Over the past two years, Marc Furstenau has studied the way in which cameras have been used to “anthropomorphize,” or give human characteristics, to animals.
In real life, it is very uncommon to see a wild animal, let alone up close, Furstenau explained.
He said with the invention of the camera, we can now get up close to these animals without putting ourselves in any danger.
Furstenau, an associate professor in the film department, is part of a group of researchers at Carleton whose work is being highlighted during this year’s Research Days.
He explained we are given a sense that we know these animals, and that it is completely normal to interact with them, despite the obvious danger of approaching a wild animal.
“We have had no end in seeing these animals, and we can see them in ways that we can’t see them in the natural world,” he said.
“Once a cameraman gets that image, we get the sense that we can look into a bear’s eyes.”
This, he said, “transforms our experience of the wild, and of wild animals.”
Furstenau’s theory extends beyond human interaction with animals. He said cameras also set us up with unrealistic views of the world.
“When we produce images, even the most realistic, they are still only opportunities to imagine our place in the world,” he said.
“That’s not to say those images are imaginary, it’s not fictional,” he added.
“Cameras provide us with a means of creating images of the world, which then allows us to imagine our position in the world,” he said.
He provided images we see of Iraq as an example to explain his theory.
“Because you can’t see everything all at once it’s a real relationship, but it’s at a distance,” he said.
Furstenau said he hopes his study will inspire students to think about their own relationship in the world.
“If we understand animals — or if we think we do — it will structure how we behave, what we do when we go out in the wild, and how we think when we develop land,” he said.
Furstenau said he also hopes his study will help students consider the “larger ethical questions about how human beings act in the world.”
“How we use technologies like camera and television and cinema to produce representations of the world helps us to understand the world,” he said.