Monday, August 15, 2005
The Penguins Marched Right Into My Heart
I’ve been a fan of documentaries for a very long time. It probably started when I saw Michael Moore’s Pets or Meat movie in high school. I also saw the movie Eyes on the Prize that year, but I vaguely remember sleeping through most of that one. I do remember the song quite vividly. “Keep your eyes on the prize…hold on.” Haha. I’ve been holding on ever since.
I had read wonderful reviews about March of the Penguins and I figured that it would be totally worth my $11. Paul wouldn’t let me get popcorn since we were going out to a nice dinner afterwards and that pissed me off, but I got over it as soon as I saw the little ‘guins going “cheep cheep cheep”! They’re just SO fucking adorable with their tiny little arm/wings and they walk so slowly, until their feet get tired of course. Then they fall onto their bellies and slide to their destination.
Basically what I learned from the movie is that penguins have a super hard life. They travel like 70 miles to meet a mate and then they spend a month or so together until their egg is produced. Then the mother hands over the egg to the father for an incubation period. Unfortunately, lots of the eggs get lost in the transfer and freeze-dry in a matter of seconds. It’s really sad when that happens because the penguins just sit there looking at it going “WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH”. I got a little teary at that part. Actually I just started going “WAAAAAAAAHHHHHH” too.
After the transfer of the egg, the mother travels the 70 (and more) miles back to the water and go for a swim. Ok, they do more than swim…they eat lots of fish so that they can feed their babies once they return. The father penguins hold the eggs on their little claw feet and keep them warm with their blubber. Something like 3 months pass and blizzards like you wouldn’t believe cover the males in piles of snow. They do nothing, but huddle close to keep warm and scream in agony once in awhile.
Finally the little baby head pokes out of the egg and they’re immediately hilarious to look at. It’s so cold that they must spend days and weeks underneath the blubber so that they don’t freeze to death. Once in awhile they stay out in the cold for two long and they ice right up. Then the father penguin (who just KNOWS he’s going to get it from the mother when she comes back from feeding) screams and cries that he accidentally killed the baby.
Eventually the moms come back and the fathers delicately pass them the baby the same way that they did with the egg. It’s the cutest and saddest thing ever. You just WISH that the penguins would grow some real arms and hand over the baby more expertly. When the babies die, I cry. Actually, one funny thing…when the babies die, sometimes the grieving mother quickly tries to steal another penguin’s baby. The way that they defend themselves? By slapping their little wing arms on each other’s back. It’s like watching people with gimpy arms hit each other. I laughed. And then I wanted popcorn.
The movie was a brilliant and beautiful experiment and it just goes to show that humans have it MUCH easier than those little penguins. All they do is march and march and march because the place where they give birth is like 70 miles away from the water. Craziness I tell you.
The only thing that irritated me during the movie is this:
Two penguins met and were falling in love. They acted all intimate and sensual and the audience goes “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!” As in “How cute – they’re acting like humans!”
Now, if up on the screen were two human males getting JUST as intimate and acting sensual, I’m sure the audience would have gone “EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWE”! Cuz how NASTY to see two male humans acting like humans!
That was the only negative thing that occurred to me as I watched this movie with the families of America. But I didn’t want to take that out on the penguins. They did nothing wrong but drop their babies in the ice by accident.
The movie was terrific! You should definitely take your nephews and nieces to see it and explain to them that it’s even cute when two gay men hold hands too!
I also saw Seed of Chucky this weekend. It was campy and fun at moments, but totally weird. I mean, I’m actually laughing to myself as I type this because it was Strange City, USA. Somehow their child was a hermaphrodite that had an English accent. HUH!? HAHAHAHAHAHA.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a post unrelated to penguins, nor killer dolls with a penis, vagina, and English accent!
I’ve been a fan of documentaries for a very long time. It probably started when I saw Michael Moore’s Pets or Meat movie in high school. I also saw the movie Eyes on the Prize that year, but I vaguely remember sleeping through most of that one. I do remember the song quite vividly. “Keep your eyes on the prize…hold on.” Haha. I’ve been holding on ever since.
I had read wonderful reviews about March of the Penguins and I figured that it would be totally worth my $11. Paul wouldn’t let me get popcorn since we were going out to a nice dinner afterwards and that pissed me off, but I got over it as soon as I saw the little ‘guins going “cheep cheep cheep”! They’re just SO fucking adorable with their tiny little arm/wings and they walk so slowly, until their feet get tired of course. Then they fall onto their bellies and slide to their destination.
Basically what I learned from the movie is that penguins have a super hard life. They travel like 70 miles to meet a mate and then they spend a month or so together until their egg is produced. Then the mother hands over the egg to the father for an incubation period. Unfortunately, lots of the eggs get lost in the transfer and freeze-dry in a matter of seconds. It’s really sad when that happens because the penguins just sit there looking at it going “WAAAAAAHHHHHHHH”. I got a little teary at that part. Actually I just started going “WAAAAAAAAHHHHHH” too.
After the transfer of the egg, the mother travels the 70 (and more) miles back to the water and go for a swim. Ok, they do more than swim…they eat lots of fish so that they can feed their babies once they return. The father penguins hold the eggs on their little claw feet and keep them warm with their blubber. Something like 3 months pass and blizzards like you wouldn’t believe cover the males in piles of snow. They do nothing, but huddle close to keep warm and scream in agony once in awhile.
Finally the little baby head pokes out of the egg and they’re immediately hilarious to look at. It’s so cold that they must spend days and weeks underneath the blubber so that they don’t freeze to death. Once in awhile they stay out in the cold for two long and they ice right up. Then the father penguin (who just KNOWS he’s going to get it from the mother when she comes back from feeding) screams and cries that he accidentally killed the baby.
Eventually the moms come back and the fathers delicately pass them the baby the same way that they did with the egg. It’s the cutest and saddest thing ever. You just WISH that the penguins would grow some real arms and hand over the baby more expertly. When the babies die, I cry. Actually, one funny thing…when the babies die, sometimes the grieving mother quickly tries to steal another penguin’s baby. The way that they defend themselves? By slapping their little wing arms on each other’s back. It’s like watching people with gimpy arms hit each other. I laughed. And then I wanted popcorn.
The movie was a brilliant and beautiful experiment and it just goes to show that humans have it MUCH easier than those little penguins. All they do is march and march and march because the place where they give birth is like 70 miles away from the water. Craziness I tell you.
The only thing that irritated me during the movie is this:
Two penguins met and were falling in love. They acted all intimate and sensual and the audience goes “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!” As in “How cute – they’re acting like humans!”
Now, if up on the screen were two human males getting JUST as intimate and acting sensual, I’m sure the audience would have gone “EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWE”! Cuz how NASTY to see two male humans acting like humans!
That was the only negative thing that occurred to me as I watched this movie with the families of America. But I didn’t want to take that out on the penguins. They did nothing wrong but drop their babies in the ice by accident.
The movie was terrific! You should definitely take your nephews and nieces to see it and explain to them that it’s even cute when two gay men hold hands too!
I also saw Seed of Chucky this weekend. It was campy and fun at moments, but totally weird. I mean, I’m actually laughing to myself as I type this because it was Strange City, USA. Somehow their child was a hermaphrodite that had an English accent. HUH!? HAHAHAHAHAHA.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a post unrelated to penguins, nor killer dolls with a penis, vagina, and English accent!
