< Movie poster for Singapore
The award-winning movie ‘School Days with a Pig’ tells of a teacher’s special project for his class of grade 6 students to learn more deeply about the connection between life and food – by raising a piglet together, before eventually eating it. This premise is actually rather disturbing (though there is not a single gory scene) as it’s quite bizarre that both the teacher and 28 students were agreeable to the conclusion of the project before it began. It’s easy to assume the film to be a cutesy comedy with piggy misadventures (which it is mostly), but the ending is such that it becomes a ‘horror’ movie – albeit not readily depicted. As expected, the class splits into two factions as the story progresses. One side feels that pigs are meant to be eaten, and that humans need food anyway, while the other side feels that doing so lacks compassion. What missed elaboration is the fact that humans don’t really require any animal produce to survive. It’s out of ignorance and greed for taste that meat-eating is perpetuated. Throughout most of the show, the teacher doesn’t educate on the possibility of taking up a kinder diet (vegetarianism or veganism), and remains mostly neutral and ambivalent, letting the class debate on the future of the pig.
< A scene from the movie
Naturally, the pig gets named (P-chan) by the kids, which some felt to be a mistake – because it meant bonding with him, making the prospect of departure harder. Even the ones who were initially pro-eating him became attached to some degree. Some start questioning why P-chan must be eaten – especially since he became not just like a classmate, but a pet and friend too. In fact, he becomes the jolly mascot of the school. This reminds us of a famous quote by George Bernard Shaw – ‘Animals are my friends… and I don’t eat my friends.’ In fact, the Buddha even encouraged us to befriend all sentient beings with harmlessness and loving-kindness (Metta). The issue of hypocrisy arose too… Why would it be okay to eat other living beings if it’s not okay to eat P-chan? Is it just because they became attached to P-chan? But must attachment be a requisite for universal kindness to function? Not at all. The teacher didn’t want to use a chicken because he felt it would be ‘too easy’. He wanted the kids to learn to care well for an animal, so as to maximise the lessons learnt. The kids learn to nurture P-chan, play with him, feed him and defend him. They even gladly build a house for him, and clear his poop and pee regularly.
< Movie poster for Japan
The more the bonding deepens, the more disturbing it becomes as the kids’ graduation day looms closer. For what is their kindness to him ultimately for, when P-chan is to be sent to the slaughterhouse by them? Does the bad faith not intensify? As the kids became preoccupied with P-chan, to the extent of eating less personally to save leftovers for P-chan. This led some parents to wonder if their kids attend school to learn or to raise a pig. That’s short-sighted of course, because raising a pig offers opportunities to learn priceless lessons about unconditional love and responsibility to a fellow sentient being. The film consists of many one-line debating points on the ethics of eating P-chan versus not. Here are some… One says that since the project’s finale was to eat P-chan, they should do just that, as a matter of principle. But isn’t sticking to principles rigidly and needlessly itself a poor principle in practice? Is raising an animal to eat cruel, or is it the eating itself that is so? What’s the difference between creating a supply for meat and sustaining a demand for meat? In the Lankavatara Sutra, the irrefutable interdependent economics of the meat-seller (killer) and meat-buyer (eater) is stated – and it’s a cycle of violence that one can opt out of.
< Another scene from the movie
Pigs, like any other animals, don’t exist just to be killed and eaten by others, just as humans don’t. Humans are the ones who decide how to relate to weaker beings. When we choose the easy way out for our convenience and greed, we are really spiritually weak beings, truly incapable of caring for them. If so, humans shouldn’t domesticate animals in the first place – especially since it is to exploit them. We don’t need to eat any animal to stay alive, while every animal need us to NOT eat them to stay alive. Since there was domestication of P-chan with no proper way to return him to the wild, the kids ought to care for him throughout his natural lifespan. Someone remarked that P-chan already lived a full life of six months, but to measure lifespan unnaturally by the yardstick of slaughterhouses is as twisted as it is to let a murderer determine you own lifespan. Another kid rationalised that after P-chan gets killed, he would just be meat, no longer P-chan. This is unsound logic, because one still kills P-chan as P-chan. Yet another rationalised that killing and eating are entirely unrelated, that eating inherits the life of the eaten to let them be part of us. If so, why do we not eat our beloved family and friends when they pass away?
^ Even Homer the glutton couldn’t stand a pig being killed for food in ‘The Simpsons Movie’
The matter of discrimination arose a few times. Isn’t it clearly favourtism to fight only for P-chan’s life, while eating other pigs? Isn’t it clearly speciesism to not eat P-chan, while eating other animals? A cook saw pigs as monsters, who are nevertheless ‘delicious’ when cooked well (with vegetarian seasonings actually!). But isn’t the one who demonises, exploits and kills animals the real monster? The kids mistakenly assume that pig farmers love pigs like pets, that they too feel attachment to them before they get killed. If the attachment is so real, why let them be killed… continuously… and in countless numbers? They have probably gotten numb to the suffering of the pigs to be part of this bloody trade. A child felt that if they are responsible for P-chan’s uncertain future, they should eat him. This would save others the heartache of probably ‘needing’ to send him to the slaugherhouse later. This was accused as being heartless by another. The class had hoped to handover P-chan to juniors to care for him as there was no farm which wanted to adopt him for life. Should P-chan be killed simply due to their lack of time to care for him? A class of grade 3 students volunteers to take over, but they were deemed too small and young. But couldn’t they be taught how to care for P-chan as a team with the help of more guiding teachers? Isn’t it better to learn respect for life from young?
< ‘Babe’ is a better pro-animal rights movie
The ending of the story is a distasteful one. The class cast equal votes for letting P-chan be adopted by the grade 3 students versus sending P-chan to a ‘meat-centre’, which is really euphemism for a merciless slaughterhouse. The teacher was forced to take a side by casting the deciding vote. He chose the latter, because he felt that the kids were already overburdened by the whole issue. This is a bad decision because he chose the easy way out for everyone – by sacrificing P-chan. He selfishly rid self-chosen human misery by subjecting an animal to ultimate misery. It also hinted that all domesticated animals should die and be eaten in the end? The truth is, the voting was totally unnecessary – because only P-chan’s vote mattered. But how could he vote, since he couldn’t speak? He could vote a resounding ‘Yes! I want to live!’ by screaming and kicking when he faces the knife. It is this final scene of P-chan’s life that the kids and the audience never get to witness. The teacher truly failed in teaching the kids about the source of their non-vegetarian food – by not arranging an excursion for them to see this. The P-chan adventure was only half-lived. As the film was partially based on a true story, P-chan was really sacrificed. Seeing P-chan go under the knife, not that I want to, could save many more animals. As Stonepeace put it, ‘The sight of blood and gore is only good for one thing – to prevent further blood and gore.’ The movie was unfortunately just another desensitised film that failed to deliver greater lessons on respect for life.
< Siddhartha’s early compassion
When Siddhartha (the Buddha-to-be) was a child, he once rescued a swan shot by his cousin Devadatta. Reluctant to hand it over to him, it was judged by the wise that the swan belonged to those who saw value in its life, not its death, to those who wanted to save it, not to those who wanted to kill it. It’s disturbing how the teacher voted against letting the grade 3 students take over when he had the final say over P-chan’s life. In this sense, the teacher’s special project to educate on the meaning of life and death had ‘died’… in his own hands. If the kids were to be taught the true meaning of responsibility for P-chan all the way, they ought to kill him personally – since they voted for the death sentence. Why pay others do the dirty job? Then again, true responsibility would mean not even considering killing as an option. Also disturbing was how the pro-life half of the class never spoke up more enthusiastically to win the teacher’s vote. How could they collectively think that an early death is better for a hale and hearty P-chan? What if sick and aged human parents are involved here? Would we send them to the slaughterhouse? Also in the Lankavatara Sutra, the Buddha taught that all animals (all beings in fact) had been our parents at some point in time in our many previous lives. Even more disturbing was that the grade 3 students were deliberately concealed from the fact that P-chan would be sent away to be killed. The bitter hard truth of the source of their meat was not passed down to them. However, I hope it has been passed on to you – via this review! May all beings be free from harm and danger. May all beings be well and happy.
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Great review bro Shian .Amituofo !
Thanks… i just edited it as there were grammar mistakes abound! (There’s a pig ad on the left of this column!) :woot:
I am reminded of the Korean movie “Le Grand Chef” where the chef sacrificed and slaughtered his pet cow to take part in a cooking competition. It’s a cruel movie and I felt uncomfortable throughout, from the starting scenes when fish are killed live to make sashimi to scenes when the sacrificial cow was led into the slaughterhouse and its flesh later carved out by its owner. Urgh…
While shooting the slaughterhouse scene, Seong-sun (the name of the cow) was extremely stressed and had actually lost about 30 kilograms that day because it was terrified it might be slaughtered right there! What trauma they put the poor cow through!
If society values flesh of carcasses more than the sentient beings that they were, i guess there is really something very wrong with it. But it’s not that all in it are barbaric but that most fail to fully realise how their meat came from barbaric means
As if eating them is not heartless enough, to make the animals go through the torment of fear is sickeningly hideous! And many fish were probably killed for the ‘perfect’ sashimi scenes
‘Le Grand Chef’… Sounds like the exact kind of movie-making that PETA would speak against! 8/
‘School Days with a Pig’ seems to have good intentions, but the outcome is just to much of a letdown. I made a point to watch it with hope that it would advocate vegetarianism or at least the eating of less meat. But nope, none of the above was proposed or even hinted!
That only shows how lacking vegetarianism is in Japan and the educational system around the world, perhaps?
More like good intentions for their own pockets rather than for the advocacy of vegetarianism. Otherwise the outcome wouldn’t be such. Seems like the movie’s even more insidious in spreading of a wrong message to young kids even when there is no outright violence.
There is very little advocacy of vegetarianism in Japan, although in recent years, things are getting a bit better with the coming up of their very own vegetarian and vegan societies. One would never guess that this country was once a vegetarian country a very long time ago. Other than traditional Shojin Ryori at some temples, perhaps not many folks know about forms of vegetarianism. So I don’t think their intention is purely about filling their pockets. The only disturbing thing about this movie is how some kids and the teacher think that killing is a responsible solution to their self-created problem. Sigh, since when is killing something responsible or is a matter-of-factly solution?
It is truly sad that the movie ended this way. What a pity! What a shame! The Japanese generally prized a chef’s skills at slicing raw fish for sashimi. Their society is quite ignorant about vegetarianism I would say. And do are Chinese who prized exotic animal parts as “medicines”. Whether their medicinal effect is true or not, such act with no regards to respect for nature is foolish and uncultured.
The story is quite good actually…. It’s just that at the end, they decide to send P-chan to a meat centre. What happens there is not shown, while there is interesting discussion on ethics throughout.
‘If slaughterhouses had glass walls,
the whole world would be vegetarian.’
- Paul/Linda McCartney (?)
I would like to add to that:
‘If slaughterhouses had glass walls
AND AMPLIFIERS FOR THE SCREAMS WITHIN,
WITH THEM RELOCATED TO WHERE WE LIVE,
the whole world would be vegetarian.’
I would like to believe that most folks will be thinking that P-chan’s going to live happily ever after… while watching the show…. till the last few minutes disappoint! So you just need to brace yourself for that bit. You get to see good touching acting by many kids and a cute pig…
Hey, why am I ‘praising’ the show now? Just trying to be ‘fair’ about the show, though what happened was not fair to P-chan (It’s based on a true story) 8/
I’d watched it, somehow i just knew the ending was not going to be a fairy tale ending, with P-chan living happily ever after.
Talking about Veg*nism. I read from a book that at the 7th century Korea entered a long stable period based on Buddhist culture. And that had a great effect on the nation’s gastronomy, as the slaughtering of animals was prohibited under Buddhist principles. And the diets changed with this dramatic reduction in the consumption of meat and vegetables took on a much more significant role.
What happened to Buddhism Veg*nism now in the current era????
The month of May – Mothers’ Day! Usually, during the month of May or June, the fish liberations amount will shoot up very high!
I just hope, that they don’t on one hand liberate fish and the other hand dine on MEAT for lunch/dinner celebrations … !
It’s quite common that when a country becomes richer, its people indulge in sense pleasures more – including food in terms of meat. It’s what’s happening to China and India now. Maybe this is the case for Korea?
Saw on Ch8 the other day that in japan, this japanese rear and cook insects and bugs as a delicacy and even hold regular classes for the public to sample and appreciate this ‘delicacy’.It is so ironic.I always thought that usually only people in 3rd world countries who do not get enough to eat having to resort to eating food such as the creepy crawlies. But here..it shows the reverse. The richer a country becomes, the more people indulge or find ways to indulge is true as what Shian says above. The ‘normal’ (should be not so normal) fare of fish and chicken etc on the table is not good enough anymore that they need to find other means of indulgence. Why haven’t they thought of indulging in vegetables and fruits instead? 8/
People tend to crave for exotic food when they can afford to be extravagant… forgetting the goodness of basic foods.
The indulgence or crave for exotic had a ‘hidden’ message deep inside … I think …