Representing horse point of view in films: a critical reading of War Horse

Film and media scholars have increasingly been investigating both aesthetic and ethical issues of the “question of the animal”. As argued by Dell’Aversano (2010) the most urgent aim of queer is to deconstruct those identities that are perceived and conceived as “normal” or “natural”, by addressing them as results of performances. In this way, queer studies can productively meet and be combined with animal studies and with their aim to dismantle the human-animal boundary and unveil asymmetries of power. In this paper, I aim to investigate the aesthetic, theoretical and material implications of the representation of horse characters’ point of view in War Horse film adaptation (2011). My main idea is that War Horse oscillates between an accurate report of details that give an idea of horse agency and the imposition of anthropomorphic categories and horse identities. The relevance of my research question is grounded on the need to deconstruct the narrative and semiotic strategies and the processes behind the representation of a perspective normally inaccessible to humans. My chosen case study focuses the horse protagonist point of view by showing a range of human-horse and horse-horse interactions and by giving an account of his personal experiences and emotional reactions. Therefore, a combination of film analysis, animal studies and operative categories from Harvey Sacks’ and Judith Butler’s works will allow me to discuss the construction of horse identities and to highlight and reflect on real horses’ performance, which needs to be accounted among the film different layers of meaning.