Political Media Review

Underwater cameras capture the peaceful sway of sea plants beneath the surface in Taiji, Japan. As the scene progresses, the plants become obscured by creeping wafts of dolphin blood. Rapidly, the entire screen turns crimson, the ocean water thick with the grisly evidence of slaughtered dolphins. The Cove, a 2009 Oceanic Preservation Society film, follows a team of activists

The plot of Disgrace is driven by the personal metamorphosis of David Lurie, an arrogant, libidinous professor, brilliantly played by John Malkovich. A poetry lecturer at Cape Town University, David’s descent into disgrace is provoked by an affair he is having with a mixed-race student thirty years his junior.

What is immediately inspiring about a work such as Bob Torres’s Making a Killing is the evident amount of political terrain that has been traversed since the publication of Animals, Men and Morals, Animal Liberation and the other early examples of contemporary animal advocacy more than thirty-five years ago.

…we are animals, and aren’t able to decide not to have feelings. Just like the earth, we are going to quake if sufficiently shaken. We don’t get to choose whether or not traumatic events will damage our psychic infrastructure.

Karen Davis’ The Holocaust and the Henmaid’s Tale is a heretical book in the very best of senses. Davis challenges the firmly held beliefs of a society that systematically devalues the lives of nonhuman animals as a means of justifying their exploitation

Winged Migration (2001) is a visually stunning “documentary-adventure” that follows several communities of birds on their seasonal migratory journeys. Although the migrations are set to music and the flapping of the birds’ wings can be heard in many scenes, the film is primarily a visual experience. There is very little narration in Winged Migration, which for the most part is shot from the perspective of the migrating birds.

Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights is a highly accessible introduction to animal rights alongside leading animal rights philosopher Tom Regan’s own story of transitioning to an animal friendly lifestyle.