{"id":2549,"date":"2005-10-15T13:56:00","date_gmt":"2005-10-15T13:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/10\/the-morality-of-penguins-redux\/"},"modified":"2005-10-15T13:56:00","modified_gmt":"2005-10-15T13:56:00","slug":"the-morality-of-penguins-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/10\/the-morality-of-penguins-redux.html","title":{"rendered":"The morality of Penguins redux"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Vancouver Sun<\/a><\/i> columnist Peter McKnight has written one of the sharper pieces in the ongoing culture war<\/a> \u2014 more of a skirmish, really \u2014 over the moral meaning of March of the Penguins<\/a><\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not often Christian conservatives take a page from the book of liberal gay activism, but when they do, you know it won\u2019t be worth the read. . . .<\/p>\n

These comments suggest that the commentators slept through parts of the movie \u2014 or were too busy transcribing God\u2019s thoughts \u2014 because they\u2019re wrong on every count:<\/p>\n

Monogamy? Wrong \u2014 unless you understand monogamy in a musical chairs kind of way. The movie makes it clear that, after the child rearing is done, the happy couples spin their partners round and round, do-si-do, and then spin into new relationships each year.<\/p>\n

Sacrifice? Wrong \u2014 some penguins do starve or freeze to death, but there\u2019s no reason to believe their breeding practices are particularly burdensome, given that the penguins were selected through evolution (a bad word, I know) to survive in the unforgiving climate of Antarctica. The frozen continent is, after all, their home.<\/p>\n

Pro-life? Wrong \u2014 the film notes that if Mum doesn\u2019t arrive with food within the two-month window, Pop\u2019s off to find some grub for himself, leaving baby to fend for itself \u2014 that is, to starve to death in the frozen wasteland. That\u2019s about as pro-life as the militaristic ancient Greek city state of Sparta, where babies deemed unfit by the committee of elders were routinely left to die of exposure on the slopes of Mount Taygetos. . . .<\/p>\n

What\u2019s good for the goose is good for the gander, I suppose \u2014 if liberal gay activists appeal to animal behaviour for an affirmation of their values, conservative Christian activists might as well do so, too \u2014 but this line of reasoning isn\u2019t good for anyone.<\/p>\n

Aside from lowering ourselves beneath the penguin \u2014 and that\u2019s not easy \u2014 the behaviour of the flightless birds will never affirm anyone\u2019s values because their behaviour is utterly valueless.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tempting to anthropomorphize penguins \u2014 they do after all, resemble certain people who shall remain nameless \u2014 and it seems humans have a natural tendency to demystify animal behaviour by imputing human motives to animals.<\/p>\n

Yet there\u2019s absolutely no reason to believe penguins\u2019 actions are the result of any considered moral calculus. Emperor penguins don\u2019t choose to care for their young (or to engage in homosexual behaviour) because it\u2019s the right thing to do. There is no right or wrong in the penguin world, since penguins don\u2019t choose to do anything at all in the sense we give to that term; rather, they behave in these ways because it\u2019s in their nature to do so, because their behaviour is programmed by their instincts and by their environment. In short, penguin behaviour is determined.<\/p>\n

In contrast, humans are self-determining: While influenced by nature and the environment, we aren\u2019t constrained by the dictates of nature. If we were, we would cease to be moral beings.<\/p>\n

Rather, we have the ability to act autonomously, to break free from the shackles of nature, and we recognize that sometimes, we have the moral obligation to do so. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think I can agree with most of this. Indeed, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I\u2019m a little proud of the fact that I not only seem to have been the first online Christian critic to review this film (my review<\/a> went up July 8, and Jeffrey Overstreet\u2019s weekly \u201cFilm Forum\u201d didn\u2019t cite any other Christian reviews until August 4), but I also questioned the film\u2019s anthropomorphic tendencies, including its claim to be a \u201clove story\u201d (\u201cIs it really love if the characters have different sexual partners every year?\u201d).<\/p>\n

One interesting question, BTW, is where McKnight gets the idea that there is something about humans that makes us separate from, or different from, the rest of nature. As one who believes humans are made in \u201cthe image of God\u201d, I am not bothered by this assertion. But I am<\/i> a little curious as to what he bases it on.<\/p>\n

Lastly, I actually think Christian activists could learn a few things from gay activists. See the column<\/a> I wrote nine years ago comparing and contrasting The Celluloid Closet<\/a><\/i> (1995) with Michael Medved\u2019s Hollywood Vs. Religion<\/a><\/i> (1994).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vancouver Sun columnist Peter McKnight has written one of the sharper pieces in the ongoing culture war \u2014 more of a skirmish, really \u2014 over the moral meaning of March of the Penguins: It\u2019s not often Christian conservatives take a page from the book of liberal gay activism, but when they do, you know it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe morality of Penguins redux<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vancouver Sun columnist Peter McKnight has written one of the sharper pieces in the ongoing culture war -- more of a skirmish, really -- over the moral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/10\/the-morality-of-penguins-redux.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The morality of Penguins redux\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vancouver Sun columnist Peter McKnight has written one of the sharper pieces in the ongoing culture war -- more of a skirmish, really -- over the moral\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/10\/the-morality-of-penguins-redux.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-10-15T13:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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