Other: Interspecies Relationships
Reading #2. Postmodern Animal Arts
By Travis Jepson (04/22/10 00:03:42)
The idea of post-modernity can be seen as a way of thinking about the world with new perspectives. This can relate to the concept of history, each nation and even every individual has their own opinion of it. Post-modernity makes it important to go against the traditional and allow these new opinions to be given the same attention as any opinion. There is no "goal" but instead a categorization used by post-modernity in order to allow multiple perspectives to be given while on the same level.

Postmodern artists seek out animals that are not considered tame or kept as pets. I believe that human projection and influence will dramatically change how an animal would act in an unaltered environment both out of human contact and out of human influence. It seems in most cases that a pet more often resembles its owner, almost as if raising a child. However, the direct dependency of an animal on their owner can be mistaken for love, having your dog approach you because you are holding a treat is no substitute for having a connection due to a bond forming over time.

Despite all the good concepts post-modernity has to offer, I did find one inconsistency that I believe needs to be carefully noted, the concept of categorization is basically the concept that postmodernists are trying to get away from, labeling. However the key factor that redeems this concept for postmodernism is that the categorization is only for the sake of organization, nothing is being set up to arrive at a truth. There is no right answer, there are only opinions.

When it came to similarities between postmodernist artists and animal rights advocates, I found there was one key important factor when it came to collaborating with animals in a "natural" environment. This is nearly impossible, for an animal to have been influenced by an environment altered by humans will ruin the aspect of a truly "wild animal." This even relates to the concept of freeing an animal, if you release an animal from captivity, they will never be able to act as they would if they had grown up in their suited environment. There is some argument that instinct will take over, however I believe that we must be realistic when seeking to help animals get back into a more natural location, remembering that in some cases, captivity is the only option because quite frankly the environment is so drastically different we almost owe it to the animals to provide them care.

Finally, the aspect of love and knowledge. In most cases the use of discipline of a human child is done out of an act of love for the overall benefit of the child in society. Animals however are disciplined to fit the role that the owner wishes, there are some standards which are often upheld but I believe it is difficult to maintain a healthy balance between respect and love especially between a pet and owner. Dependence is NOT love, if you feed your dog and it approaches its bowl wagging its tail and acts excited as you pour the food, that in my opinion is not love. That is providing an animal with the necessities for life. Interaction is what leads to love, it can be considered knowledge in the case of animals but it is a fine line between training and learning. It is important to not try and force a communication with an animal you want to have a genuine compassion for, remembering that you want to give it the freedom to choose to accept knowledge.


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