While we were home for Thanksgiving we took our nieces to see Happy Feet. Thankfully they are teenagers because quite frankly even I was disturbed by this psycho-drama. I have a whole list of things I found unpleasant about the film and after I saw the movie I found a review in USA Today by Michael Medved. Michael is a conservative movie reviewer (the only mainstream one I think) so he has a certain slant on things. I'm a little conservative myself so it turns out I found myself agreeing with a lot of what he said. He goes on about some gay penguin book for kids that I really don't care either way about, it's the whole Happy Feet thing I'm against. First and foremost it's just creepy. The hero, Mumbles's, father and mother are doing disturbing imitations of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe which bothers me. I can't explain why it just does. Second is this eco-Nazi premise that man, evil vile creature he is, is fishing the penguins into oblivion. Is that an actual issue? I haven't heard anything about the shortage of mackerel in the world, at least so much that it's mainstream yet. I mean I know there are always going to be people that think we are killing off everything just by our existence.
My father taught me an invaluable lesson when I was five that I haven't forgotten to this day. It's one of those seemingly off the cuff remarks that has an impact that most parents never realize. During the scene in Cinderella when the mice are helping Cindy make her gown for the ball, my father turns to me and says, "Real mice are dirty and have disease, I had better never catch you playing with them." It was in this oddly timed (and disturbingly threatening) comment that I've learned something that has been a guiding principal in my belief system my entire life. Movies aren't real. They are designed to manipulate you emotionally and this is what pisses me off the most about Happy Feet. I noticed that it was okay for the penguins (and gulls) to eat the mackerel, after all the mackerels didn't have funny voices to scream in anguish with. While the gulls and sea lions were sheer evil. I hope some little kid's father turned to his son and said, "In real life sea lions have babies they have to feed too and penguins are their main source of nutrition."
2 comments:
Man, Dad really did a number on you. ;-)
Well, he can't be blamed for everything that's wrong with me. It was more one of those practical Dad moments, you know how he is. He's stating something that was perfectly obvious to me even as a five year old but it was something I needed to hear I guess.
And now look at me, 37 years later and bitching about an animated penguin movie.
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