27 thoughts on “Asynchronous Assignment on We the Animals”

1. In Jeremiah Zagar’s 2018 film, “We the Animals” violence is shown through Paps’s abusive behavior towards his wife Ma and through Jonah’s perspectives in which he observes his mother’s womb/bruise on his mother’s upper lip and the amount of blood that was on the tissue. Violence is also shown through Jonah’s brothers, Manny and Joel as they are shown to have an animalistic nature when they slap their dad’s back as he was lying on top of their mother and when they threaten an older lady while holding a big rock on their hands after throwing little rocks towards people’s car. Violence in relation to humans and animals is shared through the level of aggression that could spiral without any way to control it. Though both Ma and Paps have violent tendencies throughout the film, the level of aggression they’ve displayed toward each other has intensified their love for one another and has manifested into sex in their dysfunctional relationship as a couple. In other words, every time they patched up their violent situations they would begin to kiss and make up that would lead to something sexual. The queerness shown in the film was intensified through Jonah’s urges to kiss Dustin as he observes him when they sat on the floor in the basement watching tv. It is also intensified when Jonah’s family discovers his erotic homosexual drawings that his brother retrieved from under his bed.

   1. I agree that the violence is shown throughout the film. The part where you mention that their level of aggression intensifies their love for each other seems very ironic since in order for them to create more love, they need to show some sort of ‘hate.’ I agree that queerness is intensified through Jonah’s action of wanting to kiss Dustin and his drawing, which present the idea of belonging— queerness is seen as different at times, and Jonah would be seen as different. To add on to that statement, Jonah also tried kissing his mom when she got abused which also presents the idea of belonging since it is not normalized to kiss your parents on the lips. I mainly believe that Jonah has been mostly influenced since he does certain violence acts after his brothers perform them- like throwing rocks at slapping his dad’s back, like you mentioned. Although the dad is what ultimately leads the brothers to a life of aggression, Jonah learned from his brothers how to react to his dad’s abusiveness and negligence. It is not just the dad’s violence that affect the brothers, though. They would copy their dad’s sadness and reaction to getting his car towed. It is as if the title “We the Animals” refers to the brothers acting like animals in a way that they learn from observation—especially violence.

   2. I believe the violence the Jonah, Manny & Joel display is a reflection of their parents behaviors. It’s interesting that you mention the parents aggression towards one another intensifies their relationship ultimately making it sexual. They have an abusive relationship & it’s very common for people in abusive relationships that love their abuser to think that violence is “love.” When they have sexual relations after being abusive and toxic, they tie the idea of sex to love as well. Having this relationship as an example of what “love” is to their 3 children impacts their development and beliefs on what love is. When Jonah is revealed to be gay from his drawings, Manny & Joel distance themselves from him and don’t understand his sexuality. I believe this is because they can’t even understand heterosexual relationships well because their parents don’t display a healthy, loving environment for them, therefore understanding queerness can be much harder for them.

   3. Hi Bryan I agree with your observation on the film and it makes me think of the violence normalized in the Latino community. It’s sad that violence in front of kids is normalize and it makes me think does the parents care about how it would affect kids, Can they create a way where domestic violence isn’t seen if they love the environment their in? I feel like beating your spouse is never okay and I’m a environment where children is present it’s even worse.

   4. I sort of agree with you on the violence but in my point of view, I believe there was also that support of the brothers between themselves. They learned violence is a love language but they also knew it wasn’t healthy. They saw how their mother wouldn’t eat, cook or even get out of bed. When the father came back, things got a little better, trying to support each other in small ways, when the father lost his job because he took his children to work with him. The moment the whole family found out about Manny’s sexual orientation, they were trying to understand him. Manny didn’t know how to react but to be violent, again something he has learned from his parents. His brothers were confused what was going on, but knew Manny was hurting. Thats why, towards the end they perform the body heat. Its the way they cope, feeding each other’s energy but also comforting them, creating a stronger bond.

2. We the Animals, a film by Jeremiah Zagar from 2018, reflects on the connection between the characters and animals. Jonah, Manny, and Joel are animalistic because they are active and like to stay together in a pack. This is displayed when the boys run into the forest with sticks and shout while beating their chests. The environment they live in enhances their animal traits because they are separated from the rest of the community and are close to nature. The film compares masculinity to animal behavior in different ways. One example is the comparisons to animals. When the boys go diving into the water, they are “flying,” like birds. The mother also compares Jonah’s brothers to goldfish because they swim well due to growing up near lakes and rivers. Another example is their fearlessness or aggressiveness because Manny and Joel throw rocks at cars when they’re bored. Other characters in the film are likened to animals too because the mother and father have an abusive relationship, but violence intensifies their love for one another instead of diminishing it. The film proposes that we are all animals because the characters follow their natural instincts. Even though Jonah hides his feelings, he still follows his instincts by expressing himself through his drawings.

   1. It is interesting that you brought up the fact that the boys like to stay together in a pack and see it as a connection between the characters and animals, however, I think that even though the three gather together, Manny and Joel are separating themselves away from Jonah, they will call Jonah names and when Jonah’s notebook has been discovered, the look of disdain and contempt on their face reveals their indifference for Jonah.
      I want to further into the importance of water for Jonah. When he is with Dustin, he has the illusion that he is underwater with Dustin, and the last scene, with Dustin “underwater”, gives him the courage to kiss Dustin, so I think his childhood experience with rivers and lakes makes him brave enough to act.

   2. I like that you pointed out how their environment encourages their animal traits due to being separated from the rest of the community. Living in an unmonitored environment gives the boys the freedom to do whatever they want and get away with it. In the beginning, we see how the three brothers stick together as they are left to fend for themselves, most of the time they are even seen half-naked. We can see their bond in scenes where all three brothers are huddled together under a blanket chanting “body heat”. Throughout the movie, we also see scenes of Jonah being underwater or a silhouette flying above the neighborhood that we can assume is Jonah too. All these scenes can be interpreted as the boys being animalistic and having animalistic traits. The three brothers’ aggression can also be interpreted as a response to the environment their parents created for them. The aggression and violence the boys display is a response to their parents’ abusive relationship. Being only children they are seen mirroring the behavior of their parents. It’s become normalized for these boys as in one scene we see how they begin to smack their father’s back as he lays on top of their mother.

   3. Hi Tony, I think you make several great points on how the film connects the boys’ behavior to animalism. While watching the movie I also thought Zagar established this parallel most effectively through visual elements. As you point out, one of the most consistent examples of this is how the three boys are almost always traveling with each other, as though they are in a pack. I thought the scene in which they rob a convenience store really punctuated this connection, as the three collaborate to come up with a plan to create a diversion and escape safely, as though they were a pack of animals struggling for survival. Another example of this imagery is their common “body heat” ritual, where they gather together under a blanket, lock arms, and chant the refrain in the glow of flashlights. I think Zagar uses this imagery because he’s asserting that the boys are being forced to fight to survive at this turning point in their lives. Even though they vary in age, the boys are all coming of age and slowly growing and discovering their identities. These identities are inevitably shaped in part by their parents and crises at home, where the boys are being deprived of the emotional support that is so critical at their young age. Thus, they have to stick together to navigate the wild terrain outside to find themselves, because they won’t find that identity at home.

   4. I agree with your idea that the natural environment enhances their animal traits. The boys are free to do as they please when they are in nature, they run wild through the trees much like animals do. As you mentioned, they are separated from the rest of the community both physically and culturally/racially, seeing as they seem to be the only people of color in town. I also think that their home environment also enhances their animal traits as well. After their father leaves and their mother is too depressed to get out of bed and cook for them, the brothers are left to fend for themselves. They eat everything in the house until there is nothing left, forcing them to steal from stores and crops. The scene of the boys stealing tomatoes from Dustin’s grandfather is reminiscent of a rabbit or fox stealing from a farm. I think the film links masculinity to violence as well. Their father is the only masculine figure in their life and because he is violent toward their mother, they see masculinity as being violent. Jonah does not adopt violence as much as his brothers do, which makes him “weird” in comparison to them.

   5. I definitely agree with you that Jonah explores much of his rage and his struggles through the use of his drawings. Drawing allows him to express many of thoughts and emotions that he has otherwise been working very hard to hide; this is clear when we see his drawings flesh out. We see him use a lot of red to symbolize his anger; oftentimes the red is used by Jonah to show an explosion or an injury of some sort. Another color he uses a lot in his drawings is blue, usually used for drawing the sky or the water; blue symbolizes Jonah’s freedom, he usually employs it in moments that give him such a feeling of lightness or weightlessness. An example of such a moment, as mentioned by Jiaqi above as well, is when Jonah finally kisses Dustin after having struggled with a longing for him for a little while. In this moment, Jonah’s drawings come alive, the scene is shown as though underwater because it is as if the two boys are the only people in the world at that moment, they are simply floating. I think Jonah’s drawings allow him to experience an imagined world, a world in which he knows who he is and has the strength to act on his desires, which provides him with the true relief he often cannot obtain in the real world.

3. The film, “We the Animals” shows violence through how pap’s treats his wife, Ma. Pap’s leaves home and leaves his wife lip bruised up and lies about it to his kids. But the kids obviously know what happened. Although Jonah and his siblings, Many and Joel hear the abuse happening they know what is happening and also become abusive. For example, there’s a scene when they start to hit their dad in the back and you see the aggressive side of the kids come out. They also throw rocks to people’s car as the people are driving by and at some point they threaten a lady. Violence is related to humans and animals because for them there is no way of controlling it or being in charge of their own feelings. When it comes to the relationship that Pap’s and Ma have they always argue and fight but they both need sexual attention and before you know it they make up by pleasing one another. Although Pap’s is abusive to Ma somehow their love grows stronger. In terms of queerness we see how Jonah starts to have an interest for Dustin which leads to Jonah wanting to kiss Dustin. Jonah having these feelings towards Dustin intensifies as the family find out about his book and his drawing that he has been hiding under his bed. You see Jonah losing it and his dad holding with back so that he doesn’t harm himself.

   1. I agree with you said about the boys learning aggressiveness from their father. Kids are sponges and they do what they learn at home. They are growing up in an abusive environment and therefore releasing that anger into the world. The relationship between the parents is very toxic and complex. While they do love each other, they also constantly cause pain to not only each other, but also their children. I think Paps and Ma stay together because they don’t have anything else and to them this toxic love is better than no love at all. I also agree with what you said about feelings being connected to animalistic tendencies. In the movie when characters are feeling very strongly about something they appear to be out of control. For example, at the end Jonah completely lost it when he saw all his drawings on man the floor.

4. In the movie We the Animals the best way i could describe their love is as “tough love”. The dad’s and mothers relation is a example of this, dad would get physically violent while mom at times would also get verbally violent. The brothers seem to all care for each other but at the same time they they of course showed each other tough love. The two older brothers found the younger one weird who had different interests than them and not only in his sexuality but also in looks and other aspects such as his disinterest in drugs. Even though the brothers found their younger brother strange they still would include him in almost everything they did and would go looking for him when he wasn’t around. The family seems to live in a neighborhood where Latinos are not as prevalent and it’s mainly lower class white people. We saw an example of racism in the scene where the brothers get called “Mexican” so I’ll say that they might also live in an area where racism might be prevalent.

   1. I agree with you John. The way that their parents act, the constant cycle of abuse and then love bombing to make up for the abuse is something that greatly affected the kids. We see them take on those violent tendencies, even if at times they hate that they are. The environment that their parents raised them in shaped them into who they were, and made the 3 brothers close. Because even though there was a substantial amount of chaos going on at home, they ensured that they would always be there for each other. I disagree with your use of the term “tough love” as though love does not include that level of abuse where the children become traumatized by it, and it affects their development and social life. The way that their parents raised them, including the sheltering of society interrupted their social development and made them interact with people in an abusive manner. Also, regarding the brothers and their relationship, once Jonah is discovered to be gay, we see them slowly start to ignore the bond they had created and slowly separate him from the “pack” that they had created. I believe this is because they did not know enough about queerness to fully accept their brother, since they were sheltered and were not previously exposed to that.

5. We the Animals presents the family dynamic as anything but normal and can be more so labeled as dysfunctional. Despite labeling this family as dysfunctional throughout the film there are constant examples of them displaying love towards each other even if it’s unconventional. The father displays this machismo in the family and is very controlling of Ma which starts to rub off on two of the children (Manny and Joel). The father also leaves the family for a bit during the first half of the movie, during the second half he sees his errors more so and tries to not let his machismo get the best of him. Pops makes more of an attempt to be a better father for his children and for Ma. When looking into the relationship of the brothers initially one can see that the father treats Manny and Joel differently in comparison to Jonah as he thinks that the mother babies him too much. The 3 brothers have a bond that is quite unique, as when they have to protect each other they will do what is necessary to make sure they are all safe but at the same time two of the brothers (Manny and Joel) do not have the same relationship with Jonah at times during the film. They seem to appeal to being more so like their father and have this more machismo in their personality than Jonah who is more compassionate like his mother. Even though the brothers will have the occasional fight at the end of the day they end up getting over it and go on about their nights. In the progression of the movie we start to see them becoming more distant and it becomes Jonah and his two brothers instead of the three brothers at the beginning of the film. Once the drawings are revealed, it can be said that Jonah, though wanting to have that same relationship with his brothers will not be able to because of how his brothers are starting to fall influence to drugs and drinking, something he is not opposed to doing so. This can tie to the promise he made with his mother at the beginning of the film which revolves around the idea of him not growing up. The film takes places in a predominantly white neighborhood and so the family is bound to experience prejudices such as comparison of skin color. The comparison of skin color can be seen in the interaction between Jonah and Dustin, One can also see the remarks made by Dustin as he refers to Jonah as “Mexican” which is just ignorant at that point. Other instances can be seen when the father has a confrontation with the supervisor and he mentions that he has always had it out for him since he was of darker skin. As a family it is interesting to see how their relationship towards each other grows and changes as this is not one where it is consistently the same throughout the entire film.

   1. I agree with the observations you made. The first time that I really saw how the boys – Manny and Joel – were being influenced by his father was when their parents fought and they saw her the next morning, but they ran out while Jonah was still by his mother’s side. Each family member definitely has a mind of their own, but I think it’s harder for Jonah to really understand the dynamics between them. However, this relationship of brotherhood is so prevalent throughout the movie, showing that these boys have dealt with the same hardships of growing up with a dysfunctional family, and learning how to take care of each other. Connecting back to the idea of machismo, I think that the concept of love is altered for them because of how his father reacts to problems. They know that when his father leaves he will come back, and this cycle continues, leaving them with their familiar sense of uncertainty. You highlighted an important point which is the fact that they do live in a predominately white community, and therefore there is this disconnect. This has definitely defined their closeness since they really only have each other. The exposure that the boys face to white people is interesting to see because although they are not by any means wealthy, they still refer to them/ Noah as being “Mexican”. Overall it’s interesting to see how this family navigates through these obstacles and how their emotional ties play a part in it.

6. The members of this family have a strange way of showing love. The father is very tough towards his three sons to make sure they are “strong” and “masculine.” The parents who had the boys so young are in some ways learning through them also. Paps uses dance to teach the boys of their heritage, which was one of his softer attempts at showing love and compassion. Their love can be seen more as “tough love” which can become very violent at times. Paps one day beat Ma and since they see Paps as their role model, they can model this behavior and believe this is how real love is. The community they live in is in upstate New York, which is a predominantly white community. They are immigrants who are in a state of poverty, violence and insecurity due to their state in life. The prejudices they experience are social class structures, race, sexual orientation (the narrator), nationality, etc. They are atomically judged because they are Puerto Rican and immigrants. The narrator himself feels like an outcast because he is not like his other Puerto Rican family members, he is more reserved and timid. They go through prejudices within other people, but the narrator also feels it within his own nationality.

7. Option 2:

   In what ways does violence appear in the film? How is violence related to humans and animals? How is it tied to love? And does sex enter into these relationships as well? How are sex and violence intertwined? How queerness generates tensions within the film?

   In “We The Animals” violence appears throughout the film in both many evident and subtle ways. One of the most obvious ways in which we see violence is the relationship between the two parents. Paps, or Papi is a Puerto Rican man who clearly grew up in an environment where Toxic Masculinity was common. The way he resolves his disagreements with his wife is through beating her, which of course only leads to more toxicity within the family. Another way in which we see violence is through the neglect the boys endure. When Mami is depressed, and dealing with mental health issues as the result of being beat and left by Papi (although it is a bit unknown if he just left or she kicked him out), the boys are left to fend for themselves which leads them to befriends strangers. One of them being the neighboring white boy, that prematurely exposes the boys to sex through pornography, which as well know can lead to violence towards women because it depicts a false reality of what sex, or love should be through the masculine lens. Neglecting children, leads to them seeking comfort outside the home which can be dangerous. Within all Latino communities, there is violence because the history of how our communities came to be was born out of physical and sexual abuse. There is a lot of generational trauma surrounding our communities because the BIPOC Latino man is oppressed by white men, therefore they exert dominance amongst the most vulnerable which are always women and children. Violence is unfortunately common within nature, and we as humans are technically animals. The difference is that we have a conscious, and we’ve evolved a LOT from our original state. This battle between our violent impulses, especially within men confuses a lot of people. Papi is visibly battling his toxic traits throughout the film, but unfortunately he doesn’t know how to love without violence. Queerness isn’t necessarily what generates tension within the film, but is instead the feminine side of Jonah that does. It is why he stands out from his brothers, and is clearly different. Jonah is in an environment of toxic masculinity, where feminine traits aren’t respected.

   1. Hey I loved your analysis on the question. I love you inclusion on the idea of Generational trauma that surround the community due to the external factors of the white man. It brings me a whole different perspective on the question as Latin men do not feel control and since their environment is so strongly worked against them that they will make an environment adhere to them. In which we see Papi not want to treat Jonah with proper treatment since Papi created an environment that is masculine. He will not respect an environment where a person does not follow the traditional households in which a man is not allowed feminine.

8. These boys are animalistic in their nature similar to Tarzan. The very opening scene of the movie is the boys running outside with almost nothing on and screaming pounding their chest in the woods. They remind me a lot of apes or racoons sticking to their natural instincts such as keeping each other warm and using each other to survive. This plays into how these boys have to fend for themselves as soon as the dad leaves. The things that the boys do is viewed as animalistic only when they’re alone. They spend most of this movie without a shirt on and being wild even in a controlled environments. The movie does propose indirectly that we are all animals especially through the lenses of these boys, they use their instincts to get through an uncertain situation, constantly trying to do everything they can to get through life after their mother becomes useless in the first half. I really think that the big picture is everyone is an animal and we just react to how the world is presented to us, the dad is a man who cannot control his temper but keeps it all hidden until he bursts like with the mother or at his job, more than the boys I think he is an interesting charater. The other characters are not viewed this way, the farm people are viewed as normal and the grandson even says that Jonah is a Mexican and he when the kid is corrected he just says Jonah is “more Mexican” than he is. Although this movie has a hidden motive and purpose it does a job of representing even how someone who is only half Puerto Rican has a full prejudice behind their back, with the dad stating, “We’re never gonna escape this” to the mother after losing his job.

9. In the film, We the Animals, by Jeremiah Zagar, takes place mostly inside one home in upstate New York. Narrated by one of three young brothers living in upstate New York with their Puerto Rican father and white mother. Jonah, the youngest, is sensitive and thoughtful and he had a retreating space that was under his bed to draw vivid illustrations of his family’s love and strife. He’s turning 10 or “9 plus one,” according to his mother, who wants him to stay family’s the baby forever and starting to see the desires of his parents, his brothers, and himself more clearly. The 3 sons take love from their parents and defend against anger as best they can. They also live their own lives to the best of their knowledge and as consistent as they can in a state of happiness. Additionally I thought it was interesting to include that this movie, We the Animals is adapted from the Justin Torres novel of the same name.
    

10. Option one

    In the film, the boys are shown tough love and they go through pretty rough times seeing their parents argue and abuse eachother. The relationship between the boys reminds me of a wolf pack because they’re always together. The boys end up caring and looking out after eachother because of what their mother was going through. The boys are kind of like animals because of the way they ransack their kitchen to try and find something to eat. The way their dad treated their mom can also be portrayed as animal behavior because he didn’t treat her with respect.

11. Option Three

    The members of this family love each other through aggression and violence most especially, the father and mother. These two are role models for the three boys and in that they set an example that to love one another is to hit, kick, slap each other. There are sweet and tender moments towards the beginning of the movie where the boys aren’t fully affected by their parents, but as the movie proceeds we see the boys become more violent with their love. An example, when they made fun of Jonah for being scared of water, they continuously called him names, but I don’t think they did it out of malice or cruelty. The issue with this family’s love is they aren’t sure how to validate each other’s love in a healthy way. Their mother yells at these boys because she’s lost, their father hits his mother and is very aggressive with her. These boys hit each other and they hit their father to express their sadness. They don’t have a healthy mindset when it comes to expressing their feelings.

    This family is outwardly Latino and compared to their surrounding community they are the only ones around. It’s interesting to see the dynamic occurring, the people around them believe them to be inferior or just see them as different. When Dustin calls him “Mexican” it’s odd because the people around them don’t know the difference between people of color.

    1. I agree that the family has some toxic ways of showing their love for one another. They are very inconsistent as they do have moments of softness towards one another, but those are always counteracted with moments of aggression. For example the boys father screaming at and beating their mother, only to have moments dancing with her and being physically affectionate in front of the boys. The boys see their parent’s difficult relationship, and this teaches them the ways they display their own feelings. This makes the family overall a bit disfunctional, even though they all do clearly love

12. Option 3: We the Animals presents a dysfunctional, possibly abusive family dynamic of between all members. It’s a complicated love within the family, and the ideas of love and what love should feel like are further disturbed by the relationship the parents present. Both Mom and Dad are violent to each other, with the father being a much more violent character, beating their mother and lying to the boys that she needed to go to the dentist. There are many layers to the dynamics of their relationship, with the mom serving as this calming presence but also lashing out against the boys in response to the domestic violence she endures.

13. Love as we see it in this film can be very tumultuous. To understand their dynamic we must come to terms with the circumstances that they are living with. The boys’ parents are struggling financially, and we can tell that they had a rough upbringing as well that they have not matured from. They are also put down for being struggling latinos. Yet, coming from a latin family, there is an undeniable loyalty and love that they all share for each other. They bond over things like the music and food of their culture, and are very affectionate at times. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances previously mentioned, they take their anger out on each other as well. This comes in the form of physical abuse from the man and boys in the house, as well as verbally from Ma. This movie shows us how difficult it is to place judgement on families like this, knowing all of the love and hardship that fills the home. I believe it is necessary to read stories like this one in order to understand how being a marginalized person can take a toll not only on how the outside world treats you, but how you and your loved ones treat one another.

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