How do you reckon with animal commodification/exploitation in TV and film?
I'm not really a massive consumer of TV or film productions, but I watch some and I have favourites. Animal use is so inescapable that nothing feels safe. Horse riding, leather costumes, tables filled with cooked flesh, corpses in market stalls. These are just some examples off the top of my head that have appeared in the media I otherwise find enjoyable. And I still think "I love that movie", but at the same time I am put off by it and feel painfully conflicted. On the one hand, there's a story that I find thought-provoking, moving, or relatable, and on the other - there are these vile reminders of the horrific ways we violate the autonomy of non-human animals peppered throughout. So I don't feel good about loving the movie. It feels like I'm betraying my principles for liking it. And this transfers to music as well, to a measurably lesser extent, but nonetheless...
So how do you internalise or justify the consumption of fictional productions that feature animal exploitation?