The Unspoken Movie Rules Chronicles- Rule #1: The Dog Lives
For those of you who have seen the classic Scream films, you know that every single horror movie has its rules – if you’re trying to survive the movie, that is!
Movies of the horror genre are not the only ones that come with a set of rules. Any movie enthusiast will tell you that when they are watching a movie, they have certain expectations and some moral rules of their own – and not just the movie enthusiasts either.
When creating a movie the actors, directors and writers know that there are just some ‘rules’ that apply that go without saying. They know that when they are putting together these movies there are just certain things that either cannot happen or must happen.
For this month that rule is… The Dog Must Live.
The first thought that comes to my mind whenever I see a dog on screen is ‘Please let the dog live!’. I know I can’t be the only one who says this. Being a doggie mom and prior veterinary technician, I have the ultimate soft spot for man’s best friend.
Dog’s have been a gigantic part of the film industry since the 1930’s, back when they were filming the old Jesse James Films. They’re even bigger in the film industry nowadays – they even have their own movie awards!
In fact a group of gigantic dog lovers, who wanted to pre-warn viewers of whether or not that adorable puppy or kitten seen in the trailer made it through the film, came together to create the website Does the Dog Die?
Surveys have been distributed in the past by big name companies like SurveyMonkey to various film goers to find out what upsets them the most when it comes to movies nowadays. The top two reasoning’s being 1.) Plot Holes and 2.) When the Dog (or other animal) Dies.
An incredibly noteable and motivational story for those of you who love dogs, is that of Kane Hodder. The stuntman turned legendary iconic horror actor has a huge soft spot for dogs. In one of his films Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan, the script called for him to kick a dog. Kane refused to film the scene, and they rewrote an entirely different scene for the film. Since then, Jason Voorhees has never touched or harmed a dog – even in the later films and remakes.
It can be argued by many film creators that having a dog in the film can grow extremely expensive. The movie Max, a film about a Belgian Malinois who returned home from war, casted five different dogs to play the part of Max. When you combine the dogs salary (yes, you heard that right… the dogs get paid too!) in addition to all the safety precautions – those numbers begin to add up.
Then again, if you’re making a dog centric movie… that should be expected!
So why is this a rule – that the dog must live?
Perhaps it is that adorable face, or the unconditional love that they give that makes us grow so attached to them. All they are really trying to do in the film is to defend those that they love, right?
Maybe it is just me, but when I see a bad guy getting defeated by a hero I cheer. They’re bad guys after all, and have complete control over their thoughts and actions. A Dog (or even a cat), only chooses to do certain actions because they were either trained that by their human or they don’t know any better.
I would rather see no dog in the film, than see them die. Or make them leave and go stay with another relative.
Just let our furry best friends make it until the end 🙂
Julia recently published her first novel, titled; Anomic. She is currently co-authoring a novel called ‘Snow Falls’. She has a B.A in Communications with concentrations in Professional Writing and Public Relations. She is also in the United States Army Reserves as a Military Police Officer, and is currently in the process of going back to school for her Masters Degree in Business. When she isn’t writing, she is co-owner of a film production studio called ‘Valentine Productions LLC’ and she frequently spends her weekends acting in films, or being a stuntwoman.
