Filmmaker Goes Vegan on Camera in Meatless: The Movie

by Annie Hartnett · 2010-08-30 10:30:00 UTC
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Meatless: The Movie is a documentary about "one man's departure from meat" that follows filmmaker Shane Close for 90 days as he switches from an omnivore diet to a vegetarian diet, then a vegan diet, and finally a raw-food diet.

Shane Close's wife prompted the dietary change in this former self-proclaimed barbecue addict. She asked him to go meatless after she read the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Close agreed, stating: “Between the social and moral implications of eating ‘animal flesh,’ and the environmental impact of supporting industrial farming, I found many reasons why I should at least ‘try it on for size.'”

The film is currently in production, but for now the Meatless website includes a blog of Shane Close's journey thus far. He is currently in the vegan stage of his meat-free months.

Shane has improved his cholesterol since he stopped eating steak, and no longer feels "heavy and sluggish" when he gets up from the kitchen table. Shane also encounters the same problems that every vegan is familiar with, such as struggling to find vegan options at amusement parks, and eating pasta a little too often. Shane Close encounters more complicated issues as well: finding out that many beer manufacturers use isinglass (dried fish bladders) and that half of sugar manufacturers use cow bones to process sugar.

I was excited about Meatless: The Movie at first, as I generally support anyone's meatless journey. But then I went to Shane Close's blog, which I found to be whiny. On Day 45 of his journey (15 days into veganism) he writes:

"This has been a true test of my will. I have been brought to the breaking point several times with only my commitment to seeing this journey through to the end keeping me together. If it were not for that commitment, I would have buckled by this point. My problem is that I am not eating vegan due to a moral dilemma. So, it is hard for me to stand my ground for anything less than a promise I made to myself."

On his website, Shane writes about the "social and moral implications of industrialized farming," from the ways the animals are treated to the "staggering" environmental implications.

So Shane does understand the moral implications of choosing to go vegan, but perhaps doesn't yet realize that the promise he made to himself is also a commitment to not contributing to the suffering of animals. Shane Close is only halfway through his meat-free journey, and I'm hoping the vegans he interviews for Meatless will impact him in some way. I'm looking forward to what Shane Close decides to put on his plate once the cameras stop rolling.

Photo Credit: Calliope

Annie Hartnett is a writer and animal advocate who has worked for several wildlife rehabilitation centers and environmental programs.
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