As you can see I choose the image of a human-tiger encounter, at what seems to be some
sort of circus. The first thing I noticed was that the human who is most likely the tamer is giving the tiger a kiss. To our knowledge what’s typically known as a ferocious and dangerous animal, the tiger is accepting the kiss without any hesitation. Both the human and tiger appear to be reaching out for the peaceful gesture. This isn’t how a tiger would act in the wild, which makes sense that my next observations of the picture told me what it did. There is a black cage surrounding the two, with a blackened background, but a spotlight being shined onto the two. Clearly this is a circus and the tiger has been trained to preform at the humans command. The last thing I recognized as I closely examined the photo was the whip behind the humans back. The tiger is trained well enough to kiss the human but there is still a form of superiority represented by the whip. It may also serve as a division between the two species.
Before reading John Berger’s “Why Look at Animals?” I would have viewed this image as harmless. It seems like there is a good relationship between the human and the tiger. The tiger must like the human enough to share a kiss with him. I also wouldn’t have seen the wrong doing to the species of Tigers in performances like such. I would have deemed this circus as entertaining for majority of humans before reading Berger.
Now that I have read Berger’s essay, I can say that images like this one is not all that meets the eye when we look at interesting animals like the Tiger. I don’t agree that humans should be putting animals of any species in zoos or circuses. It is only hurting the species. Berger’s essay tells us the vast history of human and animal relationships. As you may or may not know, tigers are an endangered species. Humans have felt the need to use Tigers for several different reasons, and barely any are to the species benefit. According to Berger “The commercial exploitation of certain species (bison, tigers, reindeer) has rendered them almost extinct. Such wild life as remains is increasingly confined to nation parks and game reserves” (p. 13). If we care about tigers or any commercialized animals we find so much interest in, we must not interfere with their ways of living, because they won’t be around much longer for us to admire.
Sources for post:
Berger, John. “Why Look At Animals?” About Looking. New York: Pantheon, 1980. Print.
“Dragons Circus Review.” The Peanuts Gang. Web. 22 Sept. 2014
This was an interesting picture to use. I liked how you were able to look at the fine details about the picture, such as the inconspicuous whip that the circus conductor is holding. The treatment of animals in zoo’s reminded me of a video that I saw yesterday. In both the video and the treatment of animals in zoos, the animals are taught in fear of the masters, and it is this fear that humans hold over the heads of the animals, making it seem like the animals are obedient to their masters out of their own will, rather than out of their fear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E12OLcgWPr4
Great post Michael! As soon as I looked at this picture, I also thought of Berger’s description of animals in zoos. In addition to this, I found it interesting that you described the man in the picture as the “tamer”. The title represents a person who is trying to completely change the animal to act in a way which he or she sees fit. A position like this seems to completely marginalize the animal by disregarding its natural instincts and forcing it to act in a certain way. Before reading Berger, I probably would have thought that this picture was cute. However, after acquiring this new view of animals, this picture makes me feel bad for the animal.
Great point about the implications of “tamer,” Rachel.