Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Peter Rabbit filmmakers and studio apologize

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 02-12-2018, 02:27 PM:

Peter Rabbit filmmakers and studio apologize for insensitively depicting character's allergy

quote:
Peter Rabbit filmmakers and the studio behind it are apologizing for insensitively depicting a character's allergy in the film that has prompted backlash online.

Sony Pictures said Sunday in a joint statement with the filmmakers that "food allergies are a serious issue" and the film "should not have made light" of a character being allergic to blackberries "even in a cartoonish, slapstick way."

In Peter Rabbit which was released this weekend, the character of Mr. McGregor is allergic to blackberries. The rabbits fling the fruit at him in a scene and he is forced to use an EpiPen.

The charity group Kids with Food Allergies posted a warning about the scene on its Facebook page Friday prompting some on Twitter to start using the hashtag, #boycottpeterrabbit. The group said that allergy jokes are harmful to their community and that making light of the condition "encourages the public not to take the risk of allergic reactions seriously."

Kenneth Mendez, the president and CEO of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, wrote an open letter to the studio Saturday asking for the opportunity to educate the company and the film's cast on the realities of food allergies and urged the studio to "examine your portrayal of bullying in your films geared toward a young audience."

The studio and filmmakers said that they "sincerely regret not being more aware and sensitive to this issue, and we truly apologize."

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 02-12-2018, 07:45 PM:

I hope that Elon Musk gets his Mars community built soon. I think I need to move there. This planet has truly crossed the point of no return for ridiculous political correctness and "triggering."

A food allergy "community" is "harmed" by a joke? Ever hear "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me?" If you have a food allergy and see this scene, does it cause an allergic reaction somehow?

Years ago there was a comedian with cerebral palsy on "The Facts of Life" named Geri Jewel. Her comedy routine was all about joking about her condition.

Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 02-12-2018, 08:21 PM:

This wasn't just making fun of someone with an allergy. In the film (which I haven't seen), a berry gets into the "villain's" mouth and he has an allergic attack and has to use an Epi-pen. I think that's a bit extreme in a movie meant for young kids.

If it were a movie not for kids, no problem. In the movie Hitch, Will Smith's character has an allergic reaction and his face swells up and it's played for laughs. I don't remember anyone complaining about that.

In the movie "Goonies", the main kid, played by Sean Astin had asthma and used an inhaler constantly during the film. At the end, he throws it away. I don't remember anyone complaining about that.

In this particular case, the complaints just might have been warranted. That whole plot line was completely unnecessary.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-12-2018, 08:40 PM:

quote: Martin Brooks
In the movie Hitch, Will Smith's character has an allergic reaction and his face swells up and it's played for laughs. I don't remember anyone complaining about that.

In the movie "Goonies", the main kid, played by Sean Astin had asthma and used an inhaler constantly during the film. At the end, he throws it away. I don't remember anyone complaining about that.

That's because those movies came out when people weren't so sensitive.

Heck, just about every disability, deformity or other kind of "non-normalness" has been played for laughs at some point. You could probably list hundreds of comedies that would never get made today to the hyper-sensitivity of some of these "groups."

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-12-2018, 08:50 PM:

I think a bunch of Americans need to take a long sabbatical from 24 hour cable news, talk radio and other forms of what I consider emotional pornography. That stuff pretends to deliver news, but all it does is deliver manipulation. Viewers & listeners love tuning in to get that fiery rush from being outraged, like a drug addict getting another fix. If they took a break from all that negative crap they might be able to lighten up a little.

We have so many people in this country dropping dead of heart disease and strokes. I'm sure cable news has been surging the stress hormone cortisol in viewers for many years; that stuff is good at scorching and hardening arteries.

I still think there's lots of Americans who are far more reasonable and not itching to get pissed off at the slightest little thing. The trouble is they don't get much attention, not in the media and not online. Gripes are more likely to go viral than someone saying something positive. Then there's the factor where a person may be having a really great day, but he's too busy enjoying whatever he's doing than to spend time broadcasting it to everyone else.

Maybe this Peter Rabbit movie did something in bad taste. It does sound troubling since the movie is marketed to young children. And it seems like a lot of young kids have all sorts of allergies. I don't know what the hell is going on there. When I was a kid very few of my classmates had asthma. My theory is we got outdoors a lot more often at a very young age and built up our immune systems better. So many kids these days are very sheltered. The only times I was stuck indoors like that was when I was grounded.

Anyway, this country has to lighten up. I like comedy. We won't have much of any decent comedy left if more things keep getting added to the list of things too offensive to joke about.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 02-12-2018, 09:12 PM:

Sony's kids movies have a very long history of really poor writing. Their movies often rely on the obvious sight gags and puns, rather than the more clever writing common in Disney/Pixar movies. Sure many of their movies are a financial success because people find them entertaining. However they could usually be so much better with a better script.

Set aside the issue of whether this "food allergy bullying" is appropriate, or if the backlash is over blown, they could have accomplished the same basic thing in a better way. Rather than the character having a food allergy, make it about the stains on his house and/or clothes. This opens the door to slapstick scene involving the cleanup.

Posted by Allan Barnes (Member # 5178) on 02-12-2018, 09:14 PM:

Personally, I am waiting for Warner Bros to "come clean" about that cross-dressing RABBIT and that PIG who refuses to wear pants. And lets not talk about that gun crazy hunter who his always "hunting rabbits."

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 02-12-2018, 09:52 PM:

Bobby, you 100% hit the nail on the head. The vast majority of Americans are laid back and "normal" just as we've always been.

The issue is a very small percentage have somehow been able to get a platform for stupid crap like this.

It definitely has a lot to do with the cable news culture that people use as a reason to get worked up about things. It has turned politics and issue discussion in general into a sporting event.

The people that get all worked up by that stuff treat everything like they are fanatic about a team and just want to have their side "win" the game. You can see plenty of evidence when interviews are done with people on the street where they ask them if they agree with a bunch of positions or statements of "their candidate." Then, after the interviewee states how strongly they agree, the interviewer reveals that the positions or statements are actually those of the opposite candidate.

America (and probably the rest of the western world) needs to just chill out. Enjoy life, stop trying to be offended about everything. Life is short. Why waste it fighting about stupid crap?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-13-2018, 12:02 PM:

quote: Justin Hamaker
Sony's kids movies have a very long history of really poor writing. Their movies often rely on the obvious sight gags and puns, rather than the more clever writing common in Disney/Pixar movies. Sure many of their movies are a financial success because people find them entertaining. However they could usually be so much better with a better script.

As borne out by the fact that the food allergy gag was not in the original book, and Beatrix Potter's books have been entertaining kids, harmlessly and effectively, since she wrote and illustrated them around a century ago. So even starting with such high quality source material, Sony still succeeded in adapting it into something controversial and problematic.

I haven't seen the movie, but in the book, Mr. McGregor blasts away at Peter Rabbit with a double-barreled shotgun. I wonder if that's been censored out of the movie on PC grounds.

As for food allergies, I get teased all the time when I have to explain my dairy allergy in restaurants and ask for things with no butter or cheese on it (it's not radioactive, don't be such a picky eater, what have you got against those poor cows? etc. etc.). If I can think of something remotely witty to fire back at them I will, but most of the time I just smile and move on. Granted, that's more difficult to do if you're a five-year old, but there are still a lot of people who have weighed in to this one who could do with growing a pair.

quote: Allan Barnes[/quote
Personally, I am waiting for Warner Bros to "come clean" about that cross-dressing RABBIT and that PIG who refuses to wear pants. And lets not talk about that gun crazy hunter who his always "hunting rabbits."

Not to mention MGM and their cat who is fond of high explosives and is constantly being pursued by a heavily armed, African-American tormentor.

It won't be long before Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry are having R-ratings slapped on the BD sleeves, and carrying parental advisories on Netflix (if they're even available at all). I have an old and faded 16mm print of Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips that I occasionally enjoy outraging PC friends and relatives with. Then when I tell them that Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs is but a Google click away (though probably not for long), the poor buggers almost have a heart attack.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 02-13-2018, 12:13 PM:

I am surprised they haven't re-issued the DCP with that scene cut out yet.

I'm serious.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-13-2018, 12:49 PM:

Probably cost a couple million dollars to do that, or more, and since the damage is done they figure it's not worth it.

Maybe they'll re-edit it for the video.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 02-13-2018, 01:06 PM:

Too be fair, kids can be real a-holes to other kids. I remember tormenting another kid because he was allergic to bees and scared to death of them. I can easily see a bunch of fifth graders thinking it would be hilarious to cause an allergic reaction in another kid just so he'd react "funny" and have to pull out his epic-pen. I haven't seen the film, nor do I intend to, but I can understand not giving little jerks any more bad ideas than they already have.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 02-13-2018, 01:52 PM:

There was a movie with flashing lights in it that came with an epilepsy warning a few years back.

Twilight maybe?

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-13-2018, 02:14 PM:

quote: Lyle Romer
Bobby, you 100% hit the nail on the head. The vast majority of Americans are laid back and "normal" just as we've always been.

The issue is a very small percentage have somehow been able to get a platform for stupid crap like this.

It definitely has a lot to do with the cable news culture that people use as a reason to get worked up about things. It has turned politics and issue discussion in general into a sporting event.

There are serious consequences for people habitually feeding on emotions like fear and anger. On the individual level it's bad for one's own health. Stress is a factor in things like heart disease. All that toxic content can negatively influence personality and outlook on life. At a bad enough level it will rub friends and family the wrong way. Every person has only so much tolerance for being around someone who has turned into an asshole.

The nasty thing about online social networks is it allows lots of people to behave in ways they would otherwise not behave in a public, in-person social setting. This outrage about Peter Rabbit taps into that just a little. Online a person can type out an all-caps rage post, whereas if he was talking to the movie director in person he would probably tone down the anger a great deal.

I believe kids are being robbed of essential parts of childhood via all this cultural paranoia. If a parent watches a lot of news coverage he/she might be conditioned to think predators are waiting just down the street 24/7 for the one chance to grab their kids. Crime in America was statistically much worse when I was a child, yet my brother and I had more freedom and independence than most kids today. We didn't have helicopter parents shadowing us to every baseball practice, scout meeting or whatever we were doing outside on a Saturday afternoon. People my age routinely complain about Millennials and younger people not being motivated, self-reliant, etc. Yet these same Gen-X parents fail to mention their role in raising kids to be that way.

On the group level mass hysteria undermines things like our democracy and criminal justice system. Dictatorships and genocide are born out of that kind of poison.

I've been fairly disturbed lately with how the media has all but suspended due process with the "times up" and "me too" movements. I think it's great some monster douchebags are getting their uppencomence. But what if someone innocent gets accused? The media is acting like that's impossible. And that's despite recent cases, like the Rape of Campus article that badly disgraced Rolling Stone magazine. A couple weeks ago a guy named Malcolm Alexander was released from a Louisiana prison after serving 38 years for a rape he didn't commit. DNA evidence proved his innocence. Why the hell did it take so long for the state to test that evidence? Last November Louisiana released Wilburt Jones; he served 45 years for a rape he didn't commit. He went into prison at age 19 and left at age 65. Later this year a movie about Brian Banks is going to be released. He was a star high school football player who sent nearly 6 years in prison and another 5 years on probation and on the sex offenders list before his accuser admitted to making up the whole story. I can imagine a lot of people in the "me too" movement getting triggered by this movie's release.

I wonder how many Americans are familiar with the history of the Salem Witch Trials. Parts of America's constitution were inspired by that horrible tragedy.

It's okay for anyone to be passionate about a certain issue. But none of those issues will be solved with a "my way or the highway" approach. Us versus them, zero sum game thinking makes people closed minded and walled off from creative thinking and developing creative solutions to serious issues. They end up defending their part of the status quo, even if parts of it are clearly corrupt and not worthy of defending.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-13-2018, 02:21 PM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
It won't be long before Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry are having R-ratings slapped on the BD sleeves, and carrying parental advisories on Netflix (if they're even available at all).

Oh it's already happening, to an extent. The Looney Tunes box sets issued a few years ago came with a warning saying that they were "meant for the adult collector and may not be suitable for children." And at least one of the sets had a forced-view warning on each disk starring that racist, Whoopi Goldberg, apologizing for how horrible those old cartoons are but "they are part of history and that is why we present them here" or something like that.

I suppose the fact that none of the stuff in those shorts bothers me makes ME a racist, since I'm a white guy. I guess, if that's the case, I'll try to live with myself while enjoying classic Looney Tunes.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-13-2018, 05:20 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
I believe kids are being robbed of essential parts of childhood via all this cultural paranoia. If a parent watches a lot of news coverage he/she might be conditioned to think predators are waiting just down the street 24/7 for the one chance to grab their kids. Crime in America was statistically much worse when I was a child, yet my brother and I had more freedom and independence than most kids today.

Ironically, "educational" movies such as Boys Beware (BTW, note the signpost to the nuclear fallout shelter at 0'50") and The Child Molester were made two generations ago: schoolkids who were shown them at the time laughed at them and made macabre jokes about them (not to mention gory driver's ed and anti-smoking 16mm classroom films). Today, they're probably more scared of this sort of thing than when the authorities were trying to make them scared.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-13-2018, 05:22 PM:

That quote above has my name on it, for some reason, but is actually from a post by Bobby Henderson.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 02-13-2018, 05:30 PM:

I don't know what the major malfunction with people is these days, but I suppose many of them are taking themselves far too serious.

Whatever you do or say will trigger some rights group somewhere, trying to expose you for the ignorant monster you seemingly are.

If we continue on this path, we will eventually degrade everything to it's lowest common denominator. For TV that already happened long ago, but let's not try to do the same with movies, books and other free forms of art or expression.

People that cannot distinguish caricature from discrimination really suffer from a deficit in intelligence, attention or both. (I'm probably already discriminating.)

Meanwhile, discrimination is an actual problem and while we continue to focus on hogwash like this, it tends to get lost in translation. It's easier to bitch around about trivialities than to face the harsh real world, obviously.

It reminds me of a local story. The Netherlands features a pretty successful theme park called "De Efteling", it's actually even older than Disneyland and it features some attractions that feature some "dark skinned" people as a form of caricature. It doesn't only feature "colored" people as a caricature, but also a whole bunch of other cultures and skin colors as a caricature of themselves. Every now and then, some semi-outrage breaks out, because some foreign journalist cries wolf about the "blatant discrimination" displayed in those attractions. It even sparked some Facebook groups demanding the theme park to immediately remove all forms of "discrimination". Up until now the theme park has neither apologized nor done anything to change anything on those rides. They also invited one of those Facebook groups for an open talk to explain their point of view and how caricature differs from discrimination, but none has ever since accepted the invitation.

In the end, the whole episode served more as a positive marketing instrument for said theme park. Sony should really have shown more balls here (yes, please not literally or we've got a new scandal on or hands). Don't apologize where no apology is needed.

quote: Mike Blakesley
That quote above has my name on it, for some reason, but is actually from a post by Bobby Henderson.

If you don't specify the originator of the quote with quote=, the BB software looks for the first occurrence of the string inside the quote tags and attributes the quote to him, her or it.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 02-13-2018, 06:16 PM:

Walt Disney Treasures DVDs have "Vault" playlists apart from the main contents of the discs for "politically incorrect" cartoons that feature racial profiling, blackface, or smoking. Worse, you have to view a warning by Leonard Maltin to that effect.

Some of my favorites, such as "Three for Breakfast" where Donald imitates an Asian person, are thus doomed to obscurity.

Amazingly enough, I watched all this stuff when I was a kid and somehow turned out to be a non-violent, non-racist adult. Go figure.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 02-13-2018, 06:32 PM:

quote: Lyle Romer
This planet has truly crossed the point of no return for ridiculous political correctness and "triggering."

Maybe this goes both ways. I think that earlier in time there was the same potential for that kind of uproar - but as fewer people were able to express it over social media, only few people ever took notice of both the 'insult' as well as the complaint. Because studio representatives know about the irrepressible dynamics of social media, they prefer to keep a low profile. Same goes for mentioning it here on this forum. Had we ever had the opportunity to upset ourselves about this if Frank had not brought this up here? There is no problem with political correctness. There is a problem with social media and greed.

- Carsten

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-13-2018, 07:25 PM:

quote: Marcel Birgelen
If you don't specify the originator of the quote with quote=, the BB software looks for the first occurrence of the string inside the quote tags and attributes the quote to him, her or it.

Yeah, but I never quoted that text anywhere in this thread. It's as if Leo added my name to it on purpose. It's no big deal, it's not like Bobby said anything I don't agree with, it's just a curiosity.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-13-2018, 07:49 PM:

quote: Carsten Kurz
Maybe this goes both ways. I think that earlier in time there was the same potential for that kind of uproar - but as fewer people were able to express it over social media, only few people ever took notice of both the 'insult' as well as the complaint. Because studio representatives know about the irrepressible dynamics of social media, they prefer to keep a low profile. Same goes for mentioning it here on this forum. Had we ever had the opportunity to upset ourselves about this if Frank had not brought this up here? There is no problem with political correctness. There is a problem with social media and greed.

The problem lately is there are people from every single socio-economic background who believe they are victims and being oppressed. Race, religion and political affiliation do not matter. Representatives from all groups and income classes are having an angry pity party.

This is another reason why things like 24 hour cable news channels are anger pornography. These "news" outlets pick their side and patronize their viewer base, pointing at all the groups of bad people and how they have wronged you.

There are American citizens who do have legitimate complaints over being wronged by elements of our society's structural systems. I personally would be terrified if I was falsely accused of a crime. I don't have tons of money to spend on really good quality legal defense. And the notion of the accused being "presumed innocent" is a nice platitude, but it's frankly a load of crap in real life. Civil court cases can really bad for "little people" and small businesses as well; justice often goes to the side with the biggest monetary "war chest."

quote: Leo Enticknap
Ironically, "educational" movies such as Boys Beware (BTW, note the signpost to the nuclear fallout shelter at 0'50") and The Child Molester were made two generations ago: schoolkids who were shown them at the time laughed at them and made macabre jokes about them (not to mention gory driver's ed and anti-smoking 16mm classroom films). Today, they're probably more scared of this sort of thing than when the authorities were trying to make them scared.

It was still a different time back then. The news was on TV only very limited amounts of time, and when it aired the image being broadcast wasn't spammed to hell with Chryon text crawls across the screen. We didn't have the Internet back then, so there wasn't access to outlets of fake news and online propaganda, not to mention social media. We were more likely to get outdoors and do things rather than keep our faces glued to some electronic screen.

quote: Mike Blakesley
Oh it's already happening, to an extent. The Looney Tunes box sets issued a few years ago came with a warning saying that they were "meant for the adult collector and may not be suitable for children." And at least one of the sets had a forced-view warning on each disk starring that racist, Whoopi Goldberg, apologizing for how horrible those old cartoons are but "they are part of history and that is why we present them here" or something like that.

Some of those cartoons back then would definitely ignite a shit storm if they were made from scratch today with all the same content intact. I can recall Tom and Jerry cartoons where a bomb would blow up in Tom's face. The explosion would transform his cat face into a black "pickaninny" with hair in braided twists. That goes along with the "mammy" character chasing him around, with dice falling out of her robe. Someone would have to be pretty damned thick in the head not to see the overt racism in that imagery.

Do I think these old cartoons should be censored? No. I'll even go so far as to say Disney ought to release Song of the South on Blu-ray as an example of where our culture was back then -warts and all. The bigger problem I have is that a bunch of Americans refuse to acknowledge this stuff is pretty damned cringe-worthy.

This past weekend I was surfing classic movies and came across In Like Flint. I had seen the movie pop up on cable TV from time to time a long time ago. I don't think I had ever watched it all the way through in one sitting. So I watched it (in pretty decent HD quality; letter-boxed CinemaScope image). The movie is a laugh riot for just how silly, over the top and culturally outdated it is. It's really a hoot to watch in context of the "time's up" and "me too" movements dominating current headlines. Austin Powers seems almost like a serious-minded re-make in retrospect.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 02-13-2018, 10:01 PM:

None of this is new. I have clips going back to the 19-teens and earlier about groups objecting to the way they are portrayed in movies. This includes the Chinese, Irish and Jews. Not to mention the South.
In 1906 the Kentucky Daughters of the Confederacy "declared war" against all Uncle Tom's Cabin companies (this is actually about plays, but groups similarly went after the filmed versions). The were petitioning the KY lege to ban the play on the grounds "that it is 'obnoxious' and that it presents a 'wrongful state of conditions' as existing in the south before the war...that it will create an 'improper and injurious impression' upon the public mind, and that it is 'hurtful' to the minds of youth."
I'd say the same can be said about racist and ethnic stereotypes. At least the legislatures are no longer involved.
So someone wants to put a warning on something. The warning is not for you and you can skip over it. Others may appreciate the warning. The studios are in business to get an audience, why offend a section if it can be assuaged by a warning?
This is all beginning to sound like "Hey you kids, Get off of my lawn."

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 02-14-2018, 10:33 AM:

I'm hoping we just get to such an oversaturation point of "victim identity politics" that we all just stop paying attention to it.....in a way, we may be getting there now, there's just so much of it that it really would be impossible to function on a basic level by adhering to it. Boggles my mind really, though I'm acutely aware of the disadvantages of my own decision to play in the "little guy" space, I also know that for all it's problems, the "Western Capitalist" system has taken a world where 75% or more people lived in extreme poverty in 1850 (I think) to where now that is said to be lower than 9%. With longer lifespans and better health. I believe most of the people selling their victim-politics do so for "fun and profit" themselves, not out of any real altruistic virtue.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-14-2018, 11:27 AM:

quote: Dave Bird
I believe most of the people selling their victim-politics do so for "fun and profit" themselves, not out of any real altruistic virtue.

That's certainly true for politicians and media outlets. Policy makers push the "us versus them" thing for their own political gain. The media outlets do it for ratings, and better ratings translate to more advertising revenue.

It's just too bad the part of our public eating up this stuff either doesn't know or doesn't care that they're getting played for suckers by professional chain yankers.

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 02-18-2018, 07:04 PM:

Ugh I cant believe how sensitive people are these days. The studios shouldn't have to apologize.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 02-18-2018, 10:36 PM:

What if some kid who watches that movie learns that food allergies can make people sick?

What if that kid figures out what an Epi-Pen is and he helps some other person with food allergies use an Epi-Pen and saves their life?

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 02-18-2018, 11:38 PM:

That's just crazy talk.

9-Year-Old Boy Saves Little Sister With CPR

quote:

A 9-year-old boy who saved his baby sister's life after she fell into a swimming pool said he learned CPR from watching television.

Tristin Saghin was visiting his grandmother in Mesa, Arizona, with his family when his 2-year-old sister was found floating in the backyard pool.

"My grandma came in to look for her toothpaste and said, 'Where's the baby?' And my mom went running outside and there she was floating," Tristin told ABC News affiliate ABC15.

While his mother and grandmother called for help, Tristin performed chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on his sister, who was pulled from the pool unconscious and not breathing.

"I just went running outside again, and I did CPR on her," Tristin told ABC15. "I knew what I was doing."

Tristin said that minutes later, his sister started breathing. She is currently recovering in the hospital and, thanks to Tristin, is expected to be fine.

"I couldn't imagine what was going through his mind," said Mesa Fire Department spokesman Capt. Forrest Smith. "Here he is, in a situation where most of us, if we had a family member in that position, as parents we tend to really panic and be concerned. I tell you, we really give kudos out to him."

The near-tragedy was the area's third drowning call in two days. A 3-year-old girl drowned Saturday in a family swimming pool in Mesa, and hours later, a 7-year-old girl drowned in an above-ground pool in South Phoenix. So far this year, Maricopa County has seen 28 drowning calls, 14 of which have been fatal.
CPR Saves Lives

Learning CPR has traditionally been an exhaustive half-day ordeal. But new research suggests a short 60-second training video might be just as effective.

For Tristin, imitating what he had seen on TV was enough. The boy, who is being hailed as a hero, said he would do anything for his sister.

"She's really beautiful and I love her really much," he said.

Boy saves drowning brother's life -- with help from The Rock's 'San Andreas'

quote:
It had been just a week since the 10-year-old Michigan boy last watched his favourite movie, "San Andreas," an action drama that stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson rescuing his family from two hours of tragedy — an earthquake, a tsunami and, most relevant to Jacob, a near-drowning.

Johnson’s character pulls his unconscious daughter from floodwaters and gives her CPR, first in a collapsing building, then in a boat. Finally, she spits up water.

So as Jacob pulled his 2-year-old brother Dylan from the pool and laid him on the deck, his mind channeled The Rock.

"The movie just popped up in my head and I started thinking about that scene," Jacob, of Roseville, Michigan, told The Washington Post. "And that’s when I started doing the compressions."

For half a minute, Jacob said he pushed and pushed until Dylan’s "heart started pumping." And then, just like The Rock’s daughter, Jacob’s brother "vomited a little water."

Now, nearly a month later, Dylan has fully recovered and Jacob is being hailed a hero — by his family, local law enforcement and The Rock himself.

"You’re a real life hero," The Rock wrote in one of four tweets about Jacob’s actions. "We’re all proud of you!"

Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 02-20-2018, 12:41 AM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
Oh it's already happening, to an extent. The Looney Tunes box sets issued a few years ago came with a warning saying that they were "meant for the adult collector and may not be suitable for children." And at least one of the sets had a forced-view warning on each disk starring that racist, Whoopi Goldberg, apologizing for how horrible those old cartoons are but "they are part of history and that is why we present them here" or something like that.

So Whoopi Goldberg appears on the discs to say that even though the cartoons have racist aspects, it's OK to watch them because they're part of history and that makes her a racist? Whoopi Goldberg is not a racist. Although she's divorced from all three of them, all three of her spouses are white.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-20-2018, 08:44 AM:

quote: Randy Stankey
What if some kid who watches that movie learns that food allergies can make people sick?

What if that kid figures out what an Epi-Pen is and he helps some other person with food allergies use an Epi-Pen and saves their life?

We took our two-year old to see it over the long weekend, and formed exactly the same impression of that scene. It sends the message that allergic reactions are a dangerous problem, but with the correct treatment given promptly, the sufferer will recover. If I were a child allergy activist/campaigner, the message I'd take away from it is that my advocacy had worked.

Given the school shootings in recent years, though, I can understand that Mr. McGregor shooting Peter's tail off did not make it from the book to the screen. That would have been a bit too Looney Tunes, under the circumstances. Furthermore, when we visited a Barnes and Noble for a coffee immediately after the movie, I couldn't resist a quick look in the kids' section, and discovered that the shooting has been censored out of the most recent reprinting of the book, too.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-20-2018, 09:47 AM:

quote: Martin Brooks
So Whoopi Goldberg appears on the discs to say that even though the cartoons have racist aspects, it's OK to watch them because they're part of history and that makes her a racist? Whoopi Goldberg is not a racist.

No, that's not what makes her a racist. That was just her reading a message off of cue cards. When she used to appear on TV doing "comedy" she was incapable of being funny without making fun of "white people." Constantly making jokes about how "white people" are stupid and so on. Just they way she would say the words "white people" came off as extremely condescending.

The fact that she's divorced from three white guys is interesting though. Maybe they got sick of her brand of humor too, who knows. But, hardly anybody stays married for long in Hollywood anyway.

I haven't paid any attention to her in years so it's possible her views have changed but I tend to doubt it.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-20-2018, 11:36 AM:

Reminds me of when Channel Four in Britain aired the Kevin Brownlow / Carl Davis version of The Birth of a Nation in the early 1990s. Vaguely aware that it was a very important movie, I videoed it, and, by some fluke, the VHS tape survived two and a half decades and several moves (including a transatlantic emigration), to resurface in a box of crud I was looking through for something else just before Christmas.

Curious to discover if the PAL VHS VCR that also came with me survived the move, I fired it up, and discovered that the tape was still very much playable. It begins with a dreadlocked, Afro-Caribbean sociology professor delivering an introductory lecture, laden with references to 1970s Marxist film theory, basically trashing the movie for its racism. But not once does he mention why it is so important in the history of cinema (story structure, acting technique in close-ups, more or less invented the continuity editing system still in use today, the first ever roadshow movie, etc. etc.) and therefore why, despite being so problematic, it can't be ignored and brushed under carpet (in fact, the racism is a big part of the reason why we should try to understand why it was both popular and despised when it was first shown).

So even a quarter of a century ago, this technique of not quite banning something, but wrapping it up in a politically correct sermon as a sort of compromise, was happening.

Now I am perfectly capable of watching the thing for myself, and reading up for myself about the aspects of it he chose not to mention. Sadly, however, this sort of subtle, semi-censorship does have some bad side-effects. As far as I'm aware, there was not one screening of BOAN at any major arthouse or cinematheque during the movie's centenary year (2015). OK, part of that could have been the cost and difficulty of a full, live orchestra (which you'd need to do the film justice), but I can't help wondering if the one-sided debate about it that has taken place for the last three decades is a bigger part of the reason. Are we really not adult enough to deal with this movie being both a huge step forwards in some ways, and a huge step backwards in others?

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 02-20-2018, 01:46 PM:

I wonder if any of the silent movie music folks could get away with using something like this instead of a full orchestra?

Yamaha Genos

This looks like the modern version of the American Fotoplayer that we discussed a few months ago.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-20-2018, 02:24 PM:

From Walter Cronkite to Jerry Springer: amazing how the media has degraded itself to the Jerry Springer level in not presenting concrete news to creating episodes that belongs on Jerry's show.

It's all about the DRAMA that this society is now attached to.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-20-2018, 10:08 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
No, that's not what makes her a racist. That was just her reading a message off of cue cards. When she used to appear on TV doing "comedy" she was incapable of being funny without making fun of "white people." Constantly making jokes about how "white people" are stupid and so on. Just they way she would say the words "white people" came off as extremely condescending.

Some people in this discussion thread are taking offense that disclaimers are being put on the front of old cartoons, movies, etc that include overtly racist content along with other outdated American cultural norms. The disclaimers are being called a subtle form of censorship. Yet in this same thread we're going to call Whoopi Goldberg a racist because she did bits in her stand-up about white people? Seriously?

If any black comedian is going to be labeled as a racist for telling jokes about white people then, by that measure, every white person who has told jokes about black people should be labeled as a racist just the same. Let's be consistent about it.

I don't think anyone who overtly claims loyalty to any social group wants consistency. The groups involve race, religion, gender, ethnicity, political party affiliation and even more trivial stuff like favorite sports teams. Everyone wants one set of loose rules for their group and a different, more strict set of rules for the others. That's the reality of it here in America. We complain members of the other groups are just being too sensitive when we say/do something they find offensive. Yet we can't notice we have a giant stick up our own asses and are itching to be triggered the same way.

quote: Leo Enticknap
It begins with a dreadlocked, Afro-Caribbean sociology professor delivering an introductory lecture, laden with references to 1970s Marxist film theory, basically trashing the movie for its racism. But not once does he mention why it is so important in the history of cinema (story structure, acting technique in close-ups, more or less invented the continuity editing system still in use today, the first ever roadshow movie, etc. etc.) and therefore why, despite being so problematic, it can't be ignored and brushed under carpet (in fact, the racism is a big part of the reason why we should try to understand why it was both popular and despised when it was first shown).

Birth of a Nation is appropriate to show in the context of explaining film history to students of the subject and others who are seriously interested in film history. Viewed at face value as a conventional piece of movie "entertainment," Birth of a Nation is a toxic piece of racist propaganda. The movie portrayed the KKK as heroes. It portrayed slavery as a good thing for black people and characterized the Republican Party as evil for wanting to eliminate slavery.

It's easy to understand why movie studios would completely avoid holding screenings of Birth of a Nation on its 100th anniversary or include disclaimers in home video releases of the movie. A preface warning at least gives the movie studio some kind of an out, to let it claim it's not exploiting an offensively divisive movie for commercial gain. White supremacist organizations are still alive and well in the USA. A movie studio certainly wouldn't want to appear as if it supported the views of those groups.