Happy Feet

Okay, this is a bit of an oddball post. But I've been too long without writing something, nothing has sparked my interest in the past week or so, and someone gave me a nudge.

Anyway, here's the deal. I carried the wife and the little one to the movies a couple weeks ago to see Happy Feet on opening night. I loved it, but today, I overheard a co-worker talking about it, and saying he was ready to walk out because it was "anti-religious". Oh, those evil Hollywood types trying to shove their liberal agenda into a kids' movie, and so forth.

Well, I didn't see it that way at all. What I saw was a group with a problem, one individual who happened to be a bit of an oddball, but had a logical plan to solve the problem, and the group leadership who just blamed the problem on the oddball and thought if they got rid of him "God" would fix the problem for them.

See, it's not the religion itself that's being decried here, it's intolerance, ostracism, and (dare I say it) the laziness of relying solely on prayer and not getting up off your ass and doing something. It's anti-fanaticism, perhaps - I can see a Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell type getting offended by it, because it paints them as the detriment to society that they truly are.

But that's not even the main jist of the writer's agenda. There's a positive aspect too, and it's far more important. It's about celebrating our differences, finding harmony between us, and about never giving up on achieving goals. I'm darn glad my little girl saw it, because those are messages that she should hear, and can understand in some way even at her age. And I'm pretty sure that if when she gets older, she turns out to be as apathetic about organized religion as I am, it won't be because she saw Happy Feet.