Learning anything about marine mammal training will make you re-evaluate so much of your relationship with your own pets. There is so much force involved in the way we handle domestic animals. Most of it isn’t even intentional, it just stems from impatience. I’m guilty of it myself!
But with the exception of certain veterinary settings where the animal’s health is the immediate priority, why is it so important to us that animals do exactly what we want exactly when we want it? Why do we have to invent all these tools and contraptions to force them to behave?
When a whale swam away from a session, that was that. The trainer just waited for them to decide to come back. If they flat out refused to participate in behaviors, they still got their allotment of fish. Nothing bad happened. Not even when 20-30 people were assembled for a procedure, and the whale chose not to enter the medical pool. No big deal. Their choice and comfort were prioritized over human convenience.
It’s almost shocking to return to domestic animal medicine afterwards and watch owners use shock collars and chokers and whips to control their animals. It’s no wonder that positive reinforcement was pioneered by marine mammal trainers. When you literally can’t force an animal to do what you want, it changes your entire perspective.
I want to see that mindset extended to our domestic animals.
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Random hcs that have been on my mind for the past couple days: now in doodle format!
Text for each drawing written out under the cut in case it's not clear or anyone wants to translate it!
(1)
<- Somehow soft??
<-Sometimes makes a comforting hum/rumble
<-Holding for support
(2)
<-Walks so quietly everywhere he goes
<-Is about to meet god
(3)
<-Can't see well in the dark (no eyelights)
<-Can't help himself
(4)
<-Thinks Color will turn Killer against him and convince him to run away
(5)
<-Thinks Nightmare is using them all for the negativity and has brainwashed Killer into liking it
(6)
<-Thinks if he runs and jumps at Cross as fast as he can Cross will lift him and it'll look so cool
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So you saw fell in love with Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon and now you want her on your screen as much as possible? I’m here to help.
Certain Women directed by Kelly Reichardt
This was the first time I saw Lily Gladstone in anything and I screamed about her specifically for days. The film is segmented into three stories about women living in the northwestern plains region of the US. All three segments are good, but Lily Gladstone’s is by far my favorite. She plays a ranch hand who starts sitting in on a night school law class when she develops a crush on the teacher, played by (bonus!) Kristen Stewart.
Certain Women is streaming on The Criterion Channel, AMC+, and Kanopy (Kanopy is free!). It is also available to rent on the major platforms.
The Unknown Country directed by Morrisa Maltz
This movie is stunning. Think Nomadland but even more stripped down. Lily Gladstone plays a character on a roadtrip to reunite with her estranged family after the death of her grandmother. Along the way she tries to learn more about who her grandmother was in life and reconnect with her memory. A lot of the film is unscripted, and breathtaking shots of the western US landscape punctuate the brief encounters she has at each stop on her journey.
The Unknown Country is available to rent on the major platforms such as Apple TV, Amazon, and YouTube.
Quantum Cowboys directed by Geoff Marslett
This one’s for the multiverse fans. A really fun romp that might make your head hurt if you think about it too hard. Lily Gladstone plays a character in the 1870’s southwest who encounters a pair of travelers stuck in a time loop (sort of). She enlists their help (sort of) in a plan to recover land that was taken from her and in return helps them in their attempt to break their cycle. Most of the film is rotoscope animation, so it’s a completely different type of a performance from Lily Gladstone. I had the extraordinary luck of meeting her at a festival screening last year and they said it was such a fun deviation from their usual hyper realistic work.
Quantum Cowboys is available to rent on major platforms such as Apple TV, Amazon, and YouTube.
Fancy Dance directed by Erica Tremblay
The most recent Lily Gladstone film to blow me away, and maybe my favorite film of 2023. Lily Gladstone plays a character who has been trying to find her missing sister while simultaneously providing care for her sister’s daughter. When it appears she may lose custody, the two hit the road to search for the teen’s mother. It’s sad and sweet and beautiful. I have to warn that the subject matter is heavy and all too real but that’s why it’s an important story. It’s about something that is so pervasive, yet people outside of the community affected turn a blind eye to it.
Fancy Dance can be seen in select theaters and is now streaming on Apple TV+. Erica Tremblay previously directed Lily Gladstone in the short film Little Chief, which can be found on Vimeo.
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A fundamental issue of all the Dracula adaptations that do the Dracula and Mina are in love thing is that they always do it in this stupid "Dracula's dark and alluring mysterious aura draws in Mina" instead of someone asking at a train station when the train for Liverpool is supposed to arrive with both Dracula and Mina answering at the exact same time in sync and then locking eyes across the station.
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