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"March of the Penguins"

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by jared2, Jun 5, 2006.

  1. jared2

    jared2 New Member

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    I just saw the film "March of the Penguins". Has anyone seen it? In it, we see how Emperor penguins in antarctica will spend the antarctic winter huddled in groups, exposed to 100 mile per hour winds and minus 80 degree temperatures and go without food for 4 months all in order to keep their eggs warm so they might hatch in spring. The male and female cooperate perfectly in this endevour. No bitching, no complaining, no existential crises about what it all means, no entertainment, no food, no TV, no chat rooms. It makes me think that the human brain is either 1. Overdeveloped - much too demanding for survival needs, or 2. Underdeveloped - not intelligent enough to see war, politics, religion as the vain activities they are. If our brains were less developed, we would be in harmony with nature, like the penguins; if more developed we would be wise enough not to waste time on violent activities and fruitless spiritual enquiries. I found myself admiring these birds, even envying them, in a way. Anyone else have a reaction to it?
     
  2. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    I watched it and really liked the movie. I learned a lot too. I agree with your post.
     
  3. finman

    finman Senior Member

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    Ditto on my reactions to this amazing film! Why, oh, why do we as humans really believe we are more intelligent than any other creature on earth? We do all we can to destroy ourselves....EVERYDAY, whilst other critters adapt, deal with it and survive.

    Doing the penguin thing in the most inhospitable regions of our planet seems much more evolved than planning the next oil war.

    We could actually learn alot from the natural world...alas, we're too busy ignoring the great lessons. Obsessed with negativity and paranoia.

    I've always wondered why it has to be the way it is. Why can't there be balance in a human-inhabited earth?
     
  4. jared2

    jared2 New Member

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    I agree. Humans seem to be almost a pathological force on earth. D. H. Lawrence called man "a creature on a tightrope". I think the tightrope is the result of a brain that is at once over and underdeveloped. In other words, evolution seems to have produced a rather unbalanced brain, perhaps as a result of too rapid development. Clearly, man is not in harmony with life on earth, of which we are just one offshoot.

    This would go a long way to explaining how susceptible societies as a whole are to "unbalanced "activities - war, the cultural revolution, Stalin's purges, the holocaust, nuclear arms race, ruining the environment. The question becomes - is this a fatal flaw of our species or something that can be overcome?
     
  5. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    I like what was said in the movie "The Matrix". We are like viruses. We consume every resource and when its gone we move and consume all the resources again. Something along those lines.
     
  6. finman

    finman Senior Member

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    I'm glad I'm not the only one that sees humans as this! The Matrix may have had some super-cool special effects, but the meassage is surreal. Look around, housing developments, garbage dumps, all the bad stuff and people STILL want to bring more life to this planet. A true virus if ever there was.

    Step back and looking at it like this makes it depressing...yet...I have to feel pity on our future generations that may see the previous as resource sucking creatures with no hope.

    I have to believe we will wake up...(cue the Rage Against The Machine tune)
     
  7. jared2

    jared2 New Member

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    Well, I don't want to be too negative either. For all the harm people are doing to each other and the world, we are still a pretty interesting species. I am thinking of all the great music, literature, science and technology we have produced. I would not really want to be a penguin and huddle in antarctica for 4 months without food. It does make you reevaluate priorities, however. They are perfectly adapted to do that in order to survive - just for the sake of surviving and reproducing themselves. No questions for them about life after death - they are too busy just living. And living in the most hostile environment on earth, too.
     
  8. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    My wife wanted to move to Antartica and build those poor penguins a shelter with a heated floor. Wouldn't that be a hoot!
     
  9. Mystery Squid

    Mystery Squid Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jared2 @ Jun 5 2006, 12:22 PM) [snapback]266001[/snapback]</div>
    "harmony" according to whom?

    Perhaps this IS the harmony?
     
  10. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    I saw it. And I bought the soundtrack. And when it came out....I bought the DVD.

    It was an amazing film. Shows that you can make a documentary and it can still be widely appealing, visualing stunning and artistically beautiful.

    I was struck by their amazing self-sacrifice. You can say it's all instinct, but I can't help think they mourn for their loss. I believe animals grieve.

    I would recommend this even to people who aren't into documentaries or penguins. It was just a fabulous film.
     
  11. jared2

    jared2 New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Jun 5 2006, 12:58 PM) [snapback]266020[/snapback]</div>
    I felt the same thing! Maybe with a nice jaccuzi surrounded by Italian marble. Or, better yet, how about first class air tickets to Bali?
    But then, I guess we would be guilty of anthopomorphizing them. Pretty soon, they would become lap penguins and no longer worthy of our admiration. We like things to suffer as long as it isn't us.
     
  12. jared2

    jared2 New Member

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    By the way, at the risk of injecting religion into this topic (but for some reason the movie has that effect), it is clear to me that if such a thing as a god existed, he/she/it would certainly prefer these penguins to people. They don't whine (like all those liberals :) , they don't complain about the cold, they don't get divorced because they "need more space", they don't abandon their kids. They also don't make war or harm their environment. They do eat fish, but hey, who's perfect? They are paragons of "family values" - and without any religion at all!
     
  13. burritos

    burritos Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(theforce @ Jun 5 2006, 11:31 AM) [snapback]266005[/snapback]</div>
    No we are more like cancer.
     
  14. fshagan

    fshagan Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(finman @ Jun 5 2006, 09:37 AM) [snapback]266010[/snapback]</div>
    Perhaps if you commit suicide, it would be good for the planet, no?
     
  15. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    i watched it because Morgan Freeman was the narrator and for that i am grateful. it was well worth my time.

    as for humans, we are a rare species on this planet to kill each other for other reasons than survival or food. many animals fight for women or territory, but very very few fight to the death...apparently animals know when to quit. funny... when people go too far, they are accused of acting like animals
     
  16. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    Well, I also took note of the occasional times when the penguins
    blow it, and let the precious egg freeze. But the occasional oops
    doesn't screw the pooch for the entire group; there are some bits of
    fallout and life, in general, goes on. They're not exactly provided
    with optimized equipment for implementing the plan, are they...
    .
    I suppose I could have done with a little less of the "penguin sex"
    stuff, but it was tolerably appropriate since this was all about the
    perpetuation cycle in the first place..
    .
    _H*
     
  17. Priuseely

    Priuseely Junior Member

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    March of the Penguins was too heavy-handed for me. I mean, could they try any harder to personify these penguins and place human values and judgements on them? Sheesh.

    Try "Winged Migration" FAR superior in every aspect, and some scenes are so beautiful they'll bring a tear to your eye.
     
  18. fshagan

    fshagan Senior Member

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    March of the Penguins was a wonderful movie, and I really enjoyed it. I did not come out of the theater in any manner self-loathing, as it was about PENGUINS, not humans.

    All of you can drop out, move to the forest, and become one with nature if you like. Me, I'll continue to fill my role as a human, as the only animal who can not only impact the global environment, but also do something about that impact.

    We have an idealized view of animals because we are so rarely eaten by them anymore. Bears are cuddly, lions are "Kings" who teach us about Hamlet. We've lost the import of a lot of the fables and allegories, thinking that they are actually true. Animals are no more noble than we are (but all life is pretty noble, in my view).

    Chimps wage war with neighboring tribes, and kill for no apparent reason ... perhaps sport. Who can know the mind of a chimp? Killer Whales "play" with seals before killing them, when a quick bite would satisfy their hunger much faster. Your cat tortures the mice he catches, yet feels no remorse at all. Your cat will also eat you, if you die and quit feeding him. Now perhaps that's "pure", but I doubt my neighbor will eat me if I drop dead mowing my lawn this weekend.
     
  19. finman

    finman Senior Member

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    No, my suicide won't affect ANYTHING. But, if people were to really think about it, increasing the bottom line of population is not helping.

    More humans means less diversity in nature. Notice how many species go bye-bue during our "reign"? This rock cares less about what inhabits it...but we have to survive here anyway. Overpopulation will be taken care of sooner rather than later. Once we run out of resources that support life, poof, no need to worry about the sucides...'course, we're doing that already.

    As the most intelligent beings (we wish) on the planet, we seem to have a hard time grasping this resource fact...

    Cheers,

    Curt.

    PS Do you really think we can continue this unsustainable cycle? Time to pay attention...
     
  20. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Jun 5 2006, 09:58 AM) [snapback]266020[/snapback]</div>
    They'd probably catch pneumonia and die if you took them out of the cold. An animal evolved to spend half its time in the antarctic ocean would die of shock if you put it in a hot tub.

    Other than that, I agree: it was a wonderful movie. For those of you who saw it in the theater, and have not seen the DVD, there are a couple of long features on the DVD that are well worth a watch.

    Winged Migration was lovely also. But those geese were tame, domesticated and trained to fly with the ultralights.