Screening the Nonhuman: Representations of Animal Others in the Media

(Hardback)

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Screening the Nonhuman draws connections between how animals represented on screen translate into reality. In doing so, the book demonstrates that consuming media is not a neutral act but rather a political one. The images humans consume have real world consequences for how animals are treated as actors, as pets, and in nature. The contributors propose that altering the representations of animals can change the way humans relate to non/humans. Our hope is for humans to generate more ethical relationships with non/humans, ultimately mediating reality both in terms of fiction and non-fiction. To achieve this end, film, television, advertisements, and social media are analyzed through an intersectional lens. But the book doesnt stop here. Each author creates counter-representational strategies that promise to unweave the assumptions that have led to the mistreatment of humans and non/humans alike.

Reviews

Our fellow animals have had rough treatment on filmlike many of our fellow humans. But they cannot organize and protest like we can. The book you have before you gives us tools and evidence to make the case on their behalf. Freedom from harm is a basic animal right, and that applies to issues of representation as well as physical treatment. Their cause must be our cause. -- Toby Miller, author of Television Studies: The Basics
Finally, analyses of animal representations in popular culture from an explicitly Critical Animal Studies point of view. I enthusiastically recommend Screening the Nonhuman: Representations of Animal Others to those who want to enhance visual literacy while opening their minds to the revolutionary perspective of total liberation. -- Ian Purdy, Executive Director, Institute for Critical Animal Studies
A wonderfully insightful, provocative, and much needed book that combines critical theory, media analysis, and cultural studies with the ethics and urgency of animal liberation politics. This crossover work builds bridges between activism, academia, and the general public, and will surely inspire discussion and debate about the role of nonhuman animals in both film and society. -- Jason Del Gandio, author of "Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Century Activists"

Author Bio

Amber E. George is program coordinator for the Intergroup Dialogue Project at Cornell University. J.L. Schatz is instructor at Binghamton University.