This book explores fictional representations and narrative functions of animal characters in animated and live-action film and television, examining the ways in which these representations intersect with a variety of social issues. Contributors cover a range of animal characters, from heroes to villains, across a variety of screen genres and formats, including anime, comedy, romance, horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Aesthetic features of these works, along with the increased latitude that fictionalized narratives and alternative worlds provide, allow existing social issues to be brought to the forefront in order to effect change in our societies. By incorporating animal figures into media, these screen narratives have gained the ability to critique actions carried out by human beings and explore dimensions of both the human/animal connection and the intersectionality of race, culture, class, gender, and ability, ultimately teaching viewers how to become more human in our interactions with the world around us. Scholars of film studies, media studies, and animal studies will find this book of particular interest.
Karin Beeler is professor in the English Department at the University of Northern British Columbia. Stan Beeler is professor emeritus of English at the University of Northern British Columbia.
Table of Contents Introduction: Karin Beeler and Stan Beeler Part I. Animal Characters: Racial, Ethnic, and Social Contexts Chapter 1: "Beneath the Surface Lies the Future": Narrative, Characterization, and the Natural World with seaQuest DSV's Darwin Alissa Burger Chapter 2: Ducks, Ducks and More Ducks: Comedy and Social Class in Animated TV David Hipple Chapter 3:"Don't Just Fly, Soar": Reading Disability in Disney's Animation Dumbo (1941) and Live-Action Remake Dumbo (2019) Jessica Gibson Chapter 4: Making the Invisible Visible: Displaced and Marginalized Animal Characters in Samuel Fuller's White Dog and Kornel Mundruczo's White God Heather Rolufs and Karin Beeler Part II. Animals and Narrative Functions: Monsters/Victims/Heroes Chapter 5: Worse than their Bite: Dogs and Horror Catherine Pugh Chapter 6: The Bad Habits of Rabbits: An Ecocritical Examination of Rabbits as Antagonists in Film MK Pinder Chapter 7 : Of Animals and Aliens: Identifying with the Non-Human Other in Guardians of the Galaxy Jessica Bay and Jonathan Osborn Part III. Animal / Human Hybrids and Other Creatures Chapter 8: Hormone Monsters and Animal Antagonists: Animating Teen Horrors and Promoting Eudaimonia in Big Mouth (Netflix, 2017-) Georgia Aitaki Chapter 9: The Transcendence of the Borders: The Animal Hero in Hosoda Mamoru's The Boy and the Beast Katsuya Izumi Chapter 10: The Esperpento of Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts Sumor Ziva Sheppard Chapter 11: (Un)learning with 'Monsters': Animals, Patriarchal Oppression, and Ethics of Care in Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water Monica Sousa About the Contributors
