tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post4757668753387418792..comments2024-03-27T14:57:37.031+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: On Georges Franju's Blood of the BeastsJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-90514514161663386912014-04-22T01:19:25.798+05:302014-04-22T01:19:25.798+05:30We created entire civilizations, interact with eac...We created entire civilizations, interact with each other above mating, communicate ideas with one another and build upon them, and could also be taught to at least work "simple" alien machinery if necessary. You'd never be able to teach a cow to use a computer. Even if they had opposable thumbs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-57819766552911958272010-01-17T09:25:49.514+05:302010-01-17T09:25:49.514+05:30Anon: thanks for the tip,will keep it in mind (IF ...Anon: thanks for the tip,will keep it in mind (IF I watch the film again!).Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-11831967010490987512010-01-17T09:09:10.816+05:302010-01-17T09:09:10.816+05:30nice post.
i'd have to disagree with you here...nice post.<br /><br />i'd have to disagree with you here though: <br /><br />"All he’s doing, really, is recording a series of incidents, without comment or judgement (this is what happens in Paris, but see, this also happens), and that in a way makes the whole thing more disturbing."<br /><br />though not overt, franju uses camera angle to convey meaning in the slaughterhouse scenes. not that you're rushing to re-watch, but if you do, notice the point-of-view shots from the animals' perspective 'looking up' at the slaughterer. though you're correct in a sense, camera positioning is not a verbal comment, i didn't interpret this as indifference or objectivity or neutrality on the filmmakers part. there is a comment there, but i suppose it's up to the viewer to determine what it means.<br /><br />i thought the film drew some strong connections to the holocaust. YMMV.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-72821553826931190902009-12-09T08:28:05.463+05:302009-12-09T08:28:05.463+05:30@anonymous
Your myopic understanding of this subje...@anonymous<br />Your myopic understanding of this subject mystifies me. Funny how you smugly point out my smugness.<br />Either you condone the killing of animals or you don't. There isn't a nuance here. I do a lot of research with animals, and most of it is pretty cruel. Who died and made you the moral arbiter of what animal-use is good and what is bad? Let every person draw their own line. The liberal part of my name believes in everyone's right to their own opinion, and the right not to infringe on others' rights. The cynic part acknowledges the existence of patronizers like you.<br />As for slaughterhouses being the birthplace for many diseases, that just asks for better administration of such establishments.<br />As for plant eating vs meat eating, plants are living beings, and there is enough metabolic data to show that plants feel a kind of pain when their parts are plucked. But, I don't think you'd wanna hear such arguments, because a) it would not let you sleep at night, and b) it would mean scientific skepticism and actual discussion, instead of moral admonishments (which I must say, you're pretty good at!). So this sentience argument can be thrown out right there. <br />Most of your argument is rhetoric, and very little fact. Let me reiterate, I wish people like me and people like you stay out of each others' ways.liberalcynichttp://snafuliberal.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-66213179450291463782009-12-08T23:08:49.971+05:302009-12-08T23:08:49.971+05:30Indophile: I have never commented on Nitin Pai'...Indophile: I have never commented on Nitin Pai's blog if memory serves me right.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-62650243611413593522009-12-08T13:17:58.411+05:302009-12-08T13:17:58.411+05:30Shrikanth,
I assume you are the same guy who was i...Shrikanth,<br />I assume you are the same guy who was involved in a discussion of similar nature on Nitin Pai's blog. Just curious you always talk about beef, does you consider other meat not worthy of your reasoning.<br /><br />RegardsIndophilenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-76205197747276163732009-12-08T13:12:36.421+05:302009-12-08T13:12:36.421+05:30@Liberalcynic
Darling, i am sure you sleep very w...@Liberalcynic<br /><br />Darling, i am sure you sleep very well at night comfortably coddling yourself with the knowledge that since 'vegetarians take medicines that are probably tested on animals when they are ill', your endorsement, encouragement and enjoyment of meat products is justified. <br /><br />Keep telling yourself that. Whatever helps you sleep better at night. <br /><br />Taking medicines that may or may not have been tested on animals when one is ill is not morally equitable with becoming an active party to the wholesale torture and murder of sentient creatures, the destruction of ecosystems as bycatch and the pollution of our environment by factory farms (one of which is Ground zero for Swine Flu. Yeah, buddy. A meat farm where millions of pigs were slaughtered was where the deadly H1N1 virus originated.) all so you can enjoy your favourite meat dishes for every meal. <br /><br />Effectively you are saying that your appetite and enjoyment of meat is equal to using life-saving medication. And that your enjoyment of meat is superior to the animal's right to life.<br /><br /><br />And you know... the whole 'i wish vegetarians would just leave nonvegetarians alone' whingeing is just a prayer that no one points out your hypocrisies to you. <br /><br />Whether or not vegetarians use drugs that have been tested on animals, your fig leaf for being a nonvegetarian isnt that you enjoy it and couldnt care less about the torture of animals (which while being kind of brutal is at least honest) - it is that 'its not just me whose torturing animals, so are the evil drug companies!'. See how pathetic you sound? <br /><br /><br />Being a 'liberalcynic' is a convenient and uber-fashionable political stance that allows you to perpetuate iniquities and live without questioning your life and what it stands for - after all why should you care about the environment, about other creatures, and about the cost of your unsustainable lifestyle? You are cynic and that absolves you off all responsibility, right? All you are concerned with is what you believe you are entitled to. Why the hell should you care about what is sacrified to get you what you want, right?<br /><br />Wrong. The sooner you figure out where you stand on such issues the better its going to be in the long run. If you dont give a shit. Thats fine. But dont be oblivious to the ramifications of your not giving a shit.<br /><br />I know this comment makes no difference to you. But now that i've got my anger at your smugness out of my system, i am signing off. <br /><br />AAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-77568910449695011082009-12-08T05:31:13.244+05:302009-12-08T05:31:13.244+05:30What can I say? I love my meat! All kinds. I was t...What can I say? I love my meat! All kinds. I was taken to a slaughterhouse too when I was young, and I ate meat quite soon after that!<br />I do not buy the sentience crap that vegetarians use to distinguish plant eating and animal eating just so they can look down upon us.<br />Ultimately, if you consume a headache pill, you are endorsing the testing of that product on animals (and taking an animal and forcibly testing drugs on it is as bad as cooking chicken for dinner).<br />I would just love it if vegetarians and non-vegetarians just got the hell outta each others' ways.<br />Nice post!!liberalcynichttp://snafuliberal.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-67943100744859686082009-12-07T19:10:31.644+05:302009-12-07T19:10:31.644+05:30Jai,
I suggest you read Jonathan Safran Foer'...Jai, <br /><br />I suggest you read Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals. It was positively horrifying to read about what we let allow happen to animals for the sake of our eating pleasures. Foer isnt some born and bred vegetarian - he admits that he loved to eat meat. Enjoyed it. But when he started to question it, he couldnt force himself to consume it. <br /><br />I was raised a vegetarian but always had the freedom to take up meat eating if i wished to do so, but whatever little curiosity or interest i had in trying meat was effectively killed after i read Foer, Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser. <br /><br />People who say that boling a potato is like boiling a live chicken are fooling themselves. Foer has a chapter on eating dogs that i thought was particularly interesting. <br /><br />Etc etc. <br /><br />Basically. Incredibly sad. Made me cry. The cruelties we visit on other beings is just unbeleivable. <br /><br />AAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-17820499186521575372009-12-07T10:48:20.363+05:302009-12-07T10:48:20.363+05:30"Aliens from another planet, with vastly supe..."Aliens from another planet, with vastly superior intelligence to humans, land on earth in order to consume humans as food. What argument could you make to convince the aliens not to eat us that would not also apply to our consumption of beef?"<br /><br />Argument? Haha. Fight or die. This is how the world works.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-53407390307575970152009-12-07T09:05:28.818+05:302009-12-07T09:05:28.818+05:30mayank: Here's a pretty good read that may cha...mayank: Here's a pretty good <a href="http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/a-frequently-asked-question-what-about-plants/" rel="nofollow">read</a> that may change your ideas on the subject.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-46372480635671033272009-12-06T21:14:41.165+05:302009-12-06T21:14:41.165+05:30Nice post.. I also recommend you to watch the docu...Nice post.. I also recommend you to watch the documentary 'Earthlings'.<br /><br />The production of dairy and eggs also involve the murder of 'unwanted' male calves and male chicks. So the best thing to do (for those who care) is to go Vegan or at least to try to minimize these products as much as possible.Raju Jampanihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02319152511327686289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-47364032436963106632009-12-06T20:13:33.922+05:302009-12-06T20:13:33.922+05:30Hi Jai,
As a congenital vegetarian I can tell yo...Hi Jai, <br /><br />As a congenital vegetarian I can tell you that there is no less cruelty involved in boiling,skinning, and chopping a potato than boiling, skinning and chopping a chicken. The vegetarianism v. non-vegetarianism debate is absolute hokum since a potato was alive as a chicken before we humans got them. So enjoy whatever it is that you eat.<br />MayankMayank Chhayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18433071842764460405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-60375282389474355852009-12-04T21:53:10.456+05:302009-12-04T21:53:10.456+05:30Aditya: I'm sure I've waxed eloquent about...Aditya: I'm sure I've waxed eloquent about Criterion in one of my earlier DVD posts. But just for the record again, I love their packaging of the "important classic and contemporary films". Feel a little thrill every time I go to the disc menu, which always looks so neat and elegant. And I agree with the rest of your comment too. Film preservation in India is dismal anyway.<br /><br />shrikanth: as indicated in the post, I don't think there can be any moral justification for our meat-eating. But from a strictly academic point of view, one answer to the aliens question could be: "If the communication levels between us humans and these superior aliens is high enough that we can exchange complex ideas and reasoning, they'd probably be persuaded that we are sufficiently like them to merit not being eaten by them."<br /><br />Okay, maybe that argument is a little weak if these are really hungry aliens!Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-80350401204289730482009-12-04T21:06:06.477+05:302009-12-04T21:06:06.477+05:30It is difficult, at times impossible, to not tread...It is difficult, at times impossible, to not tread the Tiger’s tail and to not succumb to the Criterion Original Sin – to talk of a Criterion film and not mention their Extra-Terrestrial Cover Art (Eyes Without a Face is no exception) , the Badi Pikchar Kwaalty… and yes, the equally extra-terrestrial prices.<br /><br />Your focus, of course, was on the film itself and there is so much in there to even think of meandering. <br />But, I am still surprised you managed to forego the temptation of throwing in a line or two about Criterion pleasures.<br /><br />A warm Criterion Tradition is of providing those ‘In Between’ films as extras – ones that will never possibly get a DVD release because they are too short or ‘not too important’. (And yes, the magnificent audio commentary tracks.)<br /><br />Your post brings this particular aspect to focus. If not for Criterion’s concern for their auteurs’ other brilliant works (Blood of the Beasts, in this case) would have remained obscure or inaccessible.<br /><br />But it is this love for important cinema that persuades me to spew fire, in vain, on the Indian DVD scene.<br />How nice it would be if a DVD of Junoon or Ankur had an early documentary or a short film by Benegal!<br /><br />What is more infuriating is the virtual absence of Regional Avant-garde cinema on DVDs, the proper ones.<br /><br />It is impossible (I have almost given up) to find Mukhamukham, Amma Ariyan or Uski Roti on DVD.<br />There is English, August – arguably the first avant-garde Indian-English movie – rotting in oblivion in some processing lab. And, an Inscrutable Americans that can officially be given the status of a Lost Film; the list is endless.<br /><br />More than anything else, the film-going culture in India requires a collective concern for the restoration and preservation of at least the Art-House Essentials (To borrow from Janus Film’s DVD Label)and more importantly taking them where they belong- to the public through proper DVD releases.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12248558685767896909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-23972861984557913982009-12-04T11:36:34.121+05:302009-12-04T11:36:34.121+05:30While we're on vegetarianism, here's a pro...While we're on vegetarianism, here's a provocative question by a philosophy professor that I came across on Greg Mankiw's blog sometime back -<br /><br /><i>Aliens from another planet, with vastly superior intelligence to humans, land on earth in order to consume humans as food. What argument could you make to convince the aliens not to eat us that would not also apply to our consumption of beef? </i><br /><br />Pretty difficult to answer.shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.com