Once again, I am reminded that however nice the beaches and mild the winter, I have no desire to move back to the South. This time it's the decision of IMAX theater owners not to show a movie about volcanoes because there are references to similarities between human DNA and that of underwater bacteria.
IMAX theaters in Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas have declined to show the film, said Pietro Serapiglia, who handles distribution for Stephen Low, the film's Montreal-based director and producer.
"I find it's only in the South," Serapiglia said.
Critics worry screening out films that mention evolution will discourage the production of others in the future.
"It's going to restrain the creative approach by directors who refer to evolution," said Joe DeAmicis, vice president for marketing at the California Science Center in Los Angeles and a former director of an IMAX theater. "References to evolution will be dropped."
I'm having flashbacks to elementary school, and learning about the troubles of early scientists discussing celestial orbits and their conflicts with the Catholic Church. The funny thing is though, even in my public elementary school where the students were made to listen to a teacher pray before lunch, they still taught evolution and the scientific method in the classroom. Posted by binky at March 23, 2005 03:30 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Culture
I'm particularly disturbed by DeAmicis statement that his response to this is to remove all references to evolution in future films, thus dumbing down rational discussion (and giving the creationists what they want)
Posted by: baltar at March 23, 2005 04:45 PM | PERMALINKguy's gotta eat, right? it's illustrative of the problem, but i'm not sure i can fault him personally. of course, that might not be what you're saying.
Posted by: joshua at March 23, 2005 04:59 PM | PERMALINKWell, yeah, the guy's gotta eat, and communities (and nations have cultural mores) BUT Galileo and Copernicus had to eat too. What if they had had said, OK, sure, I just won't talk about the sun anymore when I present my information?
Posted by: binky at March 23, 2005 06:00 PM | PERMALINK