Exploring the commodification of industrial animals, this chapter examines pigs, cows, and chickens as engineered products within the framework of aesthetic capitalism's assembly line. The analysis traces the historical evolution from early slaughterhouse designs through modern concepts of "engineered flesh" and cleanliness aesthetics, critiquing scientific and cultural strategies that sanitize violence through genetic editing and pastoral branding. It investigates different forms of spectacularization—pigs through theatrical consumption rituals, cows through "curated pastoralism" employing empathy and efficiency for "greenwashing," and chickens through commodification that transforms them from symbols of vanity to absurdist consumer objects. Employing global examples and media portrayals, it highlights how consumption is staged to hide suffering, advocating for dismantling systems that aestheticize slaughter and encouraging ethical reimagination beyond spectacle and efficiency.

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Feather and Flesh: Aesthetic Capitalism’s Assembly Line—Thus Staged the Pigs, Cows, and Chickens

  • Ruth Y. Y. Hung

摘要

Exploring the commodification of industrial animals, this chapter examines pigs, cows, and chickens as engineered products within the framework of aesthetic capitalism's assembly line. The analysis traces the historical evolution from early slaughterhouse designs through modern concepts of "engineered flesh" and cleanliness aesthetics, critiquing scientific and cultural strategies that sanitize violence through genetic editing and pastoral branding. It investigates different forms of spectacularization—pigs through theatrical consumption rituals, cows through "curated pastoralism" employing empathy and efficiency for "greenwashing," and chickens through commodification that transforms them from symbols of vanity to absurdist consumer objects. Employing global examples and media portrayals, it highlights how consumption is staged to hide suffering, advocating for dismantling systems that aestheticize slaughter and encouraging ethical reimagination beyond spectacle and efficiency.