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

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

I was Googling for reviews, and this one has humorous asides about gay penguins relaxing in Ibiza while the heterosexual males do the whole mating thing. (Still sexist, though.)

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

They tell us in the film there are more female penguins than male penguins and not all the penguins pair up, but they don't tell us a fucking thing about what these penguins do and how they fit into the cycle, even though they are a usual part of the cycle--I wanted to know! HIDING THE LESBIAN PENGUINS FROM ME, THE BASTARDS!!!!(-; (which I expected, just not the dripping male idolatry, but I don't watch that much media, so, eh.)

[hothead.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wanted to know that too. I was also wondering if the mothers who returned to find that their egg didn't hatch maybe fed the ones whose mothers got eaten by seals...