Subtitle Straw Dogs -

: In ancient China, "straw dogs" ( chú gǒu ) were used as sacrificial substitutes for living animals. They were decorated with embroidery and treated with reverence during the ceremony, but once the rite concluded, they were trampled and burned as waste.

The 1971 film uses the title to frame its exploration of human fragility and the thin "veneer of civilization". subtitle Straw Dogs

: The text uses this to describe the Tao (the Way) as impersonal. Nature does not care for humans more than any other part of creation; it creates and destroys with complete neutrality. : In ancient China, "straw dogs" ( chú