| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
05 May 2006 01:48:24 AM |
| Object: |
"Flock of Dodos" film brings humor to evolution row |
I hope this catches on.
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"Flock of Dodos" film brings humor to evolution row
By Joseph A. GiannoneWed May 3, 3:10 PM ET
The biologist in Randy Olson cringed at news reports of evangelical
Christians challenging the teaching of evolution to schoolchildren in
places such as Kansas on the grounds it was just a theory.
But the filmmaker in him feels just as strongly that scientists have
done a lousy job explaining their side of the debate.
The result is "Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus,"
a humorous and entertaining documentary that premiered at New York's
Tribeca Film Festival this week.
The film shines a spotlight on "intelligent design," a school of thought
that says many of the seemingly miraculous and complex elements of
nature must be the work of an intelligent designer -- namely God.
The controversy is raging in America as intelligent design proponents
face off in court with scientists who say evolution is supported by
fossils and other evidence. So far, courts have struck down teaching
intelligent design in science classrooms as a violation of the wall
between church and state.
But Olson said scientists had squandered a winning hand through their
inability or refusal to engage in the debate. He wants to show filmgoers
there's little scientific challenge to evolution, yet he also wants to
entertain them.
"First and foremost, film is an entertainment medium," said Olson, who
left academia 15 years ago and has produced films for the past four
years.
Olson, who has evolved from Harvard man to Hollywood director, was
determined to make sure his film would not be a dry-as-dust documentary.
EXPOSING FALLACIES
"Flock" injects interviews with Olson's 82-year-old mother, Muffy
"Moose" Olson, for comic relief and the neutral voice of the layperson,
between serious interviews with evolutionist scientists, advocates of
intelligent design and school board members in the battleground states
of Pennsylvania and Kansas -- which also just happens to be Olson's home
state.
Perhaps the brightest moments of the film come as Olson invites his
academic pals to a poker game, recording an unscripted and at times
tense round-table discussion among Ph.D-wielding scientists expressing
frustration at the growing popularity of intelligent design.
Olson also shared his press briefing platform in New York with three
actors in bright orange dodo costumes, modeled after cartoons that
bridge different scenes of the movie.
Olson gives the intelligent design advocates plenty of airtime but the
film exposes what Olson sees as the fallacies of best-selling authors
who provide the intellectual firepower of the intelligent design
movement.
He balances his critique of academics -- too rigid and arrogant -- with
a calm, orderly attack on the arguments backing intelligent design.
Ultimately "Flock," which does not yet have a distributor, hopes to
appeal well beyond college campuses. The biggest challenge was making
his points without overloading audiences to the point of boredom, he
said.
"The more information, the narrower the audience," Olson said.
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http://tinyurl.com/o5gsy
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More:
http://www.flockofdodos.com/
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
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