Humans and Farm Animals in Documentary Film Narratives: A Romantic Perspective on the Problem of Capitalist Meat Production

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of Romantic notions in understanding contemporary human–animal relations. I examined how three documentaries dealing with the problem of farm-animal exploitation construct the relationship between farmers and meat producers on the one hand and farm animals on the other. Using the method of multimodal critical discourse analysis, I examined audiovisual and linguistic levels of documentaries. I argue that documentary narratives have a dual function in exploring these relationships. First, they produce anthropocentric narratives that focus on the farmer’s perspective and their experience of the relationship with farm animals. The anthropocentric narrative legitimizes the notions of traditional forms of sustainable agriculture in which animals graze freely, and a relationship of trust exists between farm animals and farmers. In this narrative, farm animals are portrayed as anthropomorphized and thus equal to humans. Ideologically, it follows the premodern idea of pastoralism. The second narrative is biocentric in that it focuses primarily on animals. This narrative consists of a critique of the exploitation of farm animals in large, industrialized fattening farms and slaughterhouses. I argue that the origins of both narratives lie in Romantic notions about the relationship between humans and animals. Ultimately, both narratives propagate a Romantic return to preindustrial pastoralism, advocating a harmonious coexistence of land, animals, and people, and rejecting industrial, mechanical, and technological forms of farm animal husbandry. I conclude by asking how Romantic ideas contest late capitalist forms of commodification of animals and what the limits of these ideas are in eliminating the exploitation of farm animals.