Ruminating on Garbage: Exemplified by Kunal Vohra's Film The Plastic Cow

Abstract

Abstract: This paper examines the way in which non-human animals are constructed as unwanted object through human language, culture and economic system, and how such construction in return affects the lives of the animals. The paper aims to think through the entangled interconnected relationship among animals, humans and environment on both the conceptual and material levels. It argues that animals are deeply enmeshed in capitalist system while the animal-garbage connection can be traced in etymological, cultural, and economic and ecological systems. In order to reflect on our culture, globalization, and modernity, an Indian documentary film, The Plastic Cow, by Kunal Vohra, is raised as an example to discuss the theme of "garbage/animal," and the film also provides a case for exploring cinematic representational strategies.

Key words: animal garbage, trash/waste, capitalism, documentary film, The Plastic Cow

Chia-ju Chang. Ruminating on Garbage: Exemplified by Kunal Vohra's Film The Plastic Cow[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2016, 36(4): 203-213.

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(1)田松在《全球暖化为垃圾的一种》(Global Warming as a Manifestation of Garbage)一文里提出全球暖化为垃圾在人类工业文明行为下的显现。
(2)英文为the toilet assumption。社会学家菲利普·史雷特(Philip Slater)提出我们对处理社会问题的方式是降低他们的可见度一说。他认为我们的社会花很多精力将我们不想要的事件、障碍或令我们良心不安的东西(如深层的社会与环境问题)往我们日常生活环境外推,并藉由减低人们获得这些讯息来达到降低处理这些问题的能力与动机的目的。他认为此“马桶假设”为种族分离的真正根基,最极端的例子就是印第安人保留区(the Indian“reservation”)。消费者对垃圾与动物的态度多半源出此“马桶假设”,或“视而不见”的态度。
(3)《鲨鱼海洋》为一部讲述台湾黑道是如何操控哥斯达黎加政府来非法捕猎鲨鱼的纪录片。
(4)英文为taylorism,为弗得烈克(Frederick Winslow Taylor,1956-1915年)提出的一个讲求机械化管理经营的系统与理念。他认为工厂管理的任务在于决定工人是否能够有效率地生产和提供适当工具与训练。藉由将每一项工作都拆开成不同独立的个体来分析这些部分是否必要,以及用码表来测量工人的工作时间来将多余的动作和工人移除。
(5)参见J.Jasper and D.Poulsen,“Animal rights and antinuclear protest:Political networks and moral shocks in recruitment.”The American Sociological Association Annual Meeting(San Francisco,1991)10.
(6)参见注释(5)第180页。
(7)英文为ecofeminism。生态女性主义最重要的贡献为提出一非二元式的文学与文化批评方法。生态女性主义者倾向于将人的问题如阶级、性别、种族等等与环境或动物问题(如物种歧视、动物虐待与绝种等等)合并起来一起分析,认为将动物问题与人的问题隔离开来治标不治本,无法根本地解构压迫、歧视与剥削的人类/男性中心主义的意识形态。参见“从火腿小姐到杀夫女:李昂小说《杀夫》里的动物正义想像”,《全球环境想像:中西生态批评实践》(镇江:江苏大学出版社,2013年版)176-94。

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