My mom rented "March of the Penguins" last night. Nobody was online, so I decided to sit down with her and watch it. And guess what? STEVE IS GONNA RANT ABOUT IT YAAAAAAYYY!

A disclaimer: Steve is a Canadian. A very liberal one at that. If you're an overzealous Christian Fundamentalist or are fiercely Conservative or just plain aren't interested in a rant on Why People Shouldn't Read Too Deeply Into Stuff... I suggest you not read this, as you may find it offensive.


Right. Ranty-ness.

There's not much to say about the film itself, really. T'was just a Nature Documentary about Penguins. A very pretty nature documentary, but a nature documentary none the less. Penguins migrate to breeding grounds. Peguins duck and lay eggs. Male Penguin watches egg while female walks 70 miles to eat. Female walks back, feeds chick, and trades. Male walks 70 miles, eats, feeds the chick... chicks waddle around and look OMG CUTE! Chicks grow up into adult penguins, etc.

Now, apparently this is old news, but some dumbarse American Conservatives have taken it upon themselves to completely and utterly over-analyse and misinterpret the movie and praise it as a metephor for their particular beliefs and view on life. They claim to have seen God in the Penguins, these "monogamous upholders of traditional family values", and even go so far as to try and pass off the Peguins as proof for "Intelligent Design" (AKA: Creationism. Grrr.)

FACT. Penguins are monogamous only during the mating season, and choose a different partner every year. THIS WAS MENTIONED IN THE MOVIE. Penguins don't seek out the same partners every year, therefore, they are NOT truely manogamous. (On an added note, Penguins have been known to engage in Homosexual and bisexual activities. Yeah, real upholders of conservative values, they are. XD) They're animals, plain and simple.

FACT: in a harsh environment such as Antarctica, choosing a spot where the ice won't break up and is far away from most predators, and protecting your egg from the cold just happens to be the most effective survival strategy. It's not proof against evolution; if anything, it's supporting of it. This behaviour just happened to develop naturally in these penguins because it's to their advantage. The Penguins who *don't* engage in this behavior don't pass on their genes to the next generation. It's simply survival of the fittest, not proof for Intelligent design. Hell, the Penguins who *can't* take the cold or endure the hunger simply *abandon* their chick and run off to eat, and only the strongest ones make it there and back.

FACT: The film makers themselves had no intention of giving this movie any religeous or political subtext, are firm believers in Evolution and THIS IS JUST A FRIGGIN' NATURE DOCUMENTARY. Anyone who sees this movie as anything more then a movie about Penguins trying to survive is simply mis-interpreting the movie and engaging in athropomorphism. They are PENGUINS, not humans. They're doing little more then ensuring their own survival, not trying to teach us some big lesson about morality and poo poo. Grrr.

WHY can't people just watch the movie AS IT IS? As a very pretty, educational, well done nature documentary about Penguins? WHY do they have to try to give it all this religeous and political subtext bullshit? WHY do they have to read way to deeply into everything!? It boggles the mind. Really, it does. PENGUINS DO NOT SUPPORT YOUR VIEWS ON LIFE. POKEMON IS NOT INTENDED TO ENCOURAGE SATANISM. HARRY POTTER ISN'T INTENDED TO ENCOURAGE SATANISM EITHER. THERE ARE NO BACKWARDS MESSAGES IN SONGS. STFU AND GET A GOD-DAMN LIFE. >_<

Religeous Fundamentalism is a dangerous thing, it is. It incourages intolerance and willful ignorance, and I am, with all honesty, scared. Very, very scared that the most powerful nation on Earth is slowly but surely going to turn into a nation of Fundamentalists, drag itself back into the dark ages and become a danger to itself and others. This kind of idiocy is like a disease, and needs to be stamped out ASAP.


EDIT: Note that I'm not intending to generalize against Americans or Conservatives or Christians or whatever. I'm just appaled by the overzealous ones. I'm sure the sane ones are just as irritated by these scary Fundamentalists giving 'em a bad name.

Not to mention this movie inspired some idiot to steal a penguin from the zoo as a pet.

Wheres he gonna keep it? In his freezer next to the ice cream?

In the mini bar...

AMEN!

I agree wholeheartdly. once, I was reading a judy blume book in public, and this freaky lady called me a devil spawn.

>_o

Yah I read about that too. Poor freakin Penguin. ._.;

The movie was pretty boring too me. But then again, I'm not much of a penguin fan. But it would be fun to poke a penguin. ;D

Then have it turn around and eat your hand or something...

I havent had a chance to see it yet, but by I read above it seems that it isnt bad like the 1970's version. Yes, the one were the penguins talked! "I love you" "no I live you more" < thats just one of many crappy lines.

On the Christianity aspect, the media has been calling the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (its evi!) a religious interpretation of the bible even though the author himself said it was not. I been hearing lots of religion being thrown around these days, I blame Bush for his "Im a born again Christian" bull, but penguins thats going wayyy too far.

That it is... hell, the next time I watch a nature documentary, I think I'll try to see if I can slather some kind of religeous and/or ploitical allegory all over it. XD

I swear, one could probably cherrypick religeous or political subtext out of *anything*.

I have heard many complaints about it as well. I for one thought it was boring. but my older sister is CRAZY about peguins. But I have heard alot of complaints...its just about a group of animals and how they survive, come on people!

With all due respect, I think you may have got your wires crossed there. I did a research task on Lewis as a major project this year and he does admit openly to being a christen writer and the reason The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was his most famous book is because it follows the (so called) story of salvation to the letter anyone with a moderate knowledge of the bible will admit to that. It should also be noted that he and Tolken were good friends and often helped each other with write their books.

Mind you I'm not a christen myself but that’s what 12 years of Christian education does to a person (it scares me to).
Fundamentalism is a very dangerous thing regardless of which religion they are involved with.