'Carnage' by Simon Amstell - a Review
'Carnage' by British comedian and vegan Simon Amstell is quite simply the best vegan movie I have ever seen. In fact, I believe it's the best vegan movie ever made.
It never had the huge billing that, say, 'The Game Changers' received , nor is it generally talked about or recommended among vegans to anything like the same degree as Earthlings or Dominion, yet it is uniquely powerful in the way it manages to combine virtual non-stop laugh-out-loud humour with gut-wrenching tragedy, horror and a scathing critique of society in which humanity does not come out looking good. Carnage is a mockumentary. The film's premise is that it is set in 2067 when everyone is vegan and is a documentary taking a look back at how messed up and primitive society was in the 'old days' when animal abuse was considered normal and almost everyone ate meat and dairy. It is written from the perspective of an audience that can barely imagine the mindset that it took to simultaneously be part of a 'nation of animal lovers' while at the same time being part of a holocaust against non-human animals on a scale the mind cannot even grasp. Young people in 2067 look to the older generation for answers as to how this slaughter and abuse on such a monumental scale could have been allowed to happen. “Why would anyone eat a baby?” someone asks. “It’s just a baby. A little baby lamb.” Support groups help people from the older generation to work through the paralysing guilt of knowing they were part of something inexcusable and abhorrent. 'We didn't know - how could we?' Yet time and again we are reminded that few of these horrors were hidden - it was just that people were all-too-eager to remain blind to what they were a part of, encouraged by a popular culture of banality and sugar-coated entertainment. "People would rather watch pets being dressed up as super heroes or pirates than watch a cow being shot in the head". Brilliantly weaving acting with real stock footage from popular celebrity culture, actual news clips and animal abuse it is a rollercoaster which challenges the very core of viewers' assumptions about what is currently considered 'normal'. Time and again throughout the film I found myself laughing uncontrollably one second then in the next second having the laughter turn hollow and die as the reality of the very real horrors of the present are juxtaposed. Parts of the film had me close to tears. Throughout it all, Amstell delivers a perfect documentary-like commentary which captures the sheer cognitive dissonance of society in a way which is right on the button. Carnage was made in 2017 but foretold the current pandemic with chilling prescience. It talks about 'The super swine flu of 2021' which 'pushed the NHS to breaking point' and was a result of society's addiction to animal flesh. It's not only carnist society which feels the brunt of Amstell's humour. There are many self-deprecating laughs along the way at some of the more cringeworthy aspects of the vegan movement itself. A lot of fun is poked at vegan stereotypes. We haven't always got it right and the film acknowledges that some of the methods used might not have been as effective as they could be. "In those days vegans were seen as so ridiculous that they weren't even allowed on TV". Yet even statements like this are really more of a criticism of popular culture than of the vegan movement itself and while carnists are laughing uproariously at the vegan stereotypes, Amstell is slipping in a barrage of hard-hitting blows in a rapid-fire psychological assault. Despite the film being so effective in slipping vegan philosophy past the defences of unsuspecting carnists, Amstell says he never set out to turn people vegan. "I'm not an activist, I'm a clown, I'm going for funny", he claimed during one interview about the movie. Whether or not Amstell intended to be influential in the shift towards veganism, I believe his film, Carnage, is just that. For all it's self-mocking humour, poignancy and horror, it's message is ultimately one of optimism. "Ultimately, it’s going to be really awkward to keep eating other animals,” says Simon Amstell. “At the moment you can do it and society says it’s fine, but at some point I think there’s going to be a shift, probably over the next five years maybe because there’s so much information out there and you know it’s out there. You can’t then be putting milk in your tea without knowing milk from a cow means a baby was taken from her. You just know that now. I’m sorry." "“This revolution is going to happen now, whether anyone likes it or not", he says. "This is happening anyway. For the animals it has to happen, and for our own health.” Watch Carnage on BBC iPlayer Now |