The Vegan Student Association (VSA) Utrecht podcast is about all things vegan. From vegan history to speciesism and more, we explore everything that it entails to be a "vegan" in our modern world.
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Most of us grew up watching Disney movies featuring lots of animal characters. But what is problematic about the way Disney portrays animals? How did the portrayal of animals change over time? And why is Remi from Ratatouille so much better than Mickey Mouse? In this episode, media scientist Maarten Reesink answers these questions and tells us about the history of human-animal studies. In this episode, we explore how animals are portrayed in audio-visual media, like the Tulkun in Avatar 2, cat videos on Instagram, or happy cows in dairy commercials.
Timestamps:
0:00 – What are human-animal studies?
6:10 – A brief history of animals in media
19:20 – How are animals portrayed?
25:00 – Animals: bad guys or victims?
35:50 – How should animals be portrayed?
43:36 – Case study: Avatar
50:35 – Farmed animals in film
1:09:30 – Animals in ads
1:21:30 – Maarten’s favorite movie
In this episode, we sit down with animal scientist Maite van Gerwen. We discuss so-called ‘pest animals’, why they are seen as pests, and how to manage them in an animal-friendly manner!
Proudly brought to you by: 4 February 2024
Do cows have agency? What does “agency” actually mean? And do technologies in dairy farms and sanctuaries limit or enhance cows’ agency? Koen Kramer, animal ethicists answers these questions after doing multispecies ethnographic research on various dairy farms and a …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 18 September 2025
Last time, we talked about the history of industrialised animal farming and the history of animal feed. This time, we cover the influence of antibiotics on industrial farming. How did antibiotics contribute to industrial farming? Were people in the past …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 21 June 2025
