depreciates the complexity and strangeness of nature or other species. You mentioned respect, and I'd concur with that in this sense as well. It's also of course a defence mechanism - nature is softened, diluted, made accommodable and commodifiable. It's no surprise that it compromises so much of children's entertainment and how many religious stories involve this. It can definitely be nicely used for allegorical purposes (Toy Story, Sausage Party) and I'm not going to claim that I haven't (or don't) enjoy it. But I think it would be healthier if it would gradually be disposed off, even though I realise it's not going anywhere, at least until the robots take over.
I think you delineated a crucial contradiction with it in the case of these fun videos. Does adding eyes and human voices to these cockroaches/marshmallows/cobs make the viewer care more (since they've become more like identifiable humans to us) or less (since it's funnier and more interesting to watch now) if they die? A combination of both, surely.
Btw, unfortunately I can't see the image from that Oppenheimer short. But I found some nice images on its fandor page.
