Posted on 07/06/2006 7:13:58 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Believes 'Cars' Gives Kids The Wrong Message About Racing Trains
(CBS) -- Is Disney's hit movie "Cars" spinning its wheels when it comes to safety?
CBS 2 West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli reports on the fight to put the brakes on a scene in the blockbuster animated picture about a fast talking rookie racer named Lightning McQueen.
"As I'm sitting there, I couldn't believe it because this is a red car. My daughter was killed in a red car," said Lanny Wilson with the DuPage Railroad Safety Council.
His 14-year-old daughter, Lauren, was killed in a collision 12 years ago when her brother chose to race a train and lost. It was a split-second decision that forever changed his family.
"I don't want this kind of nightmare, this kind of tragedy to happen to other families, especially if we can do something to prevent it," Wilson said.
He believes editing out the train race scene from the DVD version of the film will prevent from other young people from making fatal, split-second decisions.
The president of the Illinois State Medical Society agrees and wants the scene cut from future versions of the film.
"You give children that kind of a message: It cool, it is good to try to go and beat a train. It is the wrong message," Dr. Peter Eupierre said.
In a statement, Disney officials say: "Lightning McQueen's poor judgment in outrunning the train reveals his reckless and thoughtless behavior and is certainly not glorified."
Officials won't say if they're considering editing out the controversial scene.
Until they do, Wilson vows to continue to fight in Lauren's name.
"You never get over it. You just cope and try to go on," he said.
Earth to Lanny. It's a frickin' CARTOON.
Since when did wanting to be safe from drunk drivers become political? I haven't read anything about MADD in a long time; however, I have always thought they were an outstanding organization.
Years ago I belonged to an organization called RID (Remove Intoxicated Drivers). Almost everyone in the organization was a family member of someone killed by a drunk driver. I believe in being proactive, so I joined to try to prevent any of my family from being killed because someone thought it was OK to drive drunk. The members were a wonderful; but, sad group of people. I saw NO ONE with a political agenda. I eventually had to stop attending their meetings because I was too busy with my family. I still admire and respect those people and completely support their cause. Why anyone would be against them is a mystery to me.
Slowwwwwly I turned ... Step by step ...
If someone ever kills a child of yours, you should remember this advice.
Read it again! It isn't because the truck is red, it is because it was trying to beat a train across the tracks. The fact that his daughter died in a red vehicle trying to beat a train across the tracks only made it worse; but, it was not the real issue.
Dreamworks (and Fox's) animated films border on R rating. We watched "Over the Hedge" and I was taken aback by the adult jokes.
Obviously you are too childish to realize the complaint is that this scene in the movie is a very bad example for children. Kids are impressionable and will think this is cool. This is not something adults want children to consider cool.
Hmmm...most kids don't drive, so I'm not too worried. I'm also trying to comprehend the idea of parents letting their children play around railroad tracks unattended.
Nevertheless, the argument I was making to begin with was that the man seemed to think that there should be no train track scene in the movie partially because it reminded him too much of his daughter's death. I mean...he doesn't HAVE to go see the movie.
Since MADD started being more interested in being neo-prohibitionists than in actually reducing the number of traffic accidents and fatalities caused by alcohol. They broaden their definitions of "intoxicated" and "alcohol-related" so as to increase the number of "intoxicated" motorists and "alcohol-related" crashes, and then point to such increases as a basis for imposing even broader definitions of "intoxication".
There have also been quite a number of cartoons from the '40s and '50s, namely from Tex Avery and a few from I think early Warner studios, that did in fact portray cars racing trains and crossing tracks in time to "beat" the trains and having fun doing it. I'm pretty sure that there has never been an epidemic spanning from the '40s of kids actually trying that, and since I saw those cartoons myself as a kid several times, I know I certainly was never tempted to try it.
Or what about the roadrunner dropping an anvil on the coyote??
Beep, beep
Or what about the roadrunner dropping an anvil on the coyote??
Beep, beep
IMHO if the amount of alcohol someone has consumed affects their driving ability they should be arrested. If drugs, prescribed, over the counter or illegal hamper someones driving ability, they should be arrested. On any given weekend night 1 out of 10 cars has a drunk driver behind the wheel. Impaired drivers need to be stopped. No one has the right to endanger other people because they can't control their own behavior.
Where's my Acme rocket roller skates....
So all of your animations are pixel-perfect on the first attempt? Never any objects whose paths don't look as good on playback as you'd planned? And you never have anyone ask for any changes once a scene has been animated? Lucky you.
In animation everything that any character does costs money. Every character is owned or worked on by someone who wants that money.
Obviously, people producing a film would like to minimize wasted effort. But that doesn't mean everything works the first time. Sometimes a scene will play out well in storyboards or even rough animation, and the finished version will play out well to people familiar with the movie, but when shown to an audience that hadn't seen the film before the scene just kills the movie. And sometimes the only way to discover that is to show the finished scene to an audience and see what they say.
Pixar's "bloopers" where the animated creatures stay in character are fakes, to be sure, but some other films like Shrek and Shrek 2 have shown bloopers that are most likely the result of real mistakes.
They don't have sex in grade school either but most conservatives believe school sex education classes give the wrong message.
I'm also trying to comprehend the idea of parents letting their children play around railroad tracks unattended.
This puzzles me. Where does this connect to the article?
Nevertheless, the argument I was making to begin with was that the man seemed to think that there should be no train track scene in the movie partially because it reminded him too much of his daughter's death.
No. For him it was warning bells. And ironic ones at that.
By what definition of "drunk"? Bear in mind that if your statistic is accurate, then in even if alcohol had no effect on people's driving ability, in 10% of accidents involving one driver that driver would be intoxicated, and in 19% of accidents involving two drivers, at least one would be intoxicated.
If MADD were actually interested in reducing drunk driving, why did they oppose legislation to allow restaurants to seal partially-consumed bottles of wine so patrons could take them home? It would seem to me a patron would be far more inclined to finish off a bottle of wine before getting in his car if the excess would otherwise go to waste than if he could have it as a nightcap once he gets home. But MADD opposed such legislation. Why?
MADD is more interested in magnifying the perceived extent of the drunk driving problem than in actually solving it. If enforcement efforts were targeted at people with disproportionately-high accident rates, drunk-driving fatality rates might go down too much, and MADD might not be as effective at raising funds. Better to push for ever-expanding definitions of "intoxicated" and "alcohol-related" so as to make the problem seem as severe as possible.
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