The Scarecrow

Short Film

“The Scarecrow” is a short film which portrays the idea that the meat industry is corrupt, powerful and inhumane to animals. The film depicts a civilization where meat is produced in dark, chemical, hazardous factories.  The film shows cows being used only for their milk and chickens being injected with unnatural substances to make them larger. In this world, all meat is produced by a large company called “Crow Foods Incorporated”.

The director uses characterisation to show how the meat industry is inhumane to animals and how most people are oblivious to this issue. The director characterises Crows as running the meat industry. Crows are traditionally seen as  birds that ruin farmers food and here the author is being ironic as the crows should not be in control of food. The director has used crows and “Crow Food Incorporated”to show that these big multinational food companies are not in the interests of food as they are like crows and are instead only interested in money. This gave me insight into corporate greed and how society has changed from small local farmers who would supply their villages with food to modern times where large companies distribute food globally with control over pricing and quantity. This concerned me because food is a basic human right and we are leaving in control of companies who only want to profit. If a company decides they don’t like the government they could choose to not supply that country and this could lead to a food shortage.

The director also uses irony to show how the meat industry is corrupt and hides animal rights abuses. This is done by the Scarecrow having to fix the holes in the “100% natural” advertising wall for “Crow Foods Incorporated” with the animals literally being abused behind the wall the scarecrow is fixing. The director has shown the concept literally in the film and is showing how companies abuse animals and hide the abuse  it using advertising. This made me question how much we know about our food and how it is produced.  From research I discovered that in some states in America it is illegal to film animal rights abuses. The companies are so powerful they have persuaded the government to pass a law which stops their animal abuses leaking to the public and creating a bad public image. This was also concerning for me on another level because it shows that the Government in America and these giant food corporations are close to one another. The USA’s government see it as more important to protect these companies from a bad image than to protect the animals being abused.

The film also poses a solution to the ruthless meat industry. The director suggests growing vegetables instead of meat as it is not inhumane and society will benefit more . This made me think about why the director thinks vegetables are superior to meat in terms of production. Vegetables are cheaper, healthier (less fat), and are safer than meat alternatives. Most foodborne illnesses like E Coli and Salmonella enter the body via animal foods and so by eating more vegetables, humans will be healthier.  The growing of vegetables is also far more environmentally friendly than meat production and so vegetables are more suited to the world’s sustainability.  With meat production at maximum capacity and the demand for meat expected to grow, this film made me think about how the world could supply more meat. One way is to artificially reproduce meat cells to make large quantities of meat which is good because it doesn’t require much meat from real animals. As less animal would be needed, farmers would not have to be inhumane and could allow animals more space. This technology for creating artificial meat is currently around and scientists around the world are experimenting with the idea.  I believe this would also be good as we wouldn’t have to give the animals unnatural substances. In today’s world, cows and chickens are given heavy antibiotics so they can cope with the bad living environments but with reduced need for meat production, animals would have more space and antibiotics would not be needed and animals would live more happily and naturally.

The Scarecrow is  a disturbing film which portrays a meat industry which I wish did not exist. Even though the image portrayed through this film is not true of all farmers, I believe that ideas such as artificial meat and growing more vegetables could be applied to any farmer and that the world should change to vegetables or artificial meat to stop companies being inhumane to animals.

Tim Armstrong