ABSTRACT
This chapter will focus on how the representation of animals in film reveals a range of normative and sometimes exemplary ethical ideals for humans to emulate, beginning with readings of recent blockbusters such as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and its preoccupation with the ontological relationship between apes and humans, before extending and critiquing ethical values in dealing with animals through readings of Fantastic Mr Fox and Grizzly Man, before concluding with a discussion of the allegorical power of animals to sustain a spiritual and even transcendental critique of human nature in Noah and Life of Pi.
