NPR’s Five Ways Movie Governments Should Respond to Aliens
Posted on August 16, 2009 at 3:43 pm
NPR has a very funny list of suggestions for movie governments who must respond to an alien invasion with examples from classics like “Independence Day,” “Cocoon,” “E.T.,” and the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” All of the ideas are good ones from the point of view of preventing catastrophe. But as writer Linda Holmes knows very well, that’s why they’d be a bad idea for the screenplays. If the government did the wise thing, the movies would be a lot shorter.
I’m not a fan of reality shows about dating because they seem too artificial and everyone on them seems so self-obsessed (granted, inevitable given their constantly being asked how they feel). But two new variations are worth a mention.
Dating in the Dark takes the most superficial element of dating out of the equation. The couples meet with the lights off, and the idea is that this will keep them focused on the essentials. And that it will be fun to see what their reaction is when they finally see each other. But if one rejects another after getting a look, doesn’t that just underscore the essential superficiality of the attraction? And if we enjoy watching it, what does that say about us?
And then there is More to Love with a (euphemism alert) “husky” man looking for his “curvy” dream girl. Hosted by plus-size supermodel Emme, this show features a 26-year-old former college football offensive lineman turned contractor and developer who is 6’3″ and weighs over 300 pounds and twenty 20 women described as “voluptuous.” I have mixed feelings about this, but if it expands the notion of its participants (some of whom have never been on a date) and its audience about what and who is beautiful and lovable, that is unquestionably a good thing.
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is circulating a petition to protest the marketing of GI Joe action figures promoting the new PG-13 movie “GI Joe.”
Yes, GI Joe was a toy for decades before the movie. But these action figures, specifically tied to characters in this very violent film are specifically targeted at young children to promote a movie that is completely inappropriate for them.
Since March, CCFC has logged over 3,000 ads on children’s TV channels for five PG-13 films: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen; Terminator Salvation; Star Trek; X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the upcoming GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Last month CCFC sent another letter to the FTC documenting the continued failure of the movie industry’s self-regulation, and urging the Commission to take action.
The Wrap has a provocative column by Domnic Patten about the impact of reality television programs on the children who participate in them.
One problem is a loophole in the law. If children are working as actors on a film or television show, there are very strict limits on how many hours they can work. They are required to have a teacher and a parent or guardian with them. But if it is a “reality” show, it is not considered a job; the theory is that they are just going about their lives and being filmed.
“Jon & Kate Plus 8’s” treatment of the Gosselin children is now being investigated by the Pennsylvania Labor Department.
…
At the core of the investigation is whether the Gosselins’ Wernersville, Penn., home constitutes a formal TV set, where the children are being instructed and directed. If so, it would bring the production under the state’s child labor laws.
If not — if it’s considered merely a domestic environment where they are being observed and filmed with little direct interaction with producers and crew – the state would have no grounds for violation and the investigation will be closed.
Therapist Drew Pinsky (better known as “Dr. Drew”), put it directly:
“Children can’t give informed consent by definition, only the parents can do that — and reality shows generally don’t cast adults who have the highest level of mental health. They are severe narcissists who are obsessed with celebrity.”
As well as I remember those misty images of Neil Armstrong coming out of the lunar module to put the first footstep on the moon, I remember the look on Walter Cronkite’s face as he reported it.
Cronkite died today at age 92.
No one born after 1980 can understand the influence of Walter Cronkite on the generation that came of age in the 1950’s and 60’s because there is simply no one to compare him to. In those days there were only three choices for network news coverage, and Cronkite, voted “the most trusted man in America,” was on CBS, which prided itself on meeting the highest standard for quality broadcast journalism — and never insisted that the news division make money. In the 1960’s, when we had to wait every night to find out from television news broadcasts what had happened that day, it was Cronkite who explained it all to us — the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Vietnam, Kent State, Watergate.
But there was no story that he loved more than the space program. He was always completely professional but it was easy to see he was as excited and proud as we were. His integrity and curiosity inspired us all and his legacy should be a powerful reminder of the importance of the quality of journalism he pioneered and exemplified.
