Movies, Kids, and Vegetarianism - Brief Article

Vegetarian Journal, Jan, 2001 by Davida Gypsy Breier

There have recently been discussions about the movie Chicken Run and how children (and even adults) reacted to the slaughterhouse scenes, which were reminiscent of the depictions of concentration camps. While this film may not have been an intentional platform for animal rights philosophies, it is easy to glean that message. I can recall certain movies of my youth having an impact on my budding beliefs pertaining to animal rights and vegetarianism. To this day I think of certain scenes in The Fantastic Planet whenever I reach for a small animal. I was also influenced by The Secret of NIMH and practically traumatized by The Fox and the Hound. Perhaps when we are children, certain messages filter though more clearly, as levels of justification, defense, and unquestioning acceptance have not yet been developed.

The influences of films and television are often portrayed in a negative light, and are often the focal points of blame when children act in violent manners. What can we say about children that are impelled to act more compassionately because of the media's pervasive presence?

A grandmother wrote us in July that her, "granddaughter, who is in second grade, became a vegetarian when she was four after seeing the movie Babe." (Heather is pictured to the right.) After corresponding with Mrs. Reyes, the little girl's mother, I learned that, "She made this choice at four years old and continues to follow it unwaveringly in spite of the fact that we (her father, brother, and myself) are not vegetarian. She is changing us ... enlightening us? This child's influence extended even further when her mother wrote again to tell us, "I've even convinced her dad, who is a fireman, to eat vegetarian three nights a week on the nights he works. The other firemen at the station have agreed to cook vegetarian also when they work, so I've been collecting recipes for them to try ... We may all end up vegetarian by the time we are through!" An eight-year-old girl is responsible for this!

I also heard from Suketu Bhavsar, whose daughter, "Ayesha, decided for herself, to become a vegetarian at the age of 7. The movie Baraka really affected her. There is a 10 minute sequence shown on what happens from the time an egg is laid until it is packaged as a chicken." Carole L. Frazer's opinion is that:

   "the all-time best movie that really examines the heart of how humans treat
   animals is Planet of the Apes (and its 4 sequels). Although you may
   classify it as a movie for teens and adults, it is not above the heads of
   most younger children. The film explores the concepts of compassion for
   another species (in this case chimps, gorillas, and orangutans) trying to
   be convinced that a human, a lesser creature than themselves, should be
   considered worthy of respect. And there were fantastic echoes of human
   dominated-thought in the movie, with such lines as "The only good human is
   ... a dead human!" It showed how just a couple of influential apes tried to
   wake up the masses and give the humans a chance."

The spark of enlightenment can come from a multitude of sources, even flickering images in a darkened theater. It is even more impressive when those who truly get the message about compassion are still in grade school.