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This controversy around “A Dog’s Purpose” unveils not just a case of animal handling malpractice on the set of one film, but the brutality at the heart of the cuteness industry, and the barbarism that has come to define our relationship to our so-called best friends. This warm, fuzzy story of a bunch of adorable dogs has bared its teeth. Star Josh Gad responded on Twitter, pleading oblivious to any knowledge of wrongdoing, and PETA called for boycott of the movie. Naturally, the video of alleged animal abuse has raised all manner of human hackles. Meanwhile, voices offscreen holler, “Throw ’im in!” At one point, the trainer chucks Hercules into the pool, and the dog desperately scrambles. The dog, named Hercules, is seemingly terrified, repeatedly refusing commands and prods to jump in the water. The footage in question, which was originally released by TMZ, depicts a dog trainer repeatedly attempting to submerge a German Shepherd into a pool of churning water meant to simulate a rushing river.
#A DOGS PURPOSE TORTURE MOVIE#
I was shocked, yet unsurprised at the revelation that a movie about fictional dogs dying would probably involve the harm of some real-life, flesh-and-fur dogs.
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More recently, however, I watched leaked footage from the set of “A Dog’s Purpose” through a different kind of haze: an icy-hot rage, the piquancy of my indignation undercut by a cold cynicism. To respond to such perfectly calculated sentiment with anything other an automated drip of tears feels unnatural, even inhuman. Bruce Cameron’s bestselling novel, itself hailed as a “three hanky boo-hooer” by Publisher’s Weekly, “A Dog’s Purpose” tells the story, or stories, of Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad), a dog who finds himself reincarnated in various bodies and bonded with various human companions. Like any dog owner-or any flesh-and-blood human person whose heart beats, however faintly - I watched the trailer for “A Dog’s Purpose” through a gauzy haze, my eyes misty with tears.