Castaway On The Moon: leveraging pigeons for survival

Title: Kimssi pyoryugi (Kim's Island) - Castaway On The Moon

Year:  2009

Director:   Lee Hae-Joon (AKA Lee Hae-Jun)

Running time: 116 min.

Country: South Korea

This film is about a man stranded as a castaway on a deserted island and was a pleasant surprise for me. The story evolves very unexpectedly and I really enjoyed it. It contains many memorable funny scenes and a bizarre love story. Wait, wasn't he alone? The answer is a bit complex, so it is better to watch the movie.

I don't intend to write a review about this film. There are many blogs that do this job better than mine. This is a pigeon-centric blog so I'm only summarising here the human-pigeon interactions. There are actually several of these moments which are very interesting and funny. Before talking about them, let's firstly contextualize the scenes:

At the beginning of the story we find a starving castaway called Kim who is trapped on a desert island. What should he do when his stomach is demanding some immediate action? To try to take food from all the sources he can. And the sources are limited to a few options: some mushrooms, fish and some wild birds.... including an enjoyable (and nutritious) group of pigeons:

So, for Kim the answer is clear: it is necessary to hunt the pigeons (nothing personal, just hunger).

First attempt: hunting pigeons

The first attempt is quite straightforward: to prepare some kind of trap in order to attract and catch an innocent animal. In this case, he used an old pot, held by a stick attached to a cord. Some vegetables would attract the pigeon. The result: a complete fail (for him) and a happy ending for the lucky pigeon. Maybe this trap works for mice in cartoons, but not in real life.

Second attempt: the miraculous food poisoning

 

In the end, Kim finally caught some fish and could sleep with a full stomach. Meanwhile, a flock of pigeons descended to nose around the remains of dinner. Pigeons are vegetarian and they don't like to fly during the night, but in this case it seems that they are different to the usual ones.

What happened next was that that either the pollution in the fish or the fish itself was not good for the pigeons, and the next day, when Kim wakes up, he surprisingly finds a dead pigeon... extra food for him.

Third attempt: leveraging pigeon poo

Eating pigeons only provides a limited amount of food. Our protagonist discovered an indirect way for obtaining food from them: given that seeds are part of the pigeons' diet, some indigested seeds could be found in the pigeon's poo. Planting it would grow cereals, the best kind of food. Kim finally found a smart, sustainable and pigeon-friendly way of leveraging pigeons for survival.

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: Kimssi pyoryugi- Castaway On The Moon. Starring moment: 0:23:13, 0:25:55, 0:44:32
• Pigeon activity: They are wild pigeons which stay with a castaway on a insolated island. A very risky place for pigeons. 
• Symbolism: There is no special symbolism in the movie.
• Relevance: High. Thanks to the pigeon, the protagonist is able to get some food and survive in a lonely environment.
• Training level: Medium. There are some very nice the scenes where the pigeons are staring at the protagonist. However, in the scene of the nocturnal pigeon visit, they descend in a very unnatural way, clearly showing that they are thrown by a pigeon specialist.

Moonraker: the pigeon double take

Title: Moonraker

Year:  1979

Director:   Lewis Gilbert

Running time: 126 min.

Country: United Kingdom

This film contains a very elaborate pigeon appearance which deep down, has some technical and artistic relevance. Let's first introduce the scene:

James Bond is -again- in big trouble: this time he is in Venice and is escaping  in a motor gondola from a group of bad guys who are chasing him. The very idea of being followed by two armed guys who are very bent on killing you would cause me terrible stress. However, James Bond doesn't show any sign of discomfort. In fact, he seems to be enjoying it.

When he reaches the end of the canal, his gondola is converted into a hovercraft which allows him to get into St. Mark's square. People are amazed to see a gondola crossing the square. The scene depicts many surprised reactions from the people around the square. Nowadays it seems a bit outdated and naive but I have to admit that I smiled when I saw it. 

Now, let's focus on the pigeons. In the scene we can see plenty of pigeons roaming around the square. Probably, it was not so much fun for them: they were scared by this unusual vehicle. In the film we can see large flocks of pigeons flying away. Pigeons are not fans of Bond. 

 

But there is one pigeon that is not flying. Instead of that, it is watching the gondola guy. The pigeon is watching Bond double-take style. According to Wikipedia, a double-take occurs when a person glances at something, turns away, then realizes that what he has just seen is unusual or surprising in some way, and turns back to look at it again, often adding additional body language to express surprise. In Moonraker, we can observe a pigeon practising this style. This is the result:
 

Nice pigeon eyes,  aren't they. The complete scene can be seen here.

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: Moonraker. Starring moment: 0:39:44.
• Pigeon activity: They are pigeons that live in St. Mark's square, Venice. They are suddenly scared by a guy driving a gondola.
• Symbolism: They are playing common pigeons. It is interesting to see the use of animals (a pigeon and a dog) to show astonishment. 
• Relevance: None. James Bond doesn't need the help of any pigeon -yet- for accomplishing his mission and pulling the girl. 
• Training level: None. Probably they are wild animals that live in the filmming area as there have always been plenty of pigeons in this square.

Special thanks to Chao from The Killer Reviews.
 

Toy Story 3: Mr. Potato Head vs Mr. Pigeon

Title: Toy Story 3

Year:  2010

Director:  Lee Unkrich

Running time: 103 min.

Country: United States

This film was a nice surprise. When I started watching it I had few expectations but after a while I started enjoying it. The second surprise that I had was to find a pigeon appearance:

Close to the end of the film, Mr. Potato Head uses a Mexican tortilla as his body. This allows him to slide through narrow places and start a night escape from his prison. However, he doesn't take into account that bread is one of the favourite foods of pigeons. Unfortunately, during his escape, he meets one of these birds. There is a lot of tension in the scene depicted below:

We can see Mr. Potato Head and Mr. Pigeon face to face:

The pigeon is probably thinking: is this bread with some attached extras (nose, mouth, etc.)?

The pigeon takes initiative...

But Mr. Potato Head defends himself very bravely....

Finally the pigeon flies away leaving Mr Potato Head with some injuries on his bready body.

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: Toy Story 3. Starring moment: 1:06:13
• Pigeon activity: It is a sweet tooth pigeon that hunts Mr. Potato Head. This behaviour is incoherent because pigeons don't like to roam around at night. It is too dangerous for them. Maybe this one was too hungry to wait for the next day.
• Symbolism: None.
• Relevance: Medium. The pigeon almost ruined everything: if the pigeon had finally eaten all of Mr. Potato Head's body he wouldn't have been able to complete his duty and the complete escape would fail.
• Training level: Not applicable.

Valiant: pigeons at war

Title: Valiant
Year:  2005
Director: Gary Chapman
Running time: 105 min.
Country: United Kingdom

This movie is about pigeons at war. At the beginning Valiant is a young recruit of the Royal Homing Pigeon Service. The film shows the pigeon training in Britain and subsequent service in France during the WWII. It includes all the ingredients of a war movie: hard training in a recruit facility, many action scenes, and a romance between Valiant and Victora, a nurse dove.

It is interesting that the characters behave just like humans and they are not pigeon-realistic at all. However, they perform a genuine pigeon duty: to deliver messages during war time. Another characteristic of war movies is the character's evolution: at the beginning Valiant is a young pigeon that seems to be unable to go to war, then during the war he evolves into a tough pigeon and finally he becomes a veteran hero (see pictures below).

Dickin Medal

I would like to mention that at the end of the movie Valiant received a Dickin Medal, which honors the work of animals in war. In the real world this medal was conceded for the first time to three pigeons named White Vision, Winkie and Tyke. All of them carried out outstandingly heroic actions. For instance, White Vision was released from a sinking flying boat. She flew 60 miles back to her loft carrying the plane's location in very hard conditions: heavy seas with low visibility and strong headwind. Thanks to this action the plane could be located and the crew rescued. After that, many other pigeons received this medal. In the Royal Pigeon Racing Association you can see a summary and a brief description of each feathered hero. This movie shows an important contribution of pigeons to the war effort. Is this an advanced kind of human-pigeon symbiosis?

Valiant as a young pigeon before recluitment.

Valiant as a soldier

Valiant as a veteran hero

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: Valiant   Starring moment: the complete film
• Pigeon activity: Valiant and his friends are pigeons which serve the Royal Homing Pigeon Service. They are involved in many war actions against the enemy: German falcons.
• Symbolism: In the end, the pigeon characters behave like humans that do pigeon duties, so this is a mere excuse to record a war movie with a different perspective from the others. 
• Relevance: Complete.
• Training level: Not applicable.
   

Matrix: are there pigeons in Matrix?

Title: Matrix
Year:  1999
Directors: Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski
Running time: 131 min.
Country: United States

Are there pigeons in Matrix?  This is a tricky question that requires some analysis. Firstly, I would like to remark that there are pigeons appearances in the film: during Neo's training, he and Morpheus enter a program that recreates Matrix. Suddenly, everything in frozen and Neo meets face to face with a reproduction of Agent Smith. In the following images we can see a couple of these feathered creatures behind Neo and two other more in from of him, far away.  The complete scene can be seen here. In the film scene Neo and Morpheus are more interested in the deadly agent than in the flying pigeons - logically. However, neither both of them are surprised about the pigeons' presence... which means that both of them are used to seeing pigeons... given that both of them come from Matrix. That means that yes, there are pigeons in Matrix. Otherwise, they wouldn't be used in this scene.

However, this answer raises another question that is even more intriguing: are pigeons real creatures in Matrix or are they mere software reproductions? A lot of analysis has been done on the agent role but a little attention was paid to the pigeon appearances and their significance in the film.

According to the Second Renaissance story of Animatrix, humans and machines fought a war that completely devastated the Earth and ended with mankind's demise. Humans, in a desperate attempt to deprive the machines of solar energy, completely darkened the skies. In the end the humans were defeated and machines destroyed all traces of civilization, enslaving the remaining survivors. Meanwhile, without light, all the vegetation died and the natural food pyramid collapsed killing all the living animals. The lack of plant life is a very depressing scenario that is also reflected in other movies like John Hillcoat's The Road (it is a shame that the birds that appear in this movie are not pigeons).

So... what about pigeons? There are two possible scenarios for their presence in Matrix:

• Scenario A: all the pigeons died during the war but the machines recreated them as software applications. That is, pigeons are mere artificial programs that are working for Matrix itself.
• Scenario B: a pigeon fancier survived the holocaust with his birds. After the war both fancier and pigeons were captured by the machines and subsequently enslaved. It is also possible that some urban pigeons survived alone. In both cases pigeons are real creatures trapped, like humans, by the machines.

 In the following sections I will analyze each scenario in more detail. 

Scenerario A: pigeons as artificial programs

In this scenario the pigeons are mere programs belonging to Matrix. Why are they used? Why not just leave them out? The straightforward anwser is to produce a realistic city recreation... in the end, a city without pigeons is not city at all, is it? However, there is a darker reason for using artificial pigeons: they can be employed as a surveillance system. In this hypothesis, pigeons are like agents, they work for Matrix but in a more passive way: instead of killing human rebels, they only gather information. For instance, when you are in any city or big town you can find pigeons everywhere...  now try to imagine that each one is recording and reporting your actions....terrible!! What about if we are actually in Matrix and pigeons are spying on us? After thinking about this, now I notice pigeons in a different and more sinister way.

Artist's concepcion of a surveillance Agent Pigeon and its dark shadow

Artist's concepcion of a surveillance Agent Pigeon

Scenerario B: pigeons as real trapped creatures in Matrix

In this scenario some pigeons survived the human holocaust and were captured with the remaining human survivors. Machines needed an alternative power source and discovered that humans could be used as batteries. Why not use pigeons in the same way? Of course, they would be smaller batteries, so pigeons have less power than humans, but they also have better reliability which can be advantageous.  For instance, they will never revolt against Machines. In this scenario pigeons will live in Matrix with infinite joy  populating all the buildings and not causing the system any problems.

In Matrix Reloaded, Neo meets the Architect and Neo affirms that the machines need humans for power. The Architect says that he is wrong, -there are levels of survival we are prepared to accept- he says. Is he saying that machines can use pigeons instead of humans?

In the real world some artists concieved a similar idea to this one:  to use a matrix of chickens for food production in industrial environments. A Chicken Matrix could be even more horrifying than the pigeon Matrix suggested in this scenario. 

Artist's representation of Neo-Pigeon waking up after eating the red bird seeds (maybe it finished both the blue and the red seeds). Neo-Pigeon discovers that both humans and his pigeon-colleagues are actually trapped in pods and used for power generation.

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: Matrix  Starring moment: 0:57:20
• Pigeon activity: They are common pigeons flying in a square, as part of a Matrix recreation.
• Symbolism: I think that pigeons are used in this scene to prove the quality of the special effects. The complete scene is frozen. Without pigeons, some spectators would think that all the characters (including Agent Smith) are static. However, showing frozen flying pigeons proves that the whole scene is actually frozen, providing extra realism.
• Relevance: None. Pigeons are completely ignored by all the characters.
• Training level: Average. They fly away in a realistic way but they have little presence given that most of the time they are frozen.

Red Cliff: the trip of the spy dove

Title: Red Cliff
Year: 2009
Director: John Woo
Running time: 148 min.
Country: China

In War, never trust anything, especially innocent-looking doves. In China in 208 AD a force commanded by Cao Cao invaded the southern region controlled by an allied group of warlords. It is time for intelligence, and that means that it is time for pigeons... more specifically doves. Zhuge Liang is the strategist of the allied side. He sends a dove on a round trip. Its mission is simple: fly to the enemy camp, make contact with the allied spy and bring back critical information about the enemy. Mission impossible? Not for this well trained dove. John Woo has the predilection of including doves in his movies... in this case the pigeon performance is very important.

Zhuge Liang attracts the attention of the dove using birdseed.

Zhuge Liang frees the dove which starts its risky mission. Commander Zhou Yu observes with attention.

The crossing of the Yangtze River is breathtaking (and heavily computer rendered)

The pigeon finds the spy, or is it the other way around?

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: The Battle of Red Cliff   Starring moment: 0:59:44
• Pigeon activity: It is a messenger used for espionage.
• Symbolism: A dove is employed to provide an additional touch of innocence. It is critical to do an undercover operation and the harmless look of the pigeon reduces the risk of being intercepted.
  
• Relevance: Medium. The information that it carries allows the allies to discover an evil plan of the enemy forces. 
• Training level: High. It is a well trained pigeon which is used to being in contact with humans. It is not clear if the pigeon flight was made using a computer-animated pigeon instead of a real one. All the background was rendered but I think that the pigeon probably was as well. How much was the budget of this scene....  a lot of money for sure.

Special thank to Htcdude Commander of the Wild Empire for suggesting pigeon appearances in John Woo movies.
     

Up: escorting the floating house

Title: Up
Year: 2009
Director: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Running time: 96 min.
Country: United States

The hot air balloons are freed and the whole house rises up! It was very nice to see the floating house crossing the city. During the journey it approaches a power line that is used as an observation post by a flock of pigeons. When house passes by, the flock flies alongside it and we can see, for just a moment, how they fly very close to the protagonist, Mr. Fredricksen. However, the pigeons are only distant animals or blurred figures. That’s all. Later, we can see other birds, but not pigeons. I understand that this is not a film about pigeons but it is a shame that with a $175M dollar budget they didn’t address devote resources to pigeon appearances. For instance, it would be funny to see a curious pigeon approaching the house and interacting with Mr. Fredricksen. Probably he would scare it away.

We can see a blurred pigeon on the foreground.

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: Up  Starring moment: 0:22:40
• Pigeon activity: It is a typical urban flock of pigeons resting on a power line.  It is not clear if they are scared by the floating house or they approach it with curiosity.      
• Symbolism: They are common urban pigeons.
• Relevance: Nothing. They appear briefly in the film.
• Training level: Not applicable.
   

The walking dead: pigeons don't care about zombies

Title: The walking dead
Year: 2010
Director: Frank Darabont, Michelle MacLaren, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Johan Renck, Ernest R. Dickerson, Guy Ferland, Phil Abraham, Bill Gierhart
Running time: 45 min.
Country: United States

Deputy Rick Grimes is desperately looking for his family. National authorities recommend finding refuge in Atlanta where a quarantined safe-zone is established. When Rick arrives in the city, riding a horse, he realises that the safe-zone is no longer safe and the city is completely infected by zombies. However, everything is not death and devastation: we can notice a peaceful/harmless pigeon walking (not dead) on the street. Its search for some herbivorous food was suddenly interrupted by Rick and his horse and it decided to fly away to a more quiet area.

Details of the pigeon starring 

• Source: The walking dead. Episode 1x01. Starring moment: 0:58:29

• Pigeon activity: The pigeon was walking around a city that was totally infected by zombies. This is a clear example of how pigeons can survive in hostile environments. Then, the bird was suddenly scared by a guy on a horse and flies away. From the pigeon's point of view: a horseback rider never provides any food so it is better to elude him.

• Symbolism: It represents typical pigeons that we can find in any city. Once more, pigeons appear in the most intense moment of the episode. In this case, it is used for showing us that this devastated city still keeps some remains of its old life.

• Relevance: Very low. The pigeon has some protagonism in the scene (it is actually situated in front of the main character) but the whole scene lasts just few seconds. Additionally, the pigeon relevance for the rest of the episode is negligible.

• Training level: High. This pigeon isn't actually a casual wild animal but it was left there by a professional team. It is a well trained pigeon.

Game of thrones: is Daddy a pigeon now?

Title: Game of Thrones
Year: 2011 
Director: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Timothy Van Patten, Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, Alan Taylor
Running time: 55 min.

Country: United States
 


In the ninth episode, at King's Landing, Lord Eddard Stark's situation is becoming critical. In fact, he  is publicly beheaded in presence of his daughter Arya. During this tragic act, Arya can't  bear to see how  her father's head is severed and she looks at the sky. What does she see? A flock of pigeons. 

 

 

Details of the pigeon starring

Note: The following terms are related to the pigeons, not the girl. 

• Source: Game of Thrones. Episode 1x09. Starring moment: 55:00.  

• Pigeon activity:  A flock of pigeons flying away.

• Symbolism: I think it's interesting to relate the death of Lord Eddard to the pigeons. My hypothesis is that the birds symbolize the soul of Lord Eddard, which is now free to fly away from the insane universe of Game of Thrones. In this case, the presence of pigeons has an important significance because it is a point of relief for Arya.  My interpretation of this scene is that Lord Eddard's soul becomes a flying dove.  

• Relevance: The use of pigeons creates in Arya a relief from the traumatic experience of her father execution. Perhaps because of the pigeons she doesn't get hysterical and she eventually can escape from the Lannister clan.

• Training level: None. They are wild pigeons.

King Pigeon Jr.