Promos for the “comedy” Christmas with the Kranks make my blood boil. Tim Allen – who makes me want to blow chunks anyway – sprays down a cat with a hose in sub-freezing weather, thus encasing it in ice. And this is supposed to be funny! This lovely depiction of hatefulness and cruelty is apparently a major selling point for the movie, because it’s in every damn promo they show!
I don’t find torturing animals humorous in the least. Even if it’s fictional. Even if the fictional animal is ultimately unharmed. You just know that shit-eating morons everywhere are going to pull this stunt in real life to see if they really can make an instant cat-sicle – possibly with fatal consequences for the poor cats.
I watched a LOT of cartoons when I was a kid. Depite the fact that my mother never specifically told me not to drop anvils on people (or roadrunners), I never did. I wonder why that is?
Blaming filmmakers for people actually doing the things they depict in their films is just stupid.
I never said moviemakers are responsible for what people do. It might have seemed like I was suggesting that, but I really wasn’t. I was simply making the observation that some people do imitate what they see in movies, and lamenting that this particular movie scene will undoubtedly play out in real life. Even if it doesn’t, it’s still not funny. It’s sick and mean-spirited.
By the way, my cats have beautiful eyes and are gentle, loving, and decidedly non-evil.
It’s because one simply cannot drop an anvil on a roadrunner. Many tests have shown that the Acme Rubber Band always brings the anvil back above the dropper’s head, pausing there until the dropper becomes aware of it, and then falling, pushing the dropper through the overhang and into the canyon below. This is an immutable law of nature.
Well, that’s a matter of taste. I have Skip Morrow’s “I Hate Cats” calendar hanging in front of me right now, and I think it’s hilarious. However, I wouldn’t dream of doing any of it IRL, and if someone did, I’d be first in line to kick their ass. There’s a huge difference of what’s acceptable in fiction and in fact. However, I know that everyone has their own ideas of what’s funny/acceptable in that regard, so I certainly don’t begrudge you thinking that the gag is unfunny or offensive.
Fair enough.
Also fair, but if it did play out in real life, it is in no way the movie’s fault. These are two separate ideas- (1) there is an offensive, harmful-in-IRL gag in a movie, and (2) some people do offensive, harmful things IRL. If (2) happens to match (1), it’s just details. If someone who tried to freeze a cat hadn’t seen the movie, they’d be doing something else destructive anyway.
They’re also good actors. I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you. They’re just waiting for the right time.
Possibly true, though I would speculate that if the movie cat is unscathed, there will be people stupid enough to think that a wet cat in sub-freezing temperatures will suffer no ill effects.
Anyway, whether it happens IRL or not (and I maintain that it will) is not really my point. I just think that cruelty to animals is not an appropriate subject for entertainment, and it says something about people who find it funny.
Boy, I guess there’s just no telling what direction these Pit threads are going to take. I’ve gotten plenty of support from fellow animal lovers in other animal-related threads, so I kind of expected those same folks to chime in here about how they also find that scene disturbing (Eve, where are you? )
Instead I get called stupid, I get rolleyes, and I get repeatedly accused of saying things I didn’t say.
Well, I don’t think this will spark a rash of cat freezings. And I don’t think it will make a kind person a cat-torturer. And I DO think it’s funny in a stupid, Tim Allen kind of way. Same as the Three Stooges, but not as good. I positively worship my cats and would probably turn the hose on anyone who tried to do that to my little softies. But I don’t think it’s irresponsible movie making.
That’s because you haven’t really said much of anything. Why shouldn’t scenes of animal cruelty be shown in movies? Because it might influence others to do it? That’s a pretty lame reason. Because you don’t think it’s “an appropriate subject for entertainment?” That’s not a reason at all. Who are you to dictate what’s appropriate for entertainment or not?
Unless you have more compelling reasons for your argument people will jsut see this as a, well, lame rant. And they’ll tear it to shreds.
This is the Pit.
I think if you were just ranting because the scene disturbs you there would be no problem, but you seem to be saying that animal cruelty should never be portrayed in entertainment at all! Because it disturbs you!
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