The film March of the Penguins has been co-opted by the Religious Right, proving once again, they are willing to co-opt *anything* (how many cartoon characters are gay now?) to “prove” validity of their insipid doctrines. Jonathan Miller of the New York Times News Service wrote: “At a conference for young Republicans, the editor of National Review urged participants to see the movie because it promoted monogamy. A widely circulated Christian magazine said it made ‘a strong case for intelligent design.’ “’March of the Penguins,’ the conservative film critic and radio host Michael Medved says, is ‘the motion picture this summer that most passionately affirms traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice and child-rearing.’ I don’t blame The Right for wanting the penguins. They are just so darn cute!! And what better creature than a tuxedoed bird-brain to be the mascot for the Religious Right? I can almost picture them eating caviar and pickled herring at a major Republican Fundraiser. However, I would like to point out that a) The Penguins in the film are *not* monogamous (I believe narrator Morgan Freeman says something like this, “Once finding a mate, the penguins form a monogamous relationship. Well, at least until next year.”) And b) the penguins’ Ironman-style march through ice and wind is hardly a “strong case for intelligent design” – what God would give the shortest legged animal the longest on-land search for breeding grounds… and then make the *babies* make the same journey? Oh right, the same God that is sending us to Hell for watching Spongebob Squarepants. As much as I’m disturbed that The Right has “done it again!”, I must give a Hisssss to the film-makers for making a “documentary”, not about penguins, but about the anthropomorphizing of penguins in such a way that they practically handed the film to The Right. In one scene (SPOILER!), a female penguin gathering food for the chick, still in the egg, is killed by a seal. Freeman says something like, “The seal not only killed the mother, but her unborn chick…” Is the seal an “evil-doer” abortion provider? Is the penguin’s life worth more because she is “with child”? Is the eating of penguins by seals a reflection on the degradation of society? No. But to those filled with the Passion of Penguin, it’s an easy leap, as from one chunk of ice to another. http://english.ohmynews.com/TALK_BACK/bbs_view.asp?ba_code=63&bb_code=307264
“Speaking of audiences who feel that movies ignore or belittle such themes, he adds: ‘This is the first movie they've enjoyed since The Passion of the Christ. This is The Passion of the Penguins.’”