Friday, September 14, 2012

The Grey




OK disclaimer here:  it was well known that this film was controversial amongst animal rights activists to say the least!  And, for good reason in my opinion.  What is not well known is that a large portion of the native communities of both Canada and the US are boycotting it as well.  Why, because 4 dead wolves were purchased from a trapper:  actual dead wolves.  Two were used for props and two were actually served to cast member, though wolf meat is not what they are actually consuming in the film--what passes for wolf meat in shooting was actually not wolf meat.  The wolf meat eating incident, which star Liam Neeson got a bit infamous for saying that he went back for seconds, occurred off camera, and was set up as some ploy to help the actors "get in character."  I don't know what kind of opinion that director Joe Carnahan has of actors of Neeson's caliber, but I'm pretty damn sure he could get in character without serving him wolf meat bought off of a trapper, but then again Neeson did also eat it.  I lot of people in the animal rights fight argued that the films was like Jaws with four paws.  I don't agree with that.  Jaws was released in the mid 1970's when people still had no understanding of sharks in general.  I think most people are aware that wolves are an endangered species, and only ranchers are likely to have any real animosity toward them....and they had this in spades long before the film came out!  Wolves are considered a sacred animal to many Native First Nations, and that is the reason that I take issue with use of real wolf carcasses, legally obtained or not.  Yeah, so the trapper would likely have killed some of them anyway....I just don't think that a huge film like this needs to be ordering dead endangered animals that are sacred to the place where they are shooting the movie to make a good animal attack film!  Eating wolf meat  is seriously frowned upon amongst Cherokees (Tsalagi) with not many more an the list...I mean it's saying something, because Cherokee's are known to cook up just about anything!!  As to the argument that wolves don't behave they way that they do in the film...to that I say....it's a film. OK, I'm done, and I am going to shut up and watch the film.  Besides, this one is for Weena, and she's part Croatian anyway....

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the information Semetra. I went online and rented The Gray on Friday afternoon, before I left my office at DISH. It downloaded to my Hopper and was ready to watch before I got home. I had not heard about purchase of the dead animals or that they had eaten them. This news ads an additional shadow to an already depressing movie. The film was pretty good right up until the end. I hope the dead animals were worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree. And, It was depressing. The film was, I guess, trying for a Terrance Malick kind of thing, and didn't succeed. Knowing what I know about wolves, I was also wondering how so many could make up such a large pack that far north. The North Slope doesn't really have many wolves in the first place. Certainly not enough to hire someone to kill them off around Prudhoe Bay.

    ReplyDelete