Our story starts with a local governor impressed by the T.V. show a small studio is creating. The only issue he has is that he doesn’t think the tiger is realistic enough. The lead they cast is the incredibly handsome, smart, athletic Huping. The crew illegally obtains a live tiger and they make Huping fight it after it’s shot with tranquilizers. The tiger passes out too early and they don’t get the footage they were hoping for. Huping believes he killed the tiger and is diagnosed at a hospital with schizophrenia. Against better judgement, they decide to use Huping as their actor again, but the tiger chases him up a tree and claws his foot. They decide to use the tiger’s skin and put another crew member in the costume instead. However, the mentally ill Huping continues to beat the “tiger” when it’s down and both actors are sent to the hospital. Even though he is at the facility, Huping doesn’t care about his circumstances only about the fans who think he is a tiger killer.
This short story pokes fun at masculinity and heroism. Why does the hero always have to be handsome, and athletic? Why does he have to kill the tiger instead of just trapping it where it can’t harm others? The answer is because this is what society wants. It also teaches a lesson about the cost of fame for people with careers in film. They constantly have to play a part which causes them to lose their individuality and people to just see them as their character rather than a real person with feelings. They also are willing to give up basically everything for their money and fame including their mental and sometimes physical health. Some actors/actresses have even lost their lives due to accidents while filming. The director is also money crazy. In order to cut costs he uses a connection to illegally obtain the tiger. When things go wrong, he just shoots it with no regard to how endangered the species is. He also doesn’t care about his crew. He just lets loose the tiger before shooting it with tranquilizers (even though it could easily attack the crew) and doesn’t care when Huping beats up the bus driver in the tiger costume. He also continues using Huping (his money maker) even after he is injured and diagnosed which shows he does not even care about the lead in his production.