8/24/2023 0 Comments Gigi movie scenesIn a 2016 interview about Helping Hands, a Massachusetts-based organization that trains capuchins to assist people with disabilities, Dr. The Born Free USA Exotic Incident Database chronicles several dangerous incidents involving primate “service animals,” including bites, escapes, and potentially deadly disease exposures. Consequently, the Americans with Disabilities Act does not recognize monkeys as service animals. Service animals fulfill roles in which humans rely on them to be consistent and safe, especially in public environments. These are all traits that a service animal should never possess. Although it is possible to train wild animals to perform complex tasks, and primates would appear to be seemingly perfect candidates for tasks that require the use of opposable thumbs and quick-witted problem solving, wild animals like monkeys are dangerous, unpredictable, and naturally aggressive. While the difficulties of living with quadriplegia cannot be overlooked, living with a wild animal would only enhance these difficulties by actively endangering an already vulnerable individual. Primates Do Not Make Good Service Animals Similarly, press releases for the movie show images of Charlie Row, the actor that plays Nate, sitting with a capuchin named Pablo, who wears a chain leash around his abdomen while the actor poses for pictures with him as a photo prop.Īll of this adds up to inaccurate and dangerous portrayal of captive primate ownership, which characterizes such captivity a positive, safe, and emotionally fulfilling for the monkey. That kind of bond does not come naturally and it was not something they likely felt Allie could portray, even by force or training. It also suggests that in order to tell the story the filmmakers want to tell – about the emotional connection between Nate and Gigi – the scenes of closeness between human and wild animal had to be fabricated using animation. First, using Allie in scenes of aggression and stress likely translates to Allie truly experiencing a great deal of stress during the film’s exploitation of her in the role of Gigi. This subtle pattern has two important implications. Importantly, scenes that convey moments of compassion and empathy towards Nate were largely filmed using the animated version of Gigi, while Allie, the real-life “actor” capuchin, appears in scenes that communicate aggression and frustration. Meanwhile, the animal rights groups and police officers that object to Gigi’s captivity are vilified as Nate eventually fights against them in court to maintain his legal ownership of Gigi. In the movie trailer, despite a couple of seemingly harmless aggressive outbursts, Gigi is mostly portrayed as a tame and agreeable supporting character who develops a close emotional bond with Nate by gently and intuitively assisting him through his struggles with quadriplegia. The Film Portrays Captive Primate Ownership as Positive and Largely Risk-Free The film uses a combination of both an animated monkey and a real capuchin “actor” named Allie to portray Gigi. Once images of Nate with Gigi at a rowdy college party go viral on social media (with some photos showing both of them consuming alcohol), animal rights groups are hastily painted as the antagonist when they object to Gigi’s captivity and attempt to make the possession of primates as service animals illegal in Nate’s home state of Tennessee. Several years after the incident, Nate acquires Gigi, a capuchin monkey “service animal,” to assist him with everyday tasks including operating his cell phone, going grocery shopping, riding the bus, and performing physical therapy exercises. The movie tells the true story of an 18-year-old named Nate, who becomes quadriplegic after contracting meningitis from swimming in a lake. But, please refrain from rushing to the box office and grabbing that popcorn. A new movie Gigi & Nate just came out in theaters around the United States.
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