Monday, June 1, 2009

A Scientist Goes to the Movies


My hubby and I went to the movies Saturday night. We saw Angels and Demons. We had both read the book several years back and really liked it. We both thought it was far better than The Da Vinci Code. The movies works this time. Not Oscar material, but a great date night!

Before the movie, our theatre, like most, shows a looped slide show of ads and "entertaining factoids." These include some movie trivia "Q&As." Saturday the "As" were disconnected from the appropriate "Qs," leading to some wacky humor. For example:
Q: In this film, Miley Cyrus tries to escape fame as a pop singer on her family farm.
A: X-men Origins: Wolverine
Of course, a photo of the Wolverine cast was shown. Trying to decide which character was Miley was a time-passing hoot.

A more disturbing slide presented a factoid:
Did you know Pamela Anderson is an animal rights activist and volunteers for PETA?

Why is this something that got noted? I mean, you must be living under a rock if you don't already know this factoid. I'm sure someone got this placed for promotional purposes. It seems PETA is something they believe audiences will admire - not possibly associate with the elimination of meat and dairy consumption, pet ownership, and scientific research!

I am also left with the hypocrisy of someone who has altered her body surgically being an opponent of animal research. How many animals were required to make sure she could safely enlarge her lips and breasts? Not to mention ongoing procedures for "maintenance" that most Hollywood types now get.

Young people are big audiences for movies. If they see things like this factoid, they get a positive message about PETA and no words about the downsides of this movement. Of course, it's very difficult to get out complex messages in a 15 second slide, but we may need to try if we want to preserve scientific animal research.

2 comments:

  1. Your point is well taken, but...associating something with Pamela Anderson is a *positive* association?? I guess I'm too far out of pop culture to get that, but you are likely correct that to some people a celebrity endorsement (no matter the celebrity) lends credibility. To me, the fact that Pamela Anderson is associated with PETA is yet another reason to discredit them...

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  2. I would agree with your assessment; however, there are people who admire her because of her love and care for animals! There are those who feel she must be a good person because she gives so much of herself to puppies and kittens...

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