From Bambi to Kong

In the increasingly expanding area of the academic study of the relationship between humans and animals, Fudge(2002) work is highly influential. Her theories centralize around the idea that their exists a paradox, in the relationship between human and animals. In short, she suggest that, “ Animals present a challenge to humans. They are both similar to and different from us. That is, they are like us… yet they are simultaneously lost to us…It is this paradox of like and not like same and different, that exists in our fascination with animals.” (p.7). From this central viewpoint, she establishes other premises around the human and animal relationship, such as, the notions that humans are both drawn to and disgusted by interactions with the animal However, once one applies Fudge’s(2002) theories to George Orwell’s (1945 cited in Stephenson, 1999) text Animal Farm, they encounter some difficulties, as whist, some aspects of Fudge’s(2002) analysis of the human and animal relationship bear relevance to Animal Farm (Orwell, 1945 cited in Stephenson, 1999 ) it is perhaps, more beneficial to view the text as one which aims to refute Fudge’s(2002) assertion, that a paradox exists between humans and animal, instead, Orwell(1945 cited in Stephenson, 1999 ) through his text, suggests that, the boundaries between what is means to be human, or what it means to be animal, are often at time blurred, or even at times, undistinguishable from one another.

When undertaking analysis of Fudge’s theory of a human and animal paradox, it is useful to first interpret the way the character’s are portrayed, and represented within the text, which, like many other narratives involving the animals species, makes heavy use of anthropomorphic thinking. In Short, anthropomorphic thinking involves thinking about or transferring human qualities to non-human animals(Armstong, 2008, p.10).It is a purely human exercise as it is based on human assumptions, on why animals behave in a certain way.

Bibliography: Fudge, E. (2002) Introduction. Animal. London. Reaction. 7-22 Hirschman, C Scholtmeijer, M. (1992) The Animal At The Door: Modern works of horror and the Natural Animal.In N. Ruddick (ed). State of the fantastic.Westport, CT. Greenwood, 189-197 Franklin, F Antonites, A. and Odendaal, J. (2004) Ethics in Human and Animal Relationships. Acta Vet BRNO, 73, 539-548. Serpell, J Tyler, T. (2009) If Horses Had Hands. In Animal Encounters (ed) Tyler, Tom, Rossini, Manuela, Leiden, Koninklijke. Brill NV,13-26 Animal Farm, 1999, Film Pelissioli, M. (2008). From Allegory Into Symbol: Revisting George Orwell’s Animal Farm And Nineteen Eighty Four In Light Of 21st Century Views Of Totalitarianism, PhD thesis, The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, 1-113 Armstrong, P Leab, D. (2006): The American Government And The Filming of George Orwell’s Animal Farm In The 1950s, Media History, 122, 133-155