SATHIYASEELAN: 'Happy Feet' introduces kids to inconvenient issues
Sinduja Sathiyaseelan / Sophomore, English & Marketing
Issue date: 1/12/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 2 next >
This last weekend, I took my 8-year-old-brother to see "Happy Feet." On its opening weekend, the computer-animated film beat out "Casino Royale" at the box office by raking in nearly $42.3 million.
But outraged Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto ravedthat the film was pushing a far-left agenda: "I half expected to see an animated version of Al Gore to pop up."
So what's got Cavuto's panties in a twist?
"Happy Feet" tells the story of an emperor penguin named Mumble, born without a "heart song." The entire penguin society depends on song to attract mates. Society claims everything. Dissent causes division and division causes "the Great Guin" to become angry. The Great Guin has the power to giveth and the power to taketh away.
From birth, Mumble (Elijah Wood) has been different. Instead of singing, he tap dances. That's right. A tap-dancing penguin.
All Mumble wants is to belong, but his peers harass him constantly. He is always disappointing his father, Memphis (who happens to have a very Texan accent). Everytime Mumble tap dances, Memphis scolds him: "It just ain't penguin, okay?"
Okay. So far "Happy Feet" supports individuality and showcases the discrimination against those who don't or can't conform. But don't worry. There's more.
A council of elders (who resemble fat old men in robes) runs the penguin society. The council is headed by Noah, an aging penguin who looks creepily like Dick Cheney. Noah and the Elders are absolute sticklers for tradition, blaming Mumble and his "foreign friends" (short penguins with Mexican accents) for the shortage of fish. Divine retribution for Mumble's nonconformity, you could say.
Now we're running into more political themes. The elders encourage and demand blind devotion to the Great Guin and to traditional ways, scapegoating those who are different as the causes of misfortune because they provoke the Great Guin's wrath. They also use mob mentality to ignite hate and anger toward those who don't hold fast to the traditional ways, going so far as to use the phrase "pagan display" in reference to Mumble's dancing.
But outraged Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto ravedthat the film was pushing a far-left agenda: "I half expected to see an animated version of Al Gore to pop up."
So what's got Cavuto's panties in a twist?
"Happy Feet" tells the story of an emperor penguin named Mumble, born without a "heart song." The entire penguin society depends on song to attract mates. Society claims everything. Dissent causes division and division causes "the Great Guin" to become angry. The Great Guin has the power to giveth and the power to taketh away.
From birth, Mumble (Elijah Wood) has been different. Instead of singing, he tap dances. That's right. A tap-dancing penguin.
All Mumble wants is to belong, but his peers harass him constantly. He is always disappointing his father, Memphis (who happens to have a very Texan accent). Everytime Mumble tap dances, Memphis scolds him: "It just ain't penguin, okay?"
Okay. So far "Happy Feet" supports individuality and showcases the discrimination against those who don't or can't conform. But don't worry. There's more.
A council of elders (who resemble fat old men in robes) runs the penguin society. The council is headed by Noah, an aging penguin who looks creepily like Dick Cheney. Noah and the Elders are absolute sticklers for tradition, blaming Mumble and his "foreign friends" (short penguins with Mexican accents) for the shortage of fish. Divine retribution for Mumble's nonconformity, you could say.
Now we're running into more political themes. The elders encourage and demand blind devotion to the Great Guin and to traditional ways, scapegoating those who are different as the causes of misfortune because they provoke the Great Guin's wrath. They also use mob mentality to ignite hate and anger toward those who don't hold fast to the traditional ways, going so far as to use the phrase "pagan display" in reference to Mumble's dancing.
Be the first to comment on this story