The Pathos of Penguin Masculinity

[lavendertook]

OK, I just came back from watching The March of the Penguins. You know, gotta hand it to these penguins--they do a nice job of egalitarian parenting across gender under horrific conditions--yeah--go penguins! But Cripes!!! The absolute pathos in Morgan Freeman's voice and narrative emphasis on the "father" penguin's plight! OMFG! Geezus guys, give it a rest! The birds look fucking identical, but oh, the plight of the male penguin! The female penguins loss of a third of her body weight and dropping of the egg and waddling back to sea after this task is mentioned all matter of factly, as I would expect in a documentary, but the male penguins waiting while she went to feed is presented like the Greatest Story Ever Told--they're fucking penguins, guy! A fine display of male interest in only what other males do, but doesn't this look ridiculous to anyone else?

Am I the only one who noted this or is it just my homicidal lesbian tendencies surfacing again?

It's a good Discovery channel movie, but now I know why reviewers I heard and read who gave it such rave reviews were male. Patriarchy is sooo stupid. I'll go back to my grotto now.

Comments

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

If wookie sounds are cute to you, then yeah they're cute voices. Nothing over icky in that--just penguin sounds, but the romanticizing in the narrative is pretty laugh worthy, but not in the ways they intend. (-; I swear, it was ridiculous. It just came off so blatantly weird-but-typical in its weight on male heroics--oh noes!!!--when its just fucking penguins! It's the most stooopid patriarchal propaganda, but it works, apparently. Little kids will never know what hit them. Yeah, that's what I get for leaving the house. (-;

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

...must be a difference between the French and the English versions. The IMDb lists three actors narrating in the original version: a 47-year-old male, a 32-year-old female, and a 15-year-old male, but only Morgan Freeman for the US version.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Huh. Interesting. If you see it in French, please let me know if the narrative manages the same slant.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure it does.