• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Status
Not open for further replies.
F

fireflame

Member
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?
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Who would even have standing to sue them? I honestly don't see the point of a lawsuit now. The point in these type of suits is to send a message so that the practices don't continue. We have agencies that deal with this and oversee film productions.
 
D

Dishwalla

Banned
Is this film even in circulation anymore? When was the last time it was released by Disney? It's like Song of the South, it's a film that is largely forgotten by most people, you can't stroll into a Walmart and buy a DVD of it. Can't really harm kids if they have no exposure to it.
 
F

fireflame

Member
Grizzlyjin said:
Who would even have standing to sue them? I honestly don't see the point of a lawsuit now. The point in these type of suits is to send a message so that the practices don't continue. We have agencies that deal with this and oversee film productions.
Click to expand...

I would say associations/groups defending animals, i would be tempted to say any human. Nowdays there are still companies(not Dinsey) that still torture animals so the fight is certainly not over.

I feel that if a company like Disney had to take responsibility it would mean a lot. It is a symbol of animals sacrificed on the altar of human profits.
 
F

fireflame

Member
entremet said:
Lol it was 60 years ago.
Click to expand...

I know but it is about the killing of living beings. I assume status of limitations would make a lawsuit very hard to happen, but if thhis was about thousand of huamns there would be no status of limitations most likely.
 
G

Gordon Shumway

Banned
NoblesseOblige said:
#Justice4Lemmings
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
Sakura

Sakura

Member
fireflame said:
I know but it is about the killing of living beings. I assume status of limitations would make a lawsuit very hard to happen, but if thhis was about thousand of huamns there would be no status of limitations most likely.
Click to expand...
If they killed thousands of humans I don't think they'd just be dealing with a lawsuit. Kind of different.
 
P

Phased

Member
fireflame said:
I know but it is about the killing of living beings. I assume status of limitations would make a lawsuit very hard to happen, but if thhis was about thousand of huamns there would be no status of limitations most likely.
Click to expand...

Animal's aren't Human though.

That doesn't make killing an Animal like this (or many) any better, but a Human life will always mean more in a society, as it should.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Okay well the lemmings aren't humans and don't have human owners so they couldn't have been sued because no one has standing.

As for criminal prosecution, I suspect everyone involved is dead and what they did probably wasn't illegal in that place at that time.
 
B

Bubble Metropolis

Member
SJRB said:
..who would sue on behalf of the 60-years-ago deceased lemmings?
Click to expand...

Obviously we need to find the descendants of the lemmings featured in the original video. Google says the average lemming lifespan is two years and that they can have as many as 48 babies each summer. That might be tricky, but I think it's worth it.
 
B

BetterThanNothing

Member
I didn't know about this, pretty wild.

Aside from the whole statute of limitations problem, I believe you're missing the point of a law suit or have assumed too much about modern Disney. They have the best of the best ensuring that all of their productions fall within the bounds of the law comfortably. Those laws are extremely specific about what can and cannot be done in respect to animal cruelty.
 
C

CDX

Member
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Wilderness_(film)

the lemming scene was filmed at the Bow River near downtown Calgary, and not in the Arctic Ocean as implied by the film
Click to expand...

Wikipedia says it was filmed in Calgary Canada. So I suppose some Canadian government agency might have some sort of legal standing.

But it was filmed over 60 years ago in the 1950s. I doubt it was even illegal at the time in Canada. Even if it was illegal ...it was over 60 years ago, everybody that worked on that film is probably dead or the youngest that were in their 20s at the time would now be in their 80s.

So no, I don't think Disney will ever be sued for the "White Wilderness" movie.
 
Z

Zombine

Banned
A poor guy was fooled into letting Sean S. Cunningham "borrow" his pet snake for the original Friday The 13th and they killed it with a machete.
 
C

Christhor

Member
DiscoJer said:
Indeed, I think this movie was actually the idea for the Lemmings game.

Only of course in the game the idea was to guide them to save themselves (or as many as possible), not kill themselves
Click to expand...

If this this is true, then we can surely forgive Disney for giving us something so great in the end.
 
M

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
DiscoJer said:
Indeed, I think this movie was actually the idea for the Lemmings game.

Only of course in the game the idea was to guide them to save themselves (or as many as possible), not kill themselves
Click to expand...

The movie is largely responsible for the belief that lemmings have a mass suicide instinct, so I'd say that is definitely true.

That said...no, nobody is going to get sued for a bunch of now-dead producers killing a bunch of lemmings over half a century ago.
 
T

tokkun

Member
I recently saw the 1977 William Shatner movie Kingdom of the Spiders. You would not believe how many tarantulas are killed intentionally and on-screen in this movie.
 
P

Patryn

Member
fireflame said:
I would say associations/groups defending animals, i would be tempted to say any human. Nowdays there are still companies(not Dinsey) that still torture animals so the fight is certainly not over.

I feel that if a company like Disney had to take responsibility it would mean a lot. It is a symbol of animals sacrificed on the altar of human profits.
Click to expand...
You have to demonstrate that you suffered real damages in order to have standing to sue. You can't just sue people for doing things you don't like.
 
MsKrisp

MsKrisp

Member
Animal cruelty used to be pretty bad in media but they've cleaned up their act after controversies like this one.

And who would get the payout for the lemmings? Do you petition them for a class action suit? How cooperative are they with signatures?
 
F

fireflame

Member
MsKrisp said:
Animal cruelty used to be pretty bad in media but they've cleaned up their act after controversies like this one.

And who would get the payout for the lemmings? Do you petition them for a class action suit? How cooperative are they with signatures?
Click to expand...

I guess the best solution would be Disney to pay Canadian government and gov would be smart enough to invest that money in animal protection. Even assuming a trial is impossible, that would be noble from them.
 
W

Westbahnhof

Banned
I think any "reparations" would have to be voluntary, and I doubt a massive company like Disney would want to set a precedent for stuff like this.. I'm sure there is a lot more crap they want to ignore forever.
 
N

NoblesseOblige

Banned
DiscoJer said:
Only of course in the game the idea was to guide them to save themselves (or as many as possible), not kill themselves
Click to expand...

Let's be honest, we all played Lemmings to find the most morbid way to kill them.

MattKeil said:
The movie is largely responsible for the belief that lemmings have a mass suicide instinct, so I'd say that is definitely true.
Click to expand...

Along with crimes of mass murder we should hit them with slander/libel as well!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Quebec authorizes class-action lawsuit by parents suing Epic Games for causing deliberate video game addiction
2
61
3K
Warablo replied
WB/DC should be copying Disney, not Marvel
13
1K
EverydayBeast replied
Zoog Disney - When Disney Channel had edge
8
2K
Jubenhimer replied
Starfield Q&A on Discord Details
15
2K
balls of snow replied
The Rise and Fall of Fox Kids Network
35
5K
Happosai replied
Top Bottom