Prince with a thousand faces: shifting art-styles and the depiction of violence in Watership Down

Following its heavily stylised prologue, the first time we see a rabbit in Watership Down (1978) it is in extreme closeup, and depicted in a detailed and realistic art style. Then, as the ‘camera’ pulls back, the detail fades, leaving us with the less intricate style that will be used through the rest of the film. The deliberate juxtaposition created through this brief use of a hyperrealistic aesthetic draws attention to the degree to which the film’s typical rabbit designs are mediated in order to distance them somewhat from our lived reality.

In this chapter I will examine the film’s use of three distinct visual modes – the cartoonish opening sequence, the detailed closeup, and the default style – and the extent to which the film attempts to moderate its notorious violence by adjusting the realism of its imagery. Typically this serves to dampen its potentially horrific effects, although the results are not always so straightforward, with some of the films’ most shocking scenes appearing more detailed than the default style, heightening the onscreen gore.

I will also draw comparison to the 2018 BBC adaptation, highlighting the differences in its depiction of violence, and asking whether this can be linked to its more photorealistic visuals and its digital production methods.