BOYCOTTING THE HOBBIT

This weekend the new movie The Hobbit comes out in theaters. At first, I was very excited to see it, since I am obviously a fan of Lord of the Rings movies and the whole idea of Middle Earth and hobbits. However, a few weeks ago I read an article about how 27 animals died during the shooting of the movie, many of those deaths preventable, caused by poor conditions while keeping these animals on the movie set. I don’t want to go into details, because it’s too upsetting. If you want, you can read about it here.

If you read the article linked above, you’ll see that this story is not without controversy. While a spokesperson for the movie admits that some of the deaths were “avoidable,” the producers are not taking full responsibility. They contend that the complaints by fired (and thus disgruntled) employees, were perfectly timed to do the most damage to the premeire of the movie. They contend that these complaints should have been brought up immediately, not three weeks before the movei opens. The animal handlers making these claims contend that they DID say something at the time these conditions were present and animals were being injured and killed, and THAT is what got them fired in the first place.

It’s turning into a big “He said, She said,” and at this point I don’t know how possible it would be to get to the truth behind the matter, since there are so many emotions involved, and each side has so much to protect. All I know is this: I read this story, and I was sickened, and I realized that if I were to go see this movie, every time an animal appeared on the screen, I would be jumping out of Middle Earth to wonder, “Is that one of the poor animals that did not survive the making of this film?”

So I’m boycotting The Hobbit. Somewhat because I want to send a message that I will not support any activity that engages in killing animals unnecessarily, but also because I just don’t feel I’ll be able to enjoy the movie at this point. If it hadn’t been for recently losing Boogins, I don’t know if I would feel this strongly and emotionally about these animal deaths. I think perhaps I would have felt strongly, been upset and horrified, but maybe still wanted to see the movie. Now, I don’t even want to see it.

It occurs to me that this kind of thing probably goes on all the time, and if I knew about it, I might not be able to stomach any movie in which animals appear. I’m always comforted, during the credits, by the proclamation that the American Humane Society supervised and no animals were harmed during the actual filming. However, in this case, it was not during the actual filming that the animals were killed, but rather on the facilities where they were being kept. Who supervises that?

I know, I know. Here I am going on and on about the death of animals, when yesterday in Connecticut a crazed gunman went into an elementary school and killed 28 people, 20 of them children, many of them kindergardeners. What a tragedy. I’m upset and sickened by this, even more than by the Hobbit animal story. What is happening to our world? Why do things like this go on? None of this is right. I think I might have something to say about this event as well, but it will have to wait, because the emotions are just too jumbled right now, and I simply can’t find the words to express what I’m feeling about this situation.

But I have found the words to express what I’m feeling about the movie animal deaths, and here are those words: for whatever it’s worth, I’m boycotting The Hobbit. In the big picture, my boycott is not going to make or break this film, and is going to be too quiet to “send a message” to Hollywood (though, if enough people were to boycott, it would). Mainly, I’m doing this because I feel it’s the right thing to do, and it will make me feel better not to participate in any way, shape or form to the unecessary deaths of these innocent animals.