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October 24, 2005
Unintelligent designs: Penguins slap back
The March of the Penguins is having its UK premiere at the London Film Festival, and director Luc Jacquet tells Jack Malvern he wants nothing to do with any stowaways: “If you want an example of monogamy, penguins are not a good choice... The divorce rate in emperor penguins is 80-90% each year... After they see the chick is okay, most of them divorce. They change every year.” In fact the rate is substantially worse than the American divorce rate, which is about 50%... Michael Medved, a conservative film critic and radio host, concluded that the story of the emperor penguins’ journey “most passionately affirms traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice and child rearing." Mr Jacquet, who has never made a film for the cinema before, is concerned that his documentary has been hijacked. “It does annoy me to a certain degree... For me there is no doubt about evolution. I am a scientist. The intelligent design theory is a step back to the thinking of 300 years ago.
"My film is not supposed to be interpreted in this way. Some scientists I know find the film interesting because it can be a good argument against intelligent design. People should not jump on these bandwagons.” [Via Scott Macauley at the Filmmaker magazine blog.]
Posted by pride at October 24, 2005 10:28 AM
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