Conservatives vs. toons Pt1
CNN, Fox TV take aim at Happy Feet's environmental message
(Source: www.multichannel.com, thinkprogress.org)
Here we go again: someone has identified the latest moral threat to our precious children. In 1954, it was Dr. Frederic Wertham, who used unsubstantiated anecdotes to attack comics in his book Seduction of the Innocent. In 1985, Tipper Gore, looking to raise her senator husband's political profile, help co-found the PMRC which went after "porn rock." In 2006, CNN's Glenn Beck and Fox TV's Neil Cavuto say the most dangerous threat to our children is . . . environmental messages in Happy Feet?
Both Beck and Cavuto railed against the film (as of this writing, the current box office champ), Cavuto claiming that Happy Feet's message is "the penguins are starving, the fish are all gone and it’s clear human and big business are to blame. Is Hollywood using kid’s films to promote a far left message?"
This is a familiar trope of the extreme right: that Hollywood is full of liberal hippies trying to alter our kids' attitudes towards such issues as drugs, sex and desegregation (I'm not being sarcastic with that last statement: actor Charlton Heston came under heavy fire in the early 1960's for his public support for civil rights).
Also of note: Cavuto considers environmental concern a "far-left" issue, neglecting to mention that some right-wing pundits, such as conservative Democrat Bob Casey Jr., have also raised concerns about climate change.
Cavuto continues with his rant against Happy Feet: "What I found offensive — I don’t care what your stands are on the environment — is that they shove this in a kid’s movie. So you hear the penguins are starving and they’re starving because of mean old men, mean old companies, arctic fishing, a big taboo. And they’re foisting this on my kids who frankly were more bored that it was a nearly two-hour movie. And they're kids!"
So not only did Cavuto claim that Happy Feet sends a far-left message to kids, it's also boring.
Beck, on the other hand, claims that he wants his kids to learn to think for themselves "and not be indoctrinated by some Hollywood director." He felt he was bamboozled into seeing "an animated Inconvenient Truth" (former presidential candidate Al Gore's 2006 documentary on climate change) when he just wanted to catch a cute little animated movie with his kids.
"Let me know that I'm walking into propaganda!" Beck demands of Happy Feet director George Miller. Apparently this means that George Miller shouldn't air his views in public where Beck's kids might hear them and start asking Daddy some hard questions about climate change.
"I guess (the movie producers) knew they might not pull in $42 million," he sneers, "if people knew they were going to see an animated Inconvenient Truth."
Considering Happy Feet has pulled in $100 million after 2 weeks in theatres, it's safe to say that many people don't mind the flick's hidden agenda. The marketplace has a way of punishing those who go too far out of line. Witness Martin Scorcese's The Last Temptation of Christ, which offended many religious groups with its imagery. However, it wasn't just offensive to religious types; it wasn't a very good movie and people stayed away in droves.
Do Glenn Beck and Neil Cavuto have a right to air their views in public, however odious? Of course they do; we live in a free society. It would be nice to think that Beck and Cavuto are deliberately trying to be provocative as part of their schtick, much like Don Cherry does on Hockey Night in Canada. And yes, a healthy (if vigorious) discussion is a necessary component of a democratic society. To quote Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." I fully support Beck and Cavuto's right to speak out, even if they humiliate themselves in the process. However, they're both looking pretty silly right now.
(In Part #2, a short discussion of the Religious Right's hysteria over animation and kids' shows past and present, and why South Park is truly controversial)
