Critic speak is tough, but we've got you covered.
Quote :"Why Look At Animals?"
With their parallel lives, animals offer man a companionship which is different from any offered by human exchange. Different because it is a companionship offered to the loneliness of man as a species.
Man's best friend? Try men, women and children's best friends. Donna Haraway floats the idea of a companion species but Berger means something different (and something more simplistic) here.
Basically, what we think and say about animals is often about trying to figure out what we really think about ourselves, about the whole dang human species. Pop quiz: Look at this quote again. Who do we learn about here? Animals or humans? To us this quote has much more to tell us about Berger's ideas of humans than animals.
Berger suggests that we are isolated and lonely—not just as individuals, but as a species. Cheer up, lonely humans! Berger suggests animals can console us because our ways of interacting with them are different from anything like "human exchange."
This is all very warm and fuzzy (all we need is a bunny to cuddle with, and we'll be soooo happy), but the animal studies critic of today would look at Berger and say, "Hey buddy, not so fast—we're not isolated and alone. These critters are integral parts of our world whether we like it or not—human beings are not so poor in 'animal worlds' as you think (what's up, Marty Heidegger)."