Xtian fundie wackjobs pressure theaters to remove science documentaries!

EllisDTripp · Mar 20, 2005

http://www.livescience.com/othernews/050319_imax.html

IMAX theaters Reject Science Shows under Religious Pressure
By LiveScience Staff

posted: 19 March 2005
01:00 pm ET

Some IMAX theatres are refusing to show movies that mention evolution or the Big Bang because of protests by religious groups who say the ideas contradict the Bible.

While the number of protests is small -- perhaps a dozen or fewer IMAX theaters -- the effect could be significant because only a few dozen IMAX theatres exhibit science documentaries, according to an article Saturday in The New York Times.

The bans, occurring mostly in the South, could affect decisions about whether to even produce some science documentaries in the first place, the article states.

Religious concerns have already affected the distribution of at least two IMAX films. The film "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea" discusses the possibility of life on Earth having started around subsea hydrothermal vents. It has been turned down at several science centers, according to Richard Lutz, a Rutgers University researcher who was the film's chief scientist.

Likewise, the Times reports, two other films have suffered in distribution: "Galapagos," about the islands where Charles Darwin pondered evolution; and "Cosmic Voyage," which examines everything from the subatomic world to galactic development.

The director of one museum said it chose not to show "Volcanoes" after some people in a previewing audience called it blasphemous.

The bans mirror a broader argument over evolution versus creationism that has become heated in recent years. A recently developed alternative, called intelligent design, has emerged to muddy the argument.

The fight is being waged partly in school districts, where intelligent design proponents say evolution is just a theory and should not be presented as fact. Humans and the rest of nature are too intricate, the argument goes, to have come about without some sort of intelligent intervention.

Scientists agree that evolution is just a theory, but they argue that it’s a theory that best fits the evidence, which shows creatures change over time to adapt to their environments. Evolution holds that humans, like all plants and animals on Earth, evolved from lesser species that existed millions and billions of years ago.
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I have to take issue with the last paragraph, though. Yes, evolution is a "theory", but in the vernacular of science, this means a lot more than in standard discussion. Creationism and so-called "intelligent design" don't rise to the level of a "theory", but are simply hypotheses. A theory is what develops after repeated observations tend to CONFIRM a hypothesis.

gillianwind · Mar 20, 2005

RThis from the same right wing moronic idiots who think spongebob squarepants is gay. These fundies worry to much about what they think "God" is going to do to them. I don't know but i would never choose to worship a God who would do mean stuff to me man. I'm not about that. I'm not sure all the time what I am about, but it's not that man. Peace and bb, gilli

AT98BooBoo · Mar 20, 2005

I'm a non-fundaMENTAList (note emphasis on mental as in mentallly ill) Christian that comes from Left of Center. I believe in creation but I'd go see these films because I like nature movies and I'd like to see what they have to say. If ya don't like it don't go see it.I think about it this way. If I didn't like the food at a particular restaraunt I wouldn't stand outside and protest would I? No I just wouldn't eat there. Thats my belief.

I think that the schools should take a balanced approach to things. They should present both evolution and intelligent design and the evidence to back both theories. Then students should write an essay stating what they believe to be the right theory and why they believe it to be so.They shouldn't say something is so just because the the Bible says it is. They should use a completely scientific approach to defending their beliefs not just Bible quotes This will force students to(horror of horrors) think for themselves! The biggest problem with our educational system is that it doesn't teach people to think for themselves. Our educational system just teaches kids to mindlessly regurgitate whatever they are taught.

Those fundie types annoy me to no end! They give the rest of us open minded Christians a bad rap.

element7 · Mar 20, 2005

So what are they showing instead? Fantasia again? Ah, probably not because Fantasia is full of evil and witchcraft. Can't show the Stones live in Imax because they are satan worshipping rock and rollers. If we show that thing about the Himalayas then Buddhism comes in and we can't have that pagan religion blaring from an IMAX screen. Now that they've gotten this removed, trust me, they won't stop trying to get everything else removed too. There's a horribly sick dynamic here in the buckle of the belt that's getting worse. The fundies effect everything down here into almost every facet of life. One can barely walk down the street without running into it. The evangelical fundamentalists influence all politics, society, arts, and certainly education. Anything that they can get away with, they will do. It's all about saving theirs and everyone elses souls from eternal damnation. In their mind this is a very real thing, much greater than present reality.

It sucks though that the volcano movies won't be shown. Ever seen a volcano on an IMAX screen? I love IMAX documentaries.

and to AT98, it's good to know that there are some Christians out there strong enough in their own belief that they don't feel their soul is threatened by the knowledge or practices of others.

Soulless||Chaos · Mar 20, 2005

Goddamn fundies fucking shit up. Maybe we should get rid of science alltogether, as it contradicts their 'stories'.

EllisDTripp · Mar 21, 2005

Here's the NYT article referenced in my first post...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/19/national/19imax.html

A New Screen Test for Imax: It's the Bible vs. the Volcano
By CORNELIA DEAN

The fight over evolution has reached the big, big screen.

Several Imax theaters, including some in science museums, are refusing to show movies that mention the subject - or the Big Bang or the geology of the earth - fearing protests from people who object to films that contradict biblical descriptions of the origin of Earth and its creatures.

The number of theaters rejecting such films is small, people in the industry say - perhaps a dozen or fewer, most in the South. But because only a few dozen Imax theaters routinely show science documentaries, the decisions of a few can have a big impact on a film's bottom line - or a producer's decision to make a documentary in the first place.

People who follow trends at commercial and institutional Imax theaters say that in recent years, religious controversy has adversely affected the distribution of a number of films, including "Cosmic Voyage," which depicts the universe in dimensions running from the scale of subatomic particles to clusters of galaxies; "Galápagos," about the islands where Darwin theorized about evolution; and "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea," an underwater epic about the bizarre creatures that flourish in the hot, sulfurous emanations from vents in the ocean floor.

"Volcanoes," released in 2003 and sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation and Rutgers University, has been turned down at about a dozen science centers, mostly in the South, said Dr. Richard Lutz, the Rutgers oceanographer who was chief scientist for the film. He said theater officials rejected the film because of its brief references to evolution, in particular to the possibility that life on Earth originated at the undersea vents.

Carol Murray, director of marketing for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, said the museum decided not to offer the movie after showing it to a sample audience, a practice often followed by managers of Imax theaters. Ms. Murray said 137 people participated in the survey, and while some thought it was well done, "some people said it was blasphemous."

In their written comments, she explained, they made statements like "I really hate it when the theory of evolution is presented as fact," or "I don't agree with their presentation of human existence."

On other criteria, like narration and music, the film did not score as well as other films, Ms. Murray said, and over all, it did not receive high marks, so she recommended that the museum pass.

"If it's not going to draw a crowd and it is going to create controversy," she said, "from a marketing standpoint I cannot make a recommendation" to show it.

In interviews, officials at other Imax theaters said they had similarly decided against the film for fear of offending some audiences.

"We have definitely a lot more creation public than evolution public," said Lisa Buzzelli, who directs the Charleston Imax Theater in South Carolina, a commercial theater next to the Charleston Aquarium. Her theater had not ruled out ever showing "Volcanoes," Ms. Buzzelli said, "but being in the Bible Belt, the movie does have a lot to do with evolution, and we weigh that carefully."

Pietro Serapiglia, who handles distribution for the producer Stephen Low of Montreal, whose company made the film, said officials at other theaters told him they could not book the movie "for religious reasons," because it had "evolutionary overtones" or "would not go well with the Christian community" or because "the evolution stuff is a problem."

Hyman Field, who as a science foundation official had a role in the financing of "Volcanoes," said he understood that theaters must be responsive to their audiences. But Dr. Field he said he was "furious" that a science museum would decide not to show a scientifically accurate documentary like "Volcanoes" because it mentioned evolution.

"It's very alarming," he said, "all of this pressure being put on a lot of the public institutions by the fundamentalists."

People who follow the issue say it is more likely to arise at science centers and other public institutions than at commercial theaters. The filmmaker James Cameron, who was a producer on "Volcanoes," said the commercial film he made on the same topic, "Aliens of the Deep," had not encountered opposition, except during post-production, when "it was requested from some theaters that we change a line of dialogue" relating to sun worship by ancient Egyptians. The line remained, he said.

Mr. Cameron said he was "surprised and somewhat offended" that people were sensitive to the references to evolution in "Volcanoes."

"It seems to be a new phenomenon," he said, "obviously symptomatic of our shift away from empiricism in science to faith-based science."

Some in the industry say they fear that documentary filmmakers will steer clear of science topics likely to offend religious fundamentalists.

Large-format science documentaries "are generally not big moneymakers," said Joe DeAmicis, vice president for marketing at the California Science Center in Los Angeles and formerly the director of its Imax theater. "It's going to be hard for our filmmakers to continue to make unfettered documentaries when they know going in that 10 percent of the market" will reject them.

Others who follow the issue say many institutions are not able to resist such pressure.

"They have to be extremely careful as to how they present anything relating to evolution," said Bayley Silleck, who wrote and directed "Cosmic Voyage." Mr. Silleck said he confronted religious objections to that film and predicted he would face them again with a project he is working on now, about dinosaurs.

Of course, a number of factors affect a theater manager's decision about a movie. Mr. Silleck said an Imax documentary about oil fires in Kuwait "never reached its distribution potential" because it had shots of the first Persian Gulf war. "The theaters decided their patrons would be upset at seeing the bodies," he said.

"We all have to make films for an audience that is a family audience," he went on, "when you are talking about Imax, because they are in science centers and museums."

He added, however, "there are a number of us who are concerned that there is a kind of tacit overcaution, overprotectedness of the audience on the part of theater operators."

In any event, censoring films like "Volcanoes" is not an option, said Dr. Field, who said Mr. Low, the film's producer, got in touch with him when the evolution issue arose to ask whether the film should be altered.

"I said absolutely not," recalled Dr. Field, who retired from the National Science Foundation last year.

Mr. Low said that arguments over religion and science disturbed him because of his own religious faith. In his view, he said, science is "a celebration of what nature or God has done. So for me, there's no conflict."

Dr. Lutz, the Rutgers oceanographer, recalled a showing of "Volcanoes" he and Mr. Low attended at the New England Aquarium. When the movie ended, a little girl stood in the audience to challenge Mr. Low on the film's suggestion that Earth might have formed billions of years ago in the explosion of a star. "I thought God created the Earth," she said.

He replied, "Maybe that's how God did it."
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Co0kiezGurl · Mar 21, 2005

Ugh...this is just fucking ridiculous. I'm Christian too, but you don't see me goin out and getting all nitpicky and steppin on everyone else's toes. Although I also believe in evolution, but that's not the point . Why do people have to be so fucking annoying sometimes.

Lodui · Mar 21, 2005

I read about this the other day on slashdot...

Nobodys asking for 'balence' between people who say the holocaust happened and those who say it didn't. Why the hell should we balence this?

Continental drift is a freaking theory. The earth created in 6 days is ludicrous.

fat_tony · Mar 21, 2005

I dislike religious fundamentalism. Teaching people that one theory is correct because a book says so is bad practise. Whether that book is the bible or a biology textbook, children should be taught to think critically. We're breeding a generation of children who will be incapable of independant though, this is most concerning.

fat_tony · Mar 21, 2005

Its creeping into society over here as well. I may move to France, a properly neutral education system.

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Xtian fundie wackjobs pressure theaters to remove science documentaries!

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Xtian fundie wackjobs pressure theaters to remove science documentaries!

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