The Significance of Year of the Dog

Year of the Dog, which was favorably reviewed by The New York Times yesterday, is about "a woman who discovers her true self through a love of animals." She becomes a vegan and advocate as a result.

I’ll be seeing the film when if it comes to my area (it’s not being widely released) despite the fact that it features live animals and I usually boycott such films, as they usually don’t have a vegan message. For instance Charlotte’s Web (of denial) begged the question: why slaughter animals? and instead focused (like the book) on seeing only one animal as an individual and saving that one.

But Year of the Dog has a vegan theme, and I think that’s extraordinary and I want to support it. PETA has part of its site dedicated to the film right now, so if you want material not included on the official site, go there. What I found most interesting was the interview with screenwriter/director Mike White, who calls himself an "erstwhile vegan." (White’s other writing credits include The Good Girl, School of Rock, and Nacho Libre). He says that he was never much of an animal person but that caring for a stray cat who died, purring, in his arms, started him on a journey that would include questioning why he ate animals when he wouldn’t eat the cat. (There’s more info in Molly Shannon and Mike White: Unscripted at Moviefone.)

I’m paraphrasing, but here’s the significance, and I hope it’s underscored in the film: Farm animals are treated cruelly, it’s true. However, the more fundamental issue is that we don’t eat dogs but we eat cows. If the film can make people see that cows and dogs are the same in that they’re sentient individuals who deserve to live their lives naturally and free, that would be remarkable.

I am thrilled that this film garnered enough interest and funding to be distributed, even in a limited way. I feel personally vindicated as I wrote a book that is similar in concept to this movie (death of a pet begins a journey to veganism and activism), and every agent I sent it to last year said there was no market in America for such a story and they wouldn’t know how to sell it. Yet here’s a feature film with the same message, starring Molly Shannon, Laura Dern, John C. Reilly, and Peter Sarsgaard.

Perhaps America is finally ready to question our current paradigm for our relationship with nonhuman animals.