The iAnimal Film Series: Activating Empathy Through Virtual Reality. Issue 1 (1st June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cecil, Holly
• Is Part Of: Screen bodies. Volume 6:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 44
• Page End: 61
• Publication Date: 2021-06-01
• Subjects: activism -- animal -- critical animal studies -- documentary -- empathy -- factory farming -- virtual reality -- VR; Human body in motion pictures -- Periodicals; Human body in mass media -- Periodicals; Human body -- Erotic aspects -- Periodicals; Human body -- Erotic aspects; Human body in mass media; Human body in motion pictures; Periodicals; 791.436
• DOI: 10.3167/screen.2021.060105
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2374-7552

Abstract

Abstract: This article explores the innovative use of virtual reality (VR) technology in nonfiction documentary film formats by animal-advocacy organizations. I examine the potential of the VR medium to communicate the living and dying environments of factory-farmed animals, and to generate viewer empathy with the animal subjects in their short, commodified lives from birth to slaughterhouse. I present a case study of the iAnimal short film series produced by Animal Equality, which made its public debut at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Employing a critical animal studies framework, I engage Kathryn Gillespie's work on witnessing of the nonhuman condition as a method of academic research, and apply to it the embodied experience of virtual witnessing through virtual realty.