Research On Animal Rights Awareness In Hollywood Movies

"Animal rights" is the branch of animal ethics guided by environmental ethics.It refers to non-human animals(hereinafter referred to as “animals”),the natural existence,which has the right to gain respect of human beings from the perspective of morals and responsibilities.The representation of animals in Hollywood films,one of the most influential expression of literature and art,shows a trend which changes with the evolution of animal rights consciousness.The thesis consists three parts: introduction,body(four chapters),and conclusion.The introduction is composed of two parts.The first part introduces the origin of the research on the awareness of animal rights in Hollywood movies,while the second part summarizes the status of research on animal themed movies and animal rights at home and abroad,and discusses their shortcomings.Research at home and abroad covers two aspects: the exploration of the way animals are represented in literature and art forms,the discussion on the theory of animal rights.The first chapter clarifies the theoretical basis and social basis of animal rights awareness reflected in Hollywood movies.The first section explains the connotation of animal rights theory and its performance in Hollywood films.The theory of animal rights includes animals in the scope of moral concern and grants them rights by discussing the similarities between humans and animals.However,its subject is animals similar to humans and the most widely accepted rights are those general ones such as rights to exist and of freedom.The second section systematically expounds the social basis of animal rights awareness.For film creators,it is difficult to get rid of reality and at the same time it is inevitable to be affected by social lives.The economic and cultural background of different periods causes the animal rights consciousness in Hollywood films to change.The third section focuses on the evolution of animal rights awareness in Hollywood films.By comparing movies on the same animal theme of different periods,it can be seen that with the development of theory and changes in the social environment,the awareness of animal rights in Hollywood movies has also changed.The second chapter analyzes the understanding and representation of animal rights in Hollywood movies from the perspective of "animal perception" and "animal welfare".Many animals in Hollywood movies have feelings.Having feelings means that an individual has the ability to perceive happiness and can have a good or bad life,which is the basis for the plot development of many Hollywood movies.Since animals with emotions have interests,which are the basis of rights,they should have rights.This is also reflected in narrative strategies of the ending of Hollywood movies that involve animals.The third chapter discusses the awareness of animal rights in Hollywood movies from the perspective of "animal emotions".Animal emotions can be divided into primary emotions and secondary emotions,and play an important role in their social lives.By analyzing movies such as "Water for Elephants" and "Eight Below",it can be seen that many plots of Hollywood movies have cited the views of animal rights theorists.Second,animal rights theorists believe that animals with emotions have similarities with and relevance to human beings,so they should enjoy rights.And this view can be clearly seen in movies such as “Bambi”,“The Lion King”.The fourth chapter analyzes the value and limitation of animal rights recognition in Hollywood films.First of all,the understanding of animals in traditional Chinese philosophy and culture has many similarities with contemporary western animal rights theories,but this valuable wealth has not been fully demonstrated in contemporary films.Studying the awareness of animal rights in Hollywood films will help drive the Chinese film creators to attach more importance to animals.Secondly,Hollywood movies have misunderstood the concept of "ecological balance",treating humans as destroyers of ecological balance and completely excluding human beings from "ecological balance".In addition,they ignore the relationship between women and animals and prefer the anthropocentrism in terms of aesthetic approaches.The conclusion summarizes the research on the awareness of animal rights in Hollywood films and claims the prospect of animal rights research.