Canine companions on screen: Examining the human-dog relationship through film analysis
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For over fourteen thousand years there has been a bond between humans and canines. This relationship is believed to have initially developed due to the mutual convenience of working together to more efficiently find and capture food. The wolves found the large prey they’d be unable to kill on their own, and after the humans killed and ate their fill the wolves would get the scraps. Over time, as the wolves that lived with these early humans changed, they evolved into the domestic dog that we know today. It is unlikely, however, that their domestication was an organized plan by human civilization. As the anthropologist, Dr. Darcy Morey writes, “Theories that assume intentionality, however, may be rooted more in the biases of modern culture than in any objective measure. Life in the 20th century without domesticates is virtually unimaginable to us, so it is tempting to presume that people who lived without domesticates during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene surely wished to improve their lives.” (Morey 336) We take for granted our relationships with domesticates such as dogs, cows, sheep, and goats, and assume that life could not have functioned properly before their invention. However, it is quite probable that their domestication occurred incidentally, as two species discovered the mutual benefit of cohabitation. But regardless of intentionality, it is widely believed that dogs were the very first domesticated species, and they quickly assumed the role of “Man’s Best Friend.” (from Introduction)