Happy Feet-New Age PsyOps?

[mamadrama]

I took my four year old to see George Miller's latest film, "Happy Feet" and while it was too long for him, I was quite entertained. That is until the filmaker interjected an alien subplot into the storyline. I'm still scratching my head about it.

Visually, the film was great with astounding scapes of Antartica and incredible state-of-the art computer animation. The dancing and singing was fabulous and as Robin Williams, one of the voice talents of the movie puts it, "Happy Feet' is " 'March of the Penguins' meets 'Riverdance.' " The core plot is that one particular penguin is born different. Nicknamed Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood), he can't sing to save his life, but his feet are truly happy. To make Mumble's tap dancing on ice truly impressive, Miller used motion capture technology and combined it with the artistry of Savion Glover, today's master tapper.
The movie turns weird when an alien element is brought into the story.

Mumble has the notion that what the penguins call "aliens," i.e. humans, are responsible for the declining fish supply, and he determines to do something about it. So he braves tremendous hardship, is captured and put into the zoo, and then wows the "alien-humans" with his tapdancing. They are so impressed, they surgically implant a huge tracking device into his back so that he can lead the humans back to his herd of Emperor Penguins in Anartica. His herd is totally nonplussed by the huge electronic gadget attached to his back. He assures them the aliens are going to help us and the machine is just so they can follow him...What is that? Holy Beelzebub, I have to say I left feeling like our children are being indoctrinated into the whole New Age disinfo about aliens invading to help us solve our problems. Yikes!

 

[paulnotbilly]

I remember seeing ads for this when march of the penguins was about to come out in the UK, seemed to be a spoof expected to hit the cinemas a few weeks later. I don't know if it was pulled to get the xmas market or possibly to allow for the addition; there was no mention of humans in the trailer from what I can remember.

 

[OPINMYND81]

The whole story seems to be another one of those tolerance lessons we've been saturated with for over the past decade. The stuffy conservatives who can't tolerate anything new versus the young innovator who just wants to have fun (thus the whole footloose part). The whole human as aliens thing does have a kind of european colonialism feel to it but I do agree it does hint of the aliens-here-to-save-us schtick. After all they put Mumble in a zoo (apparently there's a large zoo on the Antarctic that is visited often!) and decide to help out the penguin herd afterwards? Me thinks not. Most likely they would have found some way to exploit the whole herd or turn it into some viable enterprise, just like White colonizers and just like our alien "friends." Yup, definitely a sinister propaganda campaign is afoot!

BTW the video game version of the movie is absolutely horrible, even by kids-movie-to-game standards. So don't think of buying it as a x-mas gift for your kid cuz they'll hate you for the rest of your life for it. You have been warned! :)

 

[Josi]

I read this today from mercola.com about Happy Feet.

More Evidence of Evil Marketing Geniuses at Work



Happy FeetCharacters from "Happy Feet," an animated movie about a tap-dancing penguin, are appearing in an extensive advertising campaign for the drug company Roche, including network and cable commercials, full-page magazine ads and online banner ads.

The commercials advertise Roche's www.flufacts.com Web site, which dispenses advice about the flu, and notes that doctors can prescribe an antiviral medication for prevention and treatment. Roche's own drug Tamiflu is at the top of the list of these medications.

According to Rob Donnell, the president and founder of Brand Arc, the company that helped bring together Roche and film distributor Warner Brothers, this marks the first time that a pharmaceutical company has partnered with the entertainment industry.

New York Times November 6, 2006

 

[mamadrama]

BTW the game absolutely is horrible, even by kids-movie-to-game standards. So don't think of buying it as a x-mas gift for your kid cuz they'll hate you for the rest of your life for it. You have been warned!

My children thank you for this, I'm sure!

Happy FeetCharacters from "Happy Feet," an animated movie about a tap-dancing penguin, are appearing in an extensive advertising campaign for the drug company Roche, including network and cable commercials, full-page magazine ads and online banner ads.

Roche's own drug Tamiflu is at the top of the list of these medications.

That is interesting in light of the fact that the US FDA has raised concerns about the safety of Tamiflu for children.

The FDA says it is aware of 12 deaths of children who took the drug in the past 13 months and 75 cases that raise concern about the use of Tamiflu in children.

Among the 12 deaths, four are described as sudden, one attributed to a fall during a psychiatric disturbance, and several others to heart and lung failure.

There are also 32 cases of psychiatric disturbance, including hallucinations.

The report says there is not enough detail to assess the cause of these cases, but that the pattern is so unusual as to warrant further study.
.
And nonetheless, Roche is increasing Tamiflu production to 300 million doses a year to meet worldwide demand.

 

[Keit]

I was very unfortunate to see this horrible movie several days ago. It was during my bf's work get together.

We could see some other movie, but one of the colleagues is religious (Jewish) and couldn't see movies with violence or sex in it (Yahweh is a Peace loving God, don't you know? ;) ).

Anyway, the only consolation we had (Me and my bf. Others thought this movie was cute :O ) that this was a VIP section of the cinema, and we could eat and drink (beers or wine) during the movie while sitting in a very comfy chairs. Without it I would scream in agony, and I am not overreacting.
This movie is a major brainwashing campaign. Starting from obvious sexual hints (I wonder how religious guy reacted to it) and anti spiritual/esoteric or paranormal (or just anti religious) messages. Add to this extremely cheesy songs and dances - and a constant eye rolling is guarantied.
But it's not all - later they started to add "good aliens"/"bad humans" pro environmental messages. Not to mention sick bag moment when brave UN men saved all the penguins, after mutilating the hero penguin and bugging him with huge tracking device in his back.

After the movie our brain felt like kitsch potato mash. So when we returned home, we had to see Matrix again, just to restore our (relative) sanity. :D

Here two IMDB reviews just to give you other opinions.

What should have been a fun little movie for the kids turned out to be a long, often inappropriate, political statement about saving the environment. I thought at any minute Greenpeace and ACLU representatives were going to start walking down the aisles handing out brochures.

For starters, the penguins sing a lot of "heart songs" based on modern pop music. While this should have been a fun way to make the penguins sing - the producers chose songs that you would never let your small kids listen to.

For instance, at one point in the movie, the penguins start singing "Let's talk about X baby, let's talk about you and me..." They sang this parody of Salt N Peppa's "Lets talk about sex" while doing some type of suggestive mating dance! It was an uncomfortable moment for me while my 5 year old stared wide-eyed at the screen.

There are a lot of sexually charged themes in the movie including the "guru" that sounds like Barry White and mates the females like Tommy Lee. The entire reason for the penguins singing is so they can mate. That's fun to explain to kids, huh?! Then there is the religious aspect of the movie where the producers make it seem like any type of faith-based religion is silly, stuffy and a waste of time. The "bad" penguins in the movie are the religious ones and not loving or accepting of anyone but "their" kind. If you are a believer in any kind of faith-based religion – especially Christianity – you will be very uncomfortable during these parts.

Finally there is the environmental protection aspect of the movie. While I am all for protecting the environment - the movie was forced to end abruptly with argument between nations (like you would see at the UN) where folks are arguing to make changes that will help the penguins. The message was deep and hard for kids to understand. There was no explanation really why or how the environment was being harmed other than a 30 second shot of a barge over fishing an area. This theme seemed forced and overbearing.

In the end my 5 year old took away that the guru got caught in a plastic beverage holder which made him crazy, the "religious" penguins made the boys parents not love him anymore, and that the humans were coming to get all of the tap dancing penguins to take them to the zoo. Wow – it was a fun ride home for us while I explained what really was happening.

In any case -- I would stay far away from the movie. It was a complete waste of time and money!

I request that you do not go to this extremely disappointing film. My aunt, Mom, Grandmother, and 4 cousins (all under the age of 5) went to see this for New Year's. Afterwards, as my Grandma and cousins drove away, my mother, aunt, and I had a heated discussion about the underlying issues in the film. As a teenager myself, it may seem that some of these concepts would seem to go over my head, but I caught on to it myself and took the liberty to relieve you of the pain.

May I give you a complete synopsis at this point so you can gauge whether or not it is worth it to you.

COMPLETE SPOILER NOW

It began as a sweet March of the Penguins type tale. This little penguin was dropped as an egg and as a result this penguin Mumble can't properly sing. Singing is the cultural identity of his people who believe in something called HeartSong. He can't sing, but loves to dance, or as he says: sing with your feet. As the story evolves he is shunned from the penguin society because they believe him to be the cause of the fish shortage. But, Mumble knows that it's the aliens taking the fish and so he goes in search of them. On his travels previously he met another group of a different breed of penguin and one particular penguin called Lovelace has this mysterious talisman around his neck (a six-pack ring) that he says was bestowed upon him by the gods. Mumble knows better, again, and finds Lovelace choking due to this thing. Mumble, Lovelace and his friends The Amigos go in search of the aliens. They find a city of the aliens (humans), unfortunately, this city is deserted. After a brush with killer whales (orcas) which managed to remove the ring around Lovelace's neck. (Don't ask how, it's magic. His breathing is also immediately bettered, heaven forbid recuperative time.) Then, Mumble tells the others to leave and he'll continue on his own. They agree to this and assume he'll die. He sets off on a ridiculous journey chasing after commercial net fishing boats and goes on and on. He swims for ever and ends up washed ashore where a Jeep comes for him. He is placed in a zoo where he proceeds to loose not only his voice, but his soul and spirit. He hallucinates seeing his family and love interest, whose name is Gloria.

A small girl taps on the glass to draws our Emperor penguin's attention, and with her rhythm he begins to dance! A crowd draws and (magically, again, after a time skip) Mumble shows back up to see his penguin group. On his back is a HUGE tracking device with a large red light and glowing circuits and a large antennae.(INHUMANE AS ALL HELL). Mumble has decided to bring the humans to his family so they will help. But he tries to convince this huge group that the only way to save their kid is to dance for the humans.

MY FEELINGS TOWARDS IT

Part Two specifically: My best descriptor: March of the Penguins- Moulin Rouge- a twisted Fern Gully

He is portrayed as extremely depressed and zombie-like in the zoo. But when he dances, then he is all cheery again. If this is not enough of an enigma already, how can we explain his release back into the wild? If we found a penguin who tap-danced would we let him go, or would we put him on display and charge $20 for admission to see him? And, let's go past the whole back to wild problem. When he's in the wild going back to his family, what is he thinking? That the humans will make fish magically appear? Once there, what is he thinking? He feels the need to convince the penguins that the only way to be saved is by dancing like good little slaves.