Due to its effectiveness, documentaries became an effective tool for communication with the audience through letter of recommendation writing service. For instance, Chasing Coral, directed by Jeff Orlowski in 2014, follows the work of the enthusiastic team of divers and scientists who try to provide the world community with the undeniable proof of coral bleaching. Virunga, in turn, addresses the problems of gorilla extinction, political instability, the interference of international corporations with the domestic affairs in Congo. In both documentaries, the images of animals serve as the symbols of suffering and freedom violation to promote human rights while the particular scenes highlight connections between the local issues, the human rights problems, and the global tendencies.
The Use of Images
The documentary films are effective tools for the promotion of human rights through symbolic meanings of visual images. To reach the audience and increase the social effects of movies, the filmmakers heavily rely on the use of images that carry a specific emotional message. For example, Orlando von Einsiedel uses the close shots of young orphan gorillas to present them as the innocent victims of political instability and corruption in Congo. Upon the death of their parents at the hands of poachers, four young gorillas were placed in Virunga’s orphanage for monkeys under the care of diligent employees. Set in the Congo’s natural environment, the scene underscores the importance of protecting helpless animals by preserving their native home. Gorillas are presented as childlike creatures who survived the slaughter of their parents only to find safety in the Congolese orphanage. The filmmakers effectively use their images to evoke the deep sense of empathy for gorillas as the victims of social injustice and civil war. Thus, the image of orphaned gorilla symbolizes suffering and inhuman treatment.
Virunga, Andre Baumawalks with gorilla
Similarly, the filmmakers use the images of endangered coral reefs to stress the importance of their protection from extinction. In Coral Chasing, Jeff Orlowski provides the vivid images of bright and colorful corals to emphasize their beauty and the magnitude of environmental damage that their loss will cause. The enthusiastic team of divers and scientists has discovered the ongoing transformations in the New Caledonia coral reef; the marine animals reacted to the rise of ocean temperature by changing their colors as if they strive to attract the world community’s attention to the problem of global warming. While the scene is set in the natural environment, the slow music and calm of voice of a narrator are aimed at capturing the attention of a target audience by creating the captivating atmosphere of life underwater.
Chasing Coral, Photoshoot in New Caledonia
These images are the symbolic embodiment of contemporary environmental issue that is the part of a larger problem. The filmmakers rely on the bright and touching depictions of animals to underscore the immediacy of environmental disaster. Indeed, human rights documentaries assign the specific symbolic meanings to these images that represent “the violations of the ideal of freedom and dignity” and are infused with “the qualities that evoke the proper emotions: suffering and feelings of being violated”. One can hardly remain untouched by the image of childlike sad gorilla and the bright coral and unconcerned with their survival. These depictions serve to elicit the emotional reaction to the contemporary environmental problem in the target audience by establishing symbolic links between the images of animals, the threat of their extinction, and their right for freedom and security. Thus, they represent an effective tool for the promotion of universal moral values including the right to life, happiness, and protection.
Connection to Human Rights Problem
Chasing Coral and Virunga highlight the direct correspondence of animal protection to human rights since both human right movements and the advocates of animal right use the same tactics. More specifically, they strive to raise the audience’s awareness about the contemporary issue. For example, one of the rangers explains why the preservation of national park is important for the survival of local animals during his interview. While Rodrigue Katembo, the Chief of Virunga Central Station, describes the recent success of local personnel in restoring the population of various mammals, including lions, hippos, deer, and elephants, the audience is presented with a series of wide shots depicting the vast territory of the national park that gives shelter and provides protection to local animals from poachers. Animals are intentionally placed in their natural habitat to stress the importance of preserving their environment free of the negative influences of human activities. Through the appealing landscape images and informative narration, the filmmakers stress the importance of ensure the well-being of local fauna.
Virunga, the National Park of Virunga
Due to its significance for the preservation of massive ecosystems, marine animals are also entitled to freedom and security. The authors of Chasing Coral claim that corals should be protected against the negative impacts of increasing ocean temperature since they provide the natural habitat for a large variety of small fish. In one scene, divers explore the complexity of coral reef and explain how it contributes to the diversity of marine wildlife. Orlowski masterfully uses the close and medium shots to capture the beauty and large scale of coral reefs as well as to stress its main function of providing shelter to small fish. The filmmakers use bright colors, calming music, and a voice of fascinated narrator to communicate the importance of preserving the marine wildlife. These animals constitute the complex ecosystem the extinction of which will have the catastrophic effects on marine flora and fauna.
CChasing Coral, coral reefs and their inhabitants
Due to the strong emphasis on the undeniable rights of animals to protection and security, these documentaries contain the implicit reference to human rights. The term refers to the natural rights of human beings to legal protection against inhuman treatment. According to Article 5 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an individual cannot “be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. Articles 6 and 7 state that every person is entitled to the recognition before the law and legal protection against any form of discrimination. Since both human and animal rights activists share similar goal and utilize the same strategies. Animal rights may be compared to human rights since both refer to the elimination of “the legally-sanctioned discrimination, objectification, and exploitation” of minority group by the dominant one. Human and animal rights activists apply similar methods of information sharing, aimed at raising the world’s awareness about the pressing issues through the presentation of credible facts. The formation of such associations between human and animal rights may result in the strong identification of one cause with the former one. Thus, Chasing Coral and Virunga may justly be considered the human rights documentaries since the movies highlight the pressing necessity to avoid the eminent threat to the lives of living creatures.
Links to International Issues
Human rights documentaries effectively present animal protection as a part of larger, global problems. To highlight the connections to contemporary international issues, the filmmakers provide the historical background of the present situation with the Congolese endangered animals. In a detailed manner, the opening scene of Virunga describes the colonial past and modern political problems of Congo. A series of the black and white shots, old maps, and short colored scenes describe the history of Congo from the nineteen-century period of Belgian colonial rule to the present civil war and highlight the causal connections between the present political instability, corruption, and the interference of oil-producing corporation SOCO in the internal affairs of Congo. The company currently strives to occupy a large part of Virunga and explore the possible oil reserves while threatening to destroy the local ecosystem. The situation is the vivid example of Congo’s failed attempt to enforce the democratic changes in the post-Cold War era the resulted in the long-term humanitarian crisis. The event is a part of the regional trend as numerous sub-Saharan states including Sudan, Mali, Nigeria, and Somalia failed to comply with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thus, the Congolese political and environmental problems are a part of a complex international human right issue as the failure to form a democratic government left the country vulnerable to internal conflicts and the influence of Western corporations. The filmmakers effectively used the historical facts to prove the connection between Cong’s colonial past and present threat to the safety of the national park.
Virunga, the opening scene.
Chasing Coral, in turn, provides the scientific background on the issue of coral bleaching and connects it to the global problem of environmental deterioration. The documentary stresses the main role of rising ocean temperature in the mass death of coral reefs around the world. For instance, the closing scene of the movie features numerous reports about coral bleaching due to the increase in water temperature because of global warming. The short messages about the cases of coral bleaching from the concerned people across the globe indicate that the contemporary is a serious international issue. The moviemakers use the scene to highlight the link between the problem under discussion and global environmental projects. There are numerous examples of non-governmental initiatives, aimed at preserving the natural resources of the planet. For example, the African Wildlife Foundation suggests mitigating the problem of global warming with landscape conservation. The Coral Reef Alliance, in turn, pushes the state governments for the implementation of strict environmental regulations to ensure the support of states or the conservation efforts. The presented evidence strongly suggests a strong correlation between animal protection, human rights issues, and the contemporary global problems. The filmmakers used this strategy to highlight the significance of present issues by drawing parallels between the present situation and international tendencies.
Chasing Coral, the closing scene
Conclusion
Chasing Coral and Virunga are the documentary films that use the images of endangered animals as symbols of suffering, promote human rights, and highlight connections between the local situations, human rights issue, and global tendencies. Both documentaries refer to the issue of animal preservation and advocate their right to protection and safety. The conclusion is based on the close look at the specific scenes in the movies and the available academic literature. Finally, the research focuses on the successful use of documentaries for the struggle against social injustices. As a powerful media, human rights documentaries plays the instrumental role in animal rights activism as it allows to communicate the immediacy of contemporary problems to large audiences. The further study of the question under discussion will help to identify the emotional and social effect of human rights documentaries on the target audience.
