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Should Disney be sued for "The White Wilderness' massive slaughter?

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S

sibarraz

Banned
Why Disney pushed the narrative that lemmings commited mass suicide?

It was just to make their movie more interesting?
 
G

Grassy

Member
I've read that they pushed a few dozen lemmings off a ledge into water, but I've never heard about them "killing thousands" of lemmings...where are your sources OP?
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Code: 
[img]http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/wp-content/blogs.dir/253/files/2012/04/i-7e48e800d9f11a8c884b05749ec2f2c4-Lemming%20II.jpg[/img]

I want to pet it.
 
C

ClosingADoor

Member
There was a lot of animal cruelty in that time when filming movies. I don't think suing them all is going to solve anything, since the issue is already fixed and it doesn't happen anymore.
 
C

crisdecuba

Member
fireflame said:
Hello, during the creation of the movie "The White Wilderness", thousand of lemmings were killed, pushed to a river with the help of a rotating platform installed by the movie's crew.
This example of animal's cruelty has never been the subject of a lawsuit, so i was wondering if it would not be needed for Disney to be sued about this.

Disney produces shows for kids and i think it is important for a company that creates products for kids to be exemplary. I do not know if there is prescription for animal cruelty, but i feel it would only be justice if a trial happened. What about you?
Click to expand...
You should find out whether laws were in place in Calgary, Canada at the time it was filmed. You should also find out whether there is a statute of limitations to consider. And finally, you need to identify who would have standing to sue. Otherwise not much comes of this desire.
 
TheRedSnifit

TheRedSnifit

Member
sibarraz said:
Why Disney pushed the narrative that lemmings commited mass suicide?

It was just to make their movie more interesting?
Click to expand...

"What people see is essentially mass dispersal," said zoologist Gordon Jarrell, an expert in small mammals with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "Sometimes it's pretty directional. The classic example is in the Scandinavian mountains, where (lemmings) have been dramatically observed. They will come to a body of water and be temporarily stopped, and eventually they'll build up along the shore so dense and they will swim across. If they get wet to the skin, they 're essentially dead."

"There's no question that at times they will build up to huge numbers," Jarrell added. "One description from Barrow does talk about them drowning and piling up on the shore."
Click to expand...

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=56
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
crisdecuba said:
You should find out whether laws were in place in Calgary, Canada at the time it was filmed. You should also find out whether there is a statute of limitations to consider. And finally, you need to identify who would have standing to sue. Otherwise not much comes of this desire.
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And a lot of money. Lots of money.
 
R

rrs

Member
no statute of limitations in canada, but everyone who worked on the film is all but dead and disney most likely edited out said parts in later re-releases
 
M

MJPIA

Member
I thought that movie only used several dozen lemmings and a bunch of misleading shots and editing to make it look like there were a lot more?
Either way regardless of how it was wrong I doubt there's anything that could be done.
There weren't any laws against animal cruelty back then, pretty much anyone involved is dead and Disney of the 60's is quite different than Disney of today.
In the end nothing would probably happen but if you wanted to hold any movie accountable for animal cruelty you should go after the companies involved in Ben-Hur, almost 100 horses died in the making of that movie.
 
C

crisdecuba

Member
rrs said:
no statute of limitations in canada, but everyone who worked on the film is all but dead and disney most likely edited out said parts in later re-releases
Click to expand...
Cool, so there's that. Next, were animal cruelty laws in place at the time it was filmed?
 
A

Adam_Vania

Banned
fireflame said:
Disney produces shows for kids and i think it is important for a company that creates products for kids to be exemplary
Click to expand...

image.jpg


some news for you: kids saw Bambi's mom get shot and they watched Han Solo get killed in cold blood by his own son. Disney movies have never been shy about using death for dramatic effect.
 
D

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
It'd be one thing if it was done today, but this was done over 60 years ago, most people involved with the film are dead, and laws were different then than now on this subject.
 
N

Nepenthe

Member
Adam_Vania said:
image.jpg


some news for you: kids saw Bambi's mom get shot and they watched Han Solo get killed in cold blood by his own son. Disney movies have never been shy about using death for dramatic effect.
Click to expand...

Bambi's mom is a bunch of drawings and Han Solo is an imaginary character played by a grump who is still very much alive.

If Disney made this lemmings movie today and actually killed a bunch of animals, this would be an even dumber response to the belief that Disney should be above animal cruelty.
 
GuyKazama

GuyKazama

Member
Fear of this pending lawsuit has forced Disney to go CGI on all future animals. Not sure if that is a victory or not.
 
R

RobotHaus

Unconfirmed Member
Someone just listened to 99 percent invisible, didn't they?

I don't think Disney can be sued for their poor treatment of wild animals in the past, but that shouldnt prevent you or any others from seeking out better treatment for animals.
 
L

Lord of Castamere

Member
It sucks that the had to die in such a cruel fashion(and at all), but it's pretty impressive considering what they had to work with. They turned a river in Canada, into the arctic ocean and an unseen myth, with only a few dozen lemmings, some contraptions, and a camera.

Should the be sued? Nah. It shouldn't happen again, but that was years ago. I just checked, every major person who made that film is dead. Justice has been served. Look to the future.
 
N

neorej

ERMYGERD!
They'd argue that they have improved their animal treatment, I am fairly sure no raccoons or tree creatures were harmed during filming of Guardians of the Galaxy, per example.
 
K

kvothe

Member
Where are you getting the "thousand" number from? No way did they kill thousands of lemmings for this scene.
 
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