Logical and Emotional Arguments in The Cove

The 2009 film The Cove, directed by Louie Psihoyos, documents the struggle to end the annual slaughter of dolphins for their meat that takes place in Taiji, Japan.  The documentary provides multiple pieces of evidence to highlight the multiple ways in which this slaughter is immoral.  Not only do the filmmakers argue that dolphins are intelligent creatures that should not be treated as common farm-stock, they also claim that the fisherman and others involved in the trade are immoral because the meat is highly contaminated with mercury, yet still they expose the general pubic to this poison.  The town of Taiji and supporters of the dolphin harvest argue that it is a longstanding Japanese tradition and an integral part of the culture’s heritage.

Street art in Taiji proclaiming their love of dolphins.

When we as viewers are first introduced to the town of Taiji, it looks from the outside as though it is a town that loves dolphins. There are statues and murals and all kinds of art all over the city dedicated to marine mammals.  Numerous boats are constantly entering and exiting the harbor with their orca-shaped facades taking tourists out to sea to catch a glimpse of some amazing creature.  The city is hoe to the Taiji Whale Museum, where spectators can enjoy regular dolphin shows by trained dolphins in captivity (ironically while enjoying a dolphin meat snack).  All of this seems a bit over the top, almost as if the town is overcompensating for something.  It’s almost as if they know the annual slaughter they are famous for is inherently wrong, so they create this false appearance not only to show outsiders they really do love these beings, but also to try ease their own guilty conscience.

A Tokyo resident reacts to learning of the slaughter.

The fisherman’s and Japan’s representative at the International Whaling Commission’s most used argument in favor of continuing this harvest is the notion that this slaughter is an integral and irreplaceable part of Japanese tradition and culture.  These people do not believe that they should be forced to change their ways just because the perceptions and the ideas of the rest of the world have changed over time.  They believe that it is perfectly ok to put dolphin meat on the mark despite the fact that it is contaminated with dangerously high levels of mercury.  They even felt even felt it was such an integral part of the culture that a program was started to serve the contaminated meat in school lunches.  Despite the effort that the dolphin hunting industry goes to to try to convince itself that this is true, the filmmakers quickly prove them false.  In a group of interviews performed on the streets of Tokyo, people are shocked to find that not only are numerous dolphins killed in Taiji each year, they’re horrified to find that dolphin meat is consumed regularly.

A wounded dolphin trying to escape its inevitable death.

The other argument used by the industry to defend the practice of dolphin slaughter is that it is done humanely by piercing the dolphin through the spine, resulting in an instantaneous death.  One of the ultimate goals of the filmmakers is to capture on film how the slaughter, which takes place in a hidden cove that is iaolated from the general public, is conducted.  The film culminates with the slaughter finally being caught on film, and it is made very clear that it is in no way humane no way humane.  The dolphins are shown to continue swimming even after being struck with long spears by the fisherman multiple and being left to slowly bleed out.  But perhaps the most moving moment in the film occurs before we are aware of exactly what takes place within the hidden cove.  At an earlier point in the film, one of the captured dolphins escapes from the cove after being struck by the fisherman. The wounded creature swims towards the shore where the film crew is standing, and struggles to stay afloat.  A large amount of blood is clearly visible pouring from a wound on the side of the animal, and the dolphin eventually sinks when it runs out of energy.  This is probably the most obvious rebuttal to the notion that the slaughter is in some way humane.

The goal of the filmmakers in The Cove is to show that the Taiji dolphin slaughter is wrong in numerous way, and they accomplish this by appealing to both the viewer’s sense of logic and emotion.  They communicate a clear view on their opinion of the slaughter and support their view in numerous ways.  The Cove presents a very convincing argument and effectively stirs a sense of action in the audience.

Tampopo: Challenging the Social Status Quo

The master teaching his pupil the art of ramen consumption.

Itami Juzo’s 1985 Tampopo presents the story of a widowed mother trying to save a failing noodle stand. The film contains a great deal of small narratives that ultimately compose the entire story. Itami uses food as a focal point to illustrate and even satirize social issues within Japan, including class distinctions and the Westernization of Japanese culture.

The opening scene of the film portrays an older, presumably wise man instructing his young pupil on the art of ramen consumption. All of the following scenes build off of the seeds planted by this introduction, making this the single most important scene in the film.  First and foremost, this scene introduces food as the focal point of the film.  Itami centered this film on food because it plays a key role in numerous aspects of many different societies, and can be used as a jumping off point to introduce discussion of different aspects of society at large.

Itami also introduces another major point of this film in the opening scene: challenging the social status quo.  The food being consumed in this opening scene is ramen.  Ramen has traditionally been regarded as common food, with no special or significant value attached to it.  This is what makes the ritual of ramen eating portrayed within the scene so strange; there is no justification for, or history of, such theatrics for consumption of lowly ramen. By rethinking tradition in the opening scene of the movie, Itami sets the stage for this to be repeated throughout the film.  This is evident with the scene in which the young businessman does not follow the example of his superiors and instead orders a high-culture French dish.

The portrayal of the ramen eating ritual also serves two other very important roles. The first is that it elevates the status of ramen within the minds of the audience, which is vital if the audience is to be drawn into the film.  If ramen is viewed as a lowly, common food as it traditionally is outside of the film, then there would be no need for Tampopo’s ramen shop to elevate the quality with ramen.  The audience, along with the other characters in the film, would be satisfied with mediocre ramen because it is a mediocre meal.  By elevating ramen to a form of art, Itami creates a need for the restaurant to elevate the quality of noodle. The second of these is that it gives Goro the expertise to properly critique Tampopo’s ramen, and guide the shop to a heightened level of success.  Goro’s knowledge of the art of ramen allows the audience to believe he is capable of passing on his knowledge of ramen to Tampopo.

Itami continually uses food in many different ways as a tool to disrupt the traditional status quo within Tampopo. He accomplishes this not only by using food to directly illustrate his point, but also as a framework to use other methods and build characters. The introductory scene serves as a building block on which all of Itami’s arguments are built.  Without this scene, the movie would lose all merit, and suffer from both a lack of substance and an inability to portray a believable story to the audience.