oh bother, part 17: animal planet’s surprisingly human slogan

This week in my queering desire class we are discussing queering the non/human. I thought I would cross-post a “queer this!” example (in two parts) from that blog. It also seems appropriate as an oh bother example.

Part one: Animal Planet, Surprisingly Human.

Part two:

In “Queering the non/human,” Noreen Giffney and Myra J. Hird write:

Recognizing the trace of the nonhuman in every figuration of the Human also means being cognizant of the exclusive and excluding economy of discourses relating to what it means to be, live, act or occupy the category of the Human. This has real material effects. For every ‘livable life’ and ‘grievable death,’ there are a litany of unmentionable, unassimilable Others melting into the pace of the nonhuman” (3).

Surprisingly human? Oh bother! Before watching the commercial, I was already troubled by the potential anthropomorphizing going on here. Then I saw the commercial and was even more troubled by the objectifying/ignoring of non-human animals. What do you think? Does this bother you?