Practical Issues > Factory Farming > Farming
 May 2004
Compelling film explores emotions of farm animals   
By David Langlois

There is an underlying presumption that farm animals are, in some way, emotionally or psychologically inferior to the domesticated animals that many of us consider friends and family. Or, at least, this is what author and former-psychoanalyst Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson believes must be the presumption, in order for so many of us to continue supporting the destruction and enslavement of farm animals across the world. Few people, he believes, would agree to support the needless use of farm animals if it were shown that they were, in actuality, no different than dogs and cats.

In Masson's new documentary produced by Animal Place and entitled The Emotional World of Farm Animals (a companion film to his book, The Pig Who Sang to the Moon), the author attempts to uncover the truth about the emotional and psychological status of farm animals, through a series of personal testimonies and interviews with the veterinarians and animal behaviorists who are most familiar with these beings.

Ultimately, Masson's compelling and thought provoking film comes to some shocking conclusions about the emotional lives of these animals. There are, he forcefully argues, no differences between the capacities of farm animals and the domesticated animals that many of us know so well. This being the case, Masson's film persuasively leads his audience towards a gradual acceptance of compassion for these emotional beings and of responsibility for protecting them where possible.

The film traces Masson's journey across sections of the United States, as he visits various sanctuaries for animals who have either escaped or been rescued from factory farms (the harsh, concentrated, industrialized farms which have nearly entirely replaced the "old fashioned" farms that most of us are familiar with). Some of these animals were found with shattered limbs on the highway, having fallen off of trucks during transport, while some other "downed" animals were rescued from so-called "dead piles" at factory farms. In the author's travels, he encounters a wide array of cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys, all of whom have been saved from lamentable conditions and returned to relative normalcy at places such as "Farm Sanctuary" and "Animal Place."

At these safe havens, the animals interact with each other, and with their human companions, in a distinctly emotional and expressive fashion, which is generally unseen in farming conditions. The viewer of Masson's film is treated to footage of cows snuggling and kissing each other and their human friends, and images of adult pigs playfully rolling around on the ground, much like dogs are known to do, while being rubbed with large pieces of ice as a "cool down." Turkeys are seen to nuzzle deeply into Masson's chest, vibrating with excitement and cooing softly, as he holds them and plays with their feathers.

These powerful displays are visually juxtaposed with the brutal and violent treatment and conditions of animals raised and killed in factory farms for their meat, eggs and dairy. Unsurprisingly, the animals in factory farms are far less emotional or expressive and often seem to suffer from degenerative psychological conditions. According to one behaviorist that Masson interviews, this stark contrast in emotional expression is the result of the intense fear and insecurity felt by the inhabitants of factory farms, which results in a decidedly unnatural paralysis of emotional expression.

The viewer of Masson's film is left with a devastating and heart-wrenching conclusion: the nonhuman animals that fill our factory farms (and are killed at the nearly incomprehensible rate of 25 million per day in North America alone), are beings with intense and important emotional lives. Much like the dogs and cats that sleep on our beds and play with our children, these animals have the capacity to be filled with joy and overwhelmed by sadness, overcome with excitement and paralyzed by fear. How then, Masson seems to ask, can it be justified that we continue to needlessly kill and torture these wonderful animals? In The Emotional World of Farm Animals, Masson emphatically draws a logical emotional connection between the domesticated animals that many of us treat as relative equals and the farm animals that are used exclusively as our property and resources. 

In accepting this difficult and challenging conclusion, it seems that a viewer of Masson's film could not help but be moved to reanalyze their understanding of the emotional capacities of farm animals. Moreover, as Masson recognizes and elucidates in the book that accompanies the documentary, individuals who view this film may be led to take the logical step of modifying their diets in an effort to stop supporting animal agriculture, as it continues to unavoidably cause unnecessary suffering to these psychologically and emotionally rich animals. As Masson's work points out with conviction and clarity, adhering to a lifestyle free from nonhuman animal products may be the most effective way for humans to promote compassion and justice for the farm animals who suffer so greatly and for so little reason.