# ‘First Man’ anticipation thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2018, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510 "2018-08-30T09:54:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reindeer_flotilla/32/3024_2.png) [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reindeer_Flotilla)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/61 "2018-10-26T21:19:28Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > All I can see is how terrible late-'Nineties CGI looks now and wonder why Bryan Cranston looks exactly the same twenty years ago as he does today. Also, the cabin of the Eagle looks large enough to host World Series of Poker event. > > Stranger I think the Apollo 11 landing in _From the Earth to the Moon_ was portrayed more accurately and provided more details of actual events, specially technically, than _First Man_. To be fair, the series had more run time to devote to true historical documentation perspective while the movie was artistically more about Armstrong and family, with the NASA elements relegated a little more towards the background. Anecdote time: I once worked for someone who was employed on the LEM program in New York. He mentioned that after finally watching _From the Earth to the Moon_, he was stunned to see they even got the little Grumman employee badge symbols correct for the subsystem access allowed. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/62 "2018-10-26T21:47:31Z")
I decided not to watch after the producers left out the flag scene. Rewriting key moments in history isn’t acceptable. It’s deeply offensive to those of us who witnessed this history. I vividly remember our elementary school set up tv’s so we could watch the moon landing. It was one of my most memorable days in grade school. The Astronauts were like super heroes to us kids. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/63 "2018-10-26T21:57:46Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I decided not to watch after the producers left out the flag scene. > > Rewriting key moments in history isn’t acceptable. It’s deeply offensive to those of us who witnessed this history. You’re missing out – the reports are wrong. 1. The flag is clearly visible in the scene. 2. They didn’t “leave out” the _placing_ of the flag, any more than they “left out” any of a dozen other activities during the Apollo 11 EVA. They simply weren’t part of the film. Within the flow of the film, the “absence” of this scene is not noticeable, no matter how patriotic you are. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/64 "2018-10-26T22:11:31Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I decided not to watch after the producers left out the flag scene. > > Rewriting key moments in history isn’t acceptable. It’s deeply offensive to those of us who witnessed this history. They show characters discussing how the Soviet Union has repeatedly beaten the United States in the “space race”, and how the U.S. is therefore planning to beat the Soviets by doing something far more ambitious than anyone has yet tried. They show giant rockets launching into space, with “UNITED STATES” in big letters on the sides of them (not to mention American flags). They show an American flag on the Moon, next to the LM. But, they don’t actually show the American astronauts _thrusting_ the American flag into the virgin soil of the Moon! I mean, they don’t show the astronauts planting a U.N. flag, or a red Commie flag with a hammer and sickle, or a Rainbow Peace Symbol Flag, or anything like that. But still, they leave out the crucial lunar deflowering by an _American_ astronaut using an _American_ flag! (They also left out the [famous plaque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_plaque#/media/File:Apollo_11_plaque_closeup_on_Moon.jpg) left by the astronauts that said “HERE MEN FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH, FIRST SET FOOT ON THE MOON!!! WE CAME TO SHOW THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS BETTER AND GREATER THAN ALL OTHER COUNTRIES, ESPECIALLY FRANCE!!! AND CANADA!!!”) So, therefore the whole movie is just libtard globalist Cultural Marxist propaganda. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/65 "2018-10-26T22:18:54Z")
lunar deflowering and thrusting… That’s an image that will linger in my head for awhile. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/66 "2018-10-26T22:27:38Z")
Erecting the flag was actually an enormous pain in the ass and portraying it accurately would have been an anti-climax. It took a lot of fiddling to get the flag to lay out straight (there is a metal arms in the top to make the flag stick straight out because there is of course no wind on the Moon) and it took more time thatn planned to get it to line up. It was supposed to drape flat but because of static and bunching it looks like it is rippling in the wind, which was a need but unplanned effect. Apollo 12 had even more problems with the flag and left it with the top longeron hanging down limply at an acute angle. The whole purported offense over the film not showing the installation of the flag (even though it can clearly be seen as Armstrong and Aldrin are preparing to leave) is just stupid manufactured outrage, as if a film centered on the American lunar program and a genuine and humble (if slightly flawed) hero in Armstrong was insufficiently jingoistic to satisfy the butt-hurt sensibilities of people looking for something to be upset about. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/67 "2018-10-26T22:35:52Z")
The filmmakers could also (with complete historical justification) have included a shot of the American flag being knocked over into the lunar dirt when the Apollo 11 astronauts took off to return home, followed by a nice time lapse or montage of the Stars and Stripes being slowly bleached away and turned into a [white flag](https://gizmodo.com/5930450/all-the-american-flags-on-the-moon-are-now-white). But they didn’t do that either. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/68 "2018-10-26T22:57:23Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > lunar deflowering and thrusting… > > That’s an image that will linger in my head for awhile. > > 😉 Fuck that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/69 "2018-10-27T00:08:08Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I decided not to watch after the producers left out the flag scene. … The flag? Really? The flag? I must say, a lot of Americans seem to have an extraordinary obsession with this symbol. Not to mention the national anthem. Holy shit. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/70 "2018-10-27T00:12:58Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > The flag? Really? The flag? > > I must say, a lot of Americans seem to have an extraordinary obsession with this symbol. > > Not to mention the national anthem. Holy shit. It is not socially acceptable–especially in this day and age of #MeToo, Harvey Weinstein, and Bill Cosby–to wave one’s penis around in public, so we have to have a token emblem. If we designed a flag today it would probably look something like [this](https://www.etsy.com/listing/275978400/american-flag-hand-knitted-underwear). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/71 "2018-10-27T00:56:56Z")
:shakes head: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/72 "2018-10-31T13:55:04Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > You’re missing out – the reports are wrong. > > 1. The flag is clearly visible in the scene. > 2. They didn’t “leave out” the _placing_ of the flag, any more than they “left out” any of a dozen other activities during the Apollo 11 EVA. They simply weren’t part of the film. Within the flow of the film, the “absence” of this scene is not noticeable, no matter how patriotic you are. Exactly; think about it- how famous is the footage of the flag planting from Apollo 11? The answer is - not very. What people remember is the audio, and seeing Armstrong hop off the ladder, along with a bunch of still photographs of Aldrin doing stuff like facing the flag, gathering samples, etc… (Armstrong apparently took most of the photos). The movie leaves out or glosses over a LOT of other NASA stuff in it’s relentless quest to concentrate on Armstrong and his family to the exclusion of everything else. I half suspect that the movie only mentions Elliott See’s plane crash and the Apollo 1 fire because Armstrong was close to See and Ed White. Had they not had a personal connection, they’d probably have skipped them as well. They do show the flag in place prominently very quickly after they get out of the LEM- they just don’t show them fumbling around with it on the surface. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/73 "2018-10-31T19:33:09Z")
The flag controvery was amplified by Ryan Gosling’s statement that the flag placing was left out because it was a ‘global’ achievement, or words to that effect. That was him just spitballing, but it pissed a lot of people off who thought he was stating the position of the director. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/74 "2018-10-31T19:58:48Z")
Yeah the “controversy” was more Right Wing Fox News nonsense designed to make people angry for a day or two. There are plenty of flags in the movie and the movie has plenty a Americanism throughout. The people who created those stories probably already forgot about them. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/75 "2018-10-31T20:21:09Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Yeah the “controversy” was more Right Wing Fox News nonsense designed to make people angry for a day or two. There are plenty of flags in the movie and the movie has plenty a Americanism throughout. The people who created those stories probably already forgot about them. What I took away from the movie is that it was first, foremost and always a film about Neil Armstrong, not a movie about Apollo 11, not about the Apollo program, and not about NASA. I guess a lot of people can’t really comprehend the idea of a movie about Neil Armstrong NOT being nearly completely focused on Apollo 11 and the moon landing. Which I suppose is the point of the movie- it has a laser focus on the man and how all these various things affected him. Stuff like the flag raising or Apollo 8, or ticker-tape parades afterward are left out because they don’t illuminate anything about Armstrong or his character. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/76 "2018-11-01T15:21:57Z")
Very true. It is more a Neil Armstrong Biopic. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/77 "2018-11-01T16:40:12Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > The flag? Really? The flag? > > I must say, a lot of Americans seem to have an extraordinary obsession with this symbol. > > Not to mention the national anthem. Holy shit. Don’t worry, a lot of Canadians had their minds blown recently upon learning they didn’t actually burn down the White House despite being taught that in high school. I remember Canadians getting pissed off some TV show about the War of 1812 didn’t mention that at all at the time. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/78 "2018-11-01T17:27:05Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Very true. It is more a Neil Armstrong Biopic. Which stands to reason as the book from which it was adapted and whose title it shares IS a Neil Armstrong biography. Gosling could have said “but the flag IS there”, but he was right that quite simply the movie is not intended as a nationalist piece. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/79 "2018-11-04T04:19:42Z")
Finally saw the movie tonight. And I did not follow this thread that closely because I did not want too many spoilers. Going in, I had concerns about Ryan Gosling playing Neil Armstrong, … … and, he does a very good job with it. Not bad, not bad. Claire Foy was excellent. So, I really liked the movie. It’s all about Armstrong, from his point of view, and from the point of view of Janet Armstrong’s. Very well done. Armstrong, so stoic, so private, so reticent. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the flag not being portrayed. It did not need to be. Very good movie — but maybe it’s because I was born in 1961 and those guys were my heroes and I loved following the space missions. That’s my bias. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510/80 "2018-11-06T13:57:14Z")
I saw the film yesterday. My only criticism is that I think it should have ended immediately after he dropped the rosary (?) into the crater. The quarantine scene added nothing to the film. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-man-anticipation-thread/820510.md?page=5)