What's the thought behind movies like this? Everywhere you go, you see people with tattoos all over their bodies, pants hanging off of their hips and faces pierced to the point where, as our Precentor of Measurements says, "it looks like they fell face-first into a tackle box." Is there some kind of worry that we're not sufficiently accepting of people who are different? How much more uniqueness do we need to encourage? Just where is all of this intolerance that we're fighting?
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Happy Feet
A few nights ago, we watched the first hour of the movie Happy Feet. It's the story of a penguin who, unlike the traditional penguin, dances rather than sings. Singing, you see, is a big deal with penguins. Penguins who don't sing are ostracized. The message of the movie is that we should all accept people who are different.
What's the thought behind movies like this? Everywhere you go, you see people with tattoos all over their bodies, pants hanging off of their hips and faces pierced to the point where, as our Precentor of Measurements says, "it looks like they fell face-first into a tackle box." Is there some kind of worry that we're not sufficiently accepting of people who are different? How much more uniqueness do we need to encourage? Just where is all of this intolerance that we're fighting?
A truly revolutionary movie for kids would have the message: "Remove the rivets from your cheeks and learn to speak English."
What's the thought behind movies like this? Everywhere you go, you see people with tattoos all over their bodies, pants hanging off of their hips and faces pierced to the point where, as our Precentor of Measurements says, "it looks like they fell face-first into a tackle box." Is there some kind of worry that we're not sufficiently accepting of people who are different? How much more uniqueness do we need to encourage? Just where is all of this intolerance that we're fighting?
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I haven't seen "happy feet", but I suspect I know exactly how the plot goes. The thing that annoys me about movies like this, is that I think they are misidentifying the problem. In my experience, the thing that gets kids in school ostracized, abused, and bullied isn't being different - it's being solitary. The kid who just likes solitary pursuits[1] like examining rocks and bugs, or reading books, or trying to figure out how things work is likely to be by himself during free periods. He doesn't have a gang of friends around to help repulse the other gangs who are out looking for a convenient victim so they can have, in their words, "a bit of fun"[2]. As far as I can tell, it doesn't have anything to do with being "different", in the sense of being visibly unlike the other kids. I will note that the kids with the piercings and the sagging pants and what-have-you, are not doing it by themselves; they are part of a group that is all doing it. They therefore aren't being bullied for it, because their group protects them.
[1] Yeah, OK, that kid was me.
[2] Said kid has two ways out of this situation, neither of which has anything to do with smarmy movies about "misfits being accepted", or with the teachers somehow "putting a stop to it". He can either find a group - any group - that he can join to get the defense of friends, or he can learn to fight.
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