Fined 500 million VND for letting a horse die on set
Recently, the Seoul court fined three KBS employees a total of 30 million won (about 550 million VND). All three were held responsible for the death of a horse cinematic stagewhile producing a television series in 2021.
The Seoul Southern District Court convicted three employees, including a 59-year-old television producer surnamed Kim, a martial arts director and an equestrian, of animal cruelty. Besides, they also faced other charges such as torturing and killing a horse while filming a scene for the local TV station’s “The King of Tears, Lee Bangwon” on November 2, 2021.
The scene in the movie “The King of Tears, Lee Bangwon” caused the horse to be injured and die. Photo: Korea Herald.
Individuals were fined 10 million won each, and KBS was fined 5 million won for lack of responsibility and failure to prevent employee misconduct.
The defendants are accused of using a rope to tie the horse’s front legs and forcing it to sprint downhill, causing it to fall over. The horse fell hard to the ground, was not cared for and died 5 days later.
The court called this incident a “serious crime”, the three had “intentionally performed the stunt even though they knew the horse would be seriously injured in the process”.
The court also mentioned that, although other humane options were available such as using computer-generated images and animations or hiring stunt performers, the defendants chose to sacrifice the horse to cut reduce production costs.
However, the court also took into account mitigating circumstances such as sincerely admitting the defendants’ accusations and KBS moved to establish a set of guidelines on how to treat animals on set after the incident.
Previously, KBS was criticized in early 2022 after a video filmed on set was spread online. Animal activists say this is not the first time a television station has abused and mistreated horses to produce a television series. The Korean Animal Protection Association cited scenes of horses falling to the ground in dramas such as “Bridal Mask” and “Jeong Do Jeon,” which aired in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
History of animal cruelty in the film industry
Animals always play an irreplaceable role in the process make movies. In fact, the history of cinema begins in 1879 with the image of a horse galloping through a special lens, which became the forerunner of the later movie camera.
Four decades later, a German shepherd named Rin Tin Tin starred in 27 Hollywood movies, playing a major role in “saving” the famous Warner Bros. studio. avoid bankruptcy. It was even rumored to have received the most votes for the “Best Actor” category at the first Academy Awards.
Considering the widespread use of animals as “actors,” it’s natural to ask questions about how they are treated on set. Currently, the law classifies animals as property, and there are no US federal or state laws overseeing their use in the film industry. Only the American Humane Association (AHA), an industry organization dedicated to protecting animals in motion pictures, was first founded in 1877 after allegations of cruelty with animals in the industry spread for the first time. In 1972, the AHA coined the familiar phrase “No Animals Were Harmed,” which appears in the closing statements of movie.
Rin Tin Tin dog, the first animal “actor”. Photo: The New Yorker.
Despite the AHA, the film industry still has a long history of animal abuse. In the 1939 Western film “Jesse James”, director Henry King sent a horse over a high cliff to its agonizing death. In 1959, about 100 horses were shot to death during the production of the movie “Ben-Hur”.
Audiences will be shocked to learn that even one of Disney’s most beloved franchises has a brutal past, when dozens of fish and squid were killed in explosions in the 2003 film “Heist”. Caribbean Sea: The Curse of the Black Pearl”.
The Oscar-winning film “Life of Pi” tells the touching story of a boy who befriends a tiger. However, the story behind the scenes is not that touching.
King, the Bengal tiger who stars in the film, nearly drowned several times. That same year, 27 animals including sheep and goats died on the set of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” due to lack of water and irresponsibility of the film crew.
More recently, “A Dog’s Purpose” was boycotted after a viral video of a frightened dog being forced to drown in fast-flowing water sparked a backlash among activists. animal. But what is the most shocking part of all the above movies? That is, they are all approved by the AHA.
Animals in Disney’s “The Jungle Book” are all treated with CGI. Photo: Disney.
It’s difficult to care for animals properly, which is why movie studios stay away from handling real animals on set. In 2016, Disney’s “The Jungle Book” was released, the images were entirely computer-generated except for one human actor. The film was a huge commercial success, grossing $966 million worldwide. Not only that, it also demonstrates the importance of using CGI to create amazingly lifelike animals.
In 2018, Bradley Cooper starred in the Oscar-winning film “A Star is Born” and acted alongside his own dog, another convenient way to avoid the cycle of animal cruelty on set.