What we're looking at today isn't, in the strictest sense of the word, a PIF (although I'l still probably end up referring to it as such), as its not produced by the government. It's produced by the charities International Fun for Animal Welfare, and the League Against Cruel Sports, produced for viewing in cinemas. And it deals with something which now seems like a distant memory, fox hunting.
The great English tradition of hunting a small defenceless animal through the woods until it's literally ripped apart for the pleasure of cunts, was banned in 2004, so I guess in the long run, today's film did serve its purpose. And how did it achieve that?
Through sheer, visceral terror of course. How else?
There's not really much one can do justice to by describing this film in words. You just have to let it unfold really. But for the squeamish...
You'l notice the 18 certificate in the corner. That's a good sign usually. There's a certain thrill in watching PIF's in the cinema. You know there gonna pull out all the stops, unrestrained by the rules of boring old telly. Watching images of death and horror on a massive screen in a big black room also carries a discomfort. There used to be a rule, maybe it's still in place I'm not sure, that meant all charity ads, no matter how dark they were, were automatically relegated an 18 certificate. Put it this way, you wouldn't wanna show this ad before Finding Nemo (or The Fox and The Hound for that matter, that would just be unfortunate).
Now onto the damn thing. It's a POV shot of something small, furry and very scared running around woodland. He hides in trees, nearly gets run over, as the distant sound of barking and horns blare ever closer. The idea is a sort of "how would you feel if it was YOU being hunted". I'm also positive they mix in some human sounds in there as well as fox sounds, but I'm probably wrong.
The chase culminates in the fox, sorry, YOU, being dragged out of a hutch and ripped to pieces while the whole world around you seems to echo and fade into nothingness. We get a little arthouse now. We hear claps from the tormentors who just killed you for no good reason whatsoever other then it provides some cheap thrill. If people did that to a human, it would be called sadistic.
There are several quick, less then a second, cuts to photographs, presumably showing something nasty, before we finally end on a nice lingering photo of a wreaked fox carcass. Sorry, YOUR wreaked carcass. Its...distressing. Don't get me wrong, I'm no vegetarian, but I don;t want to see animals essentially being mentally and physically tortured before being murdered in the most violent, cruel fashion imaginable. You wouldn't wish that on your worst enemy. Why wish it on a defenceless small furry thing who causes you no harm?
My comments about fox hunting might sound a little dated, considering its no longer technically legal, but the fact is, it still happens in some corners of the countryside. See, it wasn't made illegal 100%. Limits were simply imposed on the trawls so that foxes aren't hunted and killed so savagely as this ad depicts. Doesn't stop some people though. And it's these people who this ad is probably aimed at. Not that they'd give two fucking shits probably, they'd more then likely love that last shot, might get them a little hard. After all, its a great British tradition....
I'm surprised it hasn't been fully legalised actually, ever since Cameron and his silver spoon army of dicks illegally took power. They've certainly tried in the past. No these days, the upper classes and the people in power hunt in a different manner. A psychological manner, designed to tear apart and destroy everything we hold dear, from the NHS, to the BBC, to our basic public services, and eventually, us.
So in a way, fox hunting never ended. Except now, we're the fox. This PIF wasn't just a piece of horror designed to make a viewpoint, it was a warning. We're still hunted and torn apart, for no apprant reason. By cunts. What do you think they'd do if they had nothing to hunt? What would they do with themselves?
I apologise for the rather angry political tone this entry has taken. But take that as a sign of how powerful and effective this ad really is. It wants you to be angry. It's not exactly a call to revolution, but it wants you thinking. Imagining how it would feel, to be small and powerless. Hunted all your life, simply for the crime of being small and powerless.
Maybe we don't need to imagine that hard.
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