Another attempt at revival, Happy Feet

No doubt most will have given up on me by now, but I'm starting this up again, primarily motivated by my family, who don't hear from me as often as they probably should.

Well, I'll give a review of the last few months at a later date, but this post is primarily to share a Letter to the Editor which I wrote to the Townsville Bulletin today. It probably won't be printed, but it might get others thinking. (see below)

Right now I am off to lunch before going to a wedding.

Cheers,
Scott

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To the editor,

In search of some innocent entertainment, I recently attended a showing of the all-singing, all-dancing, all-penguin film-sensation, Happy Feet. Instead, I found a sobering reminder of how easily children are exposed to undesirable influences.

Classified as General (G) by the Office of Film & Literature Classification (OFLC), and marketed as a children’s movie, the film’s opening musical number blatantly declares, "You don't have to be beautiful to turn me on. I just need your body, baby, from dusk till dawn." It doesn’t take a keen eye to spot additional coarse comments and sexual references, as well as one or two more-mature themes; all sadly missed [should have said 'ignored' - drat...'] by the OFLC.

According to the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995, a classification board representative of the Australian community considers issues including morality and decency, and the intended or likely audience. If this board is truly representative, then Happy Feet is just one more example of how casual and desensitised society has become concerning inappropriate material.

If this trend continues, parents will no longer be able to make informed choices regarding what their children are exposed to. Then again, in an age where profanity and obscenity scream so freely from media such as advertising, entertainment and even fashion, I would argue that we can no longer even make such choices for ourselves.