Week 2: On Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphizing is an interesting thing that we humans do. We project decidedly human attributes onto animals for many reasons, not the least of which is entertainment. Animals have been anthropomorphized in art and entertainment for centuries, and the practice seems to be as popular now as it has ever been. For some examples we can look to three distinctly different works which all anthropomorphize animals in some way, with differing effects.

Jean Painleve’s short film The Love Life of The Octopus (1965) is interesting in its treatment of its subject because of the mostly scientific approach taken by the filmmaker. The film focuses on the daily life of an octopus and how an octopus lives in relation to its surroundings. It gets interesting, however, when it starts to explain the mating process. This is where much of the anthropomorphizing begins. To say that any animal, outside of humans, might mate for the purpose of love would be delusional. Romantic love is something that only humans could truly be capable of understanding. The octopus, though an intelligent creature, has no need for love; instead it carries an inherent desire to reproduce with an acceptable partner for the purpose of continuing the species.

Disney’s The Lion King (1994) takes on a completely different approach, and one much more concerned with anthropomorphism for entertainment. The Lion King presents a world of animals that not only speak and feel, but are also motivated by power, love, and friendship. The Lion King is about a young lion’s attempt to win back the throne to which he is the rightful heir. Though power and social standing certainly play a pivotal role in the workings of packs of wild animals, in reality the consequences of such are much more simple and brutal than they are presented in this film. The Lion king politicizes the natural power struggle of animals in nature and presents a world of ambition, betrayal, and power among these animals that is so diabolical and corrupt that in reality it could only be true of humans.

Christopher Guest’s Best In Show (2000) is the example in which anthropomorphism is best exemplified, but not because it forces the audience to project human traits onto animals, but rather for the way in which it shows how often humans do ascribe such human traits on to the animals in their lives. The dog owners and handlers in the film are so hopelessly self-obsessed that they can’t help but project their own neuroses onto their pets. The film makes it easy to see that the animals are just playing their parts in a world dictated by the obsessions of their human masters. The dogs are not concerned with victory; they do not care about their appearance or any award. They are dogs. It is the humans that project these qualities on to the animals, and this movie lets us all see how ridiculous we look when we do such things.