1/6/06

Somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man

Hmmm. I can't seem to make the comments work over at zach's blog, so I guess I'll post my comment here. Here it is:
Actually, I think the recommendations are spot on. The original Planet of the Apes movies were chock full of anti-racist social commentary, though it's easy enough to miss it if you're distracted by the spectacle of talking apes (or, alternately, talking humans). By grouping Planet with those other films, Wal-Mart is pushing a reading of the film that progressives ought to embrace.

What the heck am I talking about? This controversy. Apparently, when shoppers at Wal-Mart's web site clicked on the DVD of the original Planet of the Apes they were shown recommendations for "four movies about King, actress Dorothy Dandridge, boxer Jack Johnson and singer Tina Turner." Outrage ensued, Wal-Mart apologized (blaming a 'computer error'), and now we are once again free to see Planet as pure popcorn.

Addendum: I'm guessing that the reason my comment wouldn't take over at zach's was that he was updating the post to include a link to this story. The added wrinkle there is that similar recommendations were given for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. No defense of that from me, though I stand by what I wrote above.

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