James Gunn given PETA award for bringing attention to “animal testing cruelty”
Director James Gunn has been given a ‘People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Not a Number’ award for the way his new film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 portrays the cruelty of animal testing. Gunn’s latest Marvel film once again sees Chris Pratt star in the lead role of Peter Quill/Star-Lord.
On the official PETA website, the organisation wrote yesterday (May 8th) that Gunn would receive the award for “showing audiences that Rocket Raccoon’s origin story isn’t out of Knowhere — cruel, callous, and cold-blooded experiments on animals are real, and they’re happening right now.”
In Gunn’s film, there are several scenes when Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) has to go through several tests under which he is an animal subject and is tortured and experimented on throughout. Lisa Lange, PETA’s Senior Vice President, wrote a statement about the film.
She said: “Through Rocket, James Gunn has put a face, a name, and a personality on the millions of vulnerable animals being cycled through laboratories as we speak. PETA is celebrating this as the best animal rights film of the year for helping audiences see animals as individuals and suggesting that just because we can experiment on them doesn’t mean we should”.
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