MovieChat Forums > Fly Me to the Moon (2008) Discussion > teaching our kids discrimination?

teaching our kids discrimination?

posted 16 years ago by farhad-10
38 replies | jump to latest

Just came back from cinema with my son.
It was okay as an animation movie but I was very surprised to see (for the first time) offensive and discriminating comments in an animation movie that is supposed to be for innocent kids.

So according to the movie, Americans have all the glory (yes, sure!) and Russains (more accurately Rissian flies!) are a bunch of ugly creatures (comparing to the cuddly American flies) who will do any thing to stop Americans (human being and flies!) to reach moon! At the end of the movie the Russian flies decide to leave their governmental responsibility (don't blame me£$%^*&^) and go to American beaches where there is a need for waiters with foreign accents!$%^&&

An attractive Russian agent leaves Russia to betray her government and when the American fly asks her the reason she says because she's 'smart'.

The American in the spaceship stops his friend killing the flies and says "after all, they are American!". I don't want to elaborate on the horrible message that this sentence gives.

We are all used to see all this attitude in adults movies but this is the first time I am seeing it so explicitly in an animation.

When we came out of the movie my son asked me: "why Russians are so bad, why they cannot be as good as Americans", I am yet to decide how best to answer him.

Interesting to know if people agree with me at least to some extent or if they think I am making a fuss out of nothing.

[–] SusurrusKarma 15 years ago

I don't know if it was a major issue, but it certainly drew its attention to me too. I felt maybe they could have downplayed the Red Under The Bed parody, if that is even what it was... because it simply wasn't effective; the message did come off as a little ignorant and discriminative. This has nothing to do with the fact that they were Russian, but the movie could have done without them anyway; they made terrible antagonists.

I suggest you tell your son that Russians aren't bad, but that Evil Russians are, just as Evil Americans are. Or something to that degree.

---
My Latest Move Reviews: http://www.invocus.net

[–] anatjust 15 years ago

Discrimination is not the issue.

Obviously, you are of one of three things:

1. An individual of Russian Heritage living in another country
2. You are a Russian, or...
3. You're just not up on Russian History.

Your Son asked you why are the Russians so Bad? Well, you could be honest and answer him with Historical Facts:

The butchers who ran the Soviet Union killed between 25 million and 60 million innocent humans - men, women and children.

The Leaders of the Soviet Union are a veritable who's who of mass murders:

Lenin's Regime killed 4 million people. He is the 5th greatest murderer of the 20th century (after Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Chiang Kai-shek).

As leader of the Red Army in Lenin's war on the peasants, Trotsky was a mass murderer. He was Lenin's prime henchman in the killing of 4 million innocent people.

Stalin killed 42 million people. In all of history, only Mao could possibly have killed more.

Khrushchev Regime killed around 4 million people. Indeed, he was called The Butcher of the Ukraine. He was also the Butcher of The Hungarian Revolution 1956.

Brezhnev's Regime killed around 2 million people. He was also the imperialist Butcher of Moldova 1950-52, and the Butcher of The Prague Spring 1968.

Trust Reagan to sum it up in 2 words - the "Evil Empire" - the best description of the Soviet Union ever. "Evil", for otherwise the word "evil" has no meaning. And "Empire", calling a spade a spade, and infuriating all those western sympathisers with and apologists for the Soviets. Even today, the whines about imaginary western "imperialism" are still alive on the left - a left that ignored the real, brutal and entirely non-imaginary Soviet empire.

On the Flip Side, Even counting American Atrocities towards the Native Americans and Slavery (Which we abolished early on) America has freed more countries than anyone else in history:

Republic of Austria, 1945 (reinstated constitution)
France, 1945
Norway
Japan, 1946
Philippines, 1946
Greece, 1946
Italy, 1947
Belgium
Netherlands, 1945 (reinstated constitution after WWII)
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Denmark, 1953
Republic of [South] Korea, 1948
Federal Republic of Germany, 1949
Hawaii, 1959 (admission to USA as 50th state)
Guam, 1970
American Samoa, 1978 (elected Governor)
Grenada, 1984
Republic of Poland, 1989
German Democratic Republic (East Germany), 1990
Republic of Hungary, 1990
Republic of Bulgaria, 1991
Kuwait, 1991
Iraqi Kurdistan, 1991
Lithuania, 1992
Czech Republic, 1992
Republic of Slovakia, 1992
Latvia, 1994
Kosovo, 2000
Afghanistan, 2001
Iraq, 2002-ongoing

So, how many countries has Russia freed?

Zipo.

Even after the Second World War, It occupied and subjugated all the countries it was supposed to be protecting, and turned them into prisons.

So, When your son Asks: "why Russians are so bad, why they cannot be as good as Americans?"

Because they choose to side with evil. That evil is Collectivism, Socialism and Communism.

Now the filth of Socialism has infected America, and we have elected a Marxist President.

God help us all.

[–] ajmal-m 15 years ago

quite a few articulate points you make apart from two glaring errors.

you're in I-Raq barking up the wrong tree as you'll discover when you come back having wrecked a perfectly functioning country at the cost of 2000+ 'brave' men and women who'll have films made about them (just like the Nam)

Afghanistan is of interest to the west as it contains an oil pipeline that needs protecting. Those feudal people are not interested in or have any concept of freedom or democracy. they are pheasants by any other name. to pretend you are there to free them is quite laughable.

as i say the real reason is the oil pipeline that traverses many countries and passes through Afghanistan and needs protecting as you won't be able to power your countries and consequently fill the coffers of the ever-greedy oil-companies. seen their profits lately?

you'll never leave the place as long as the pileline is there. fact.

[–] anatjust 15 years ago

They aren't glaring errors; they're your opinion.

Consensus is not truth. Your facts are anything but.

To state that Iraq (not I-Raq) was functioning is technically true - if you consider some Fascist dictators make the trains run on time. If the gassing of the Kurds in Northern Iraq isn't enough for you to see Saddam swinging in the breeze with 8 or 9 stab wounds to the belly, well, like any other moral equivalent leftist, you have no concept of Right and Wrong.

As far as Afghanistan is concerned, if Al-Qaeda wasn't there, we wouldn't have invaded. The oil pipeline is debatable, but since the world, not just the US, runs on oil, it's to everyone's benefit to it keep going.

The fact that you refer to the Afghani people as feudal is true, that doesn't mean that they don't deserve to be free. Everyone does. That includes the Iraqis. No one should have to suffer under a ruling elite that tells you how to think, feel and live, then tell you they are going to take all you have because they know what’s best for you. This is the essence of the leftist philosophy. They know what’s better for you than you do. They brainwash the public to think that equality is more important than freedom. In fact, it's the other way around.

You call the Afghani people "Peasants". Well, actually, you call them "Pheasants" which is hilarious, but it's still indicative of a philosophy that makes you think you're better than the Afghani people.

Well, you're not.

Even if they are poor, each individual Afghani deserves the right to choose their own existence, and not have some psychotic Muslim Mass Murders or some Communist Mass Murderers shove their bankrupt worthless philosophy down their throats.

As for being in Afghanistan or Iraq for an extended period of time, ask the Austrians, Germans, French, Norwegians, Japanese, Philippinos, Greeks, Italians, Walloons, Taiwanese, Danes, South Koreans, Poles, Kuwaitis, Lithuanians, British, Czechs, Latvians or Kurds whether they mind us helping them out. If you check with them genius, they ask us to help them.

Oh, and take your leftist greedy oil company mantra and find a nice college campus whore with a venereal disease to tell it to. But make sure you don’t drive there. You’ll be giving the greedy Oil companies more money, and we can’t have that.

One more thing.

The American Solider IS the bravest person on the planet.

Without them, we wouldn’t be able to communicate, conduct business or go about our daily lives. Who do you think had a major hand in inventing the Internet?

It was the US Military. The Internet evolved from ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), an effort supported by the United States Department of Defense. The developers of ARPANET wanted to make communication between separate computer systems at various universities and research laboratories more convenient.

I realize all this will be lost on you and your fellow leftists, but as the Greatest President of the 20th century, Ronald Reagan, stated, “Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so.”

[–] jesps-2 15 years ago

anatjust, i can only feel sorry for your lack of knowledge about the world in the past and today. actually, if you are under the age of 10 i can understand.

[–] Zeus720 15 years ago

Yeah, but that Russian fly Nadia was pretty hot back in the day...

[–] ajmal-m 15 years ago

listen to yourself. arrogant, all-knowing and largely ignorant about stuff that you really know nothing about. i bet idiots like you wake up thinking you have a god-given right to police the rest of the world. thankfully the rest of the world is waking up to that particularly fantasy.

the streets of america are becoming ghetto-ized, decayed and lawyess. however you are determined to destroy and rebuild the infrastructure of any country you feel is a threat. you're foreign policy is dictated by israel and you're banks are owned by the arabs.

you wage war on your own (largely ignorant) people in by attacking freedoms in the constitution and anyone internally who expresses a different opinion from the power-brokers in washington. you've elected a Zionist-backed Marxist black-man to appease the minorities and detractors, and to turn the USA into the 2nd state of Israel. how hilarious.

(also the cold-war is starting up again which should keep you occupied while you fantatise about world domination. time to enlist to fight the red-threat internally and externally. lol)

[–] filmfan72386 15 years ago

I AGREE WITH YOU ANATJUST BUT TRYING TO CONVINCE PEOPLE WHO GET THEIR INFORMATION FROM THE BIASED ANTI-AMERICAN ANTI-FREEDOM PARTS OF THE WORLD IS USELESS PEOPLE WANNA BLAME ANY FUNCTIONING COUNTRY FOR THE REST OF THE WORLDS PROBLEMS IF WE DIDNT GO OVER THERE WE WOULD BE BLAMED FOR IGNORING A COUNTRY IN NEED

[–] gehenna-3 10 years ago

Well, you ignorant american (what else is new?). At leats the US is the new title holder of the "evil empire" title!

[–] cwoliver-1 15 years ago

ajmal-m:

"a perfectly functioning country"

ROTFL

This is rich! I assume that you judged Iraq as being a "perfectly functioning country" by its ability to invade Kuwait and gas Kurds, right.

After reading this I saw no need to read the rest of your diatribe. Its clear what your perspective is - this says it all.

Thanks for the laugh.

[–] Ponzer 15 years ago

I think he meant in the sense that they had electric, water and you know didn't have to be afraid to be blown up each and other day.

[–] rock-this-way 15 years ago

I don't think it's discrimination, at all.
In fact, I think that's what makes the movie funny... it's realism.
There are certain things in the movie which adults understand, but fly over the kids' heads. These are one of them.

If they ask, it's actually more like putting notice to how discriminating people USED to be. "Why are Russians so bad, mom?"
"They're not. But back in the fifties and sixties, there was this big fight between russians and americans...."

It's a good history lesson. It shows kids that, hey, the world didn't used to be and still isn't a discriminatory-free happy go lucky disney flick; and it's up to them to make it less and less discriminatory.

[–] tim-2306 15 years ago

You are not a nice person. How dare YOU make such sweeping comments about how many countries have been "FREED" by the United States? Agreed, the liberation of Europe after the two great wars was helped by American aid but was also a concerted effort by Britain and her other allies.

Don't forget that your country was late for both wars.

However, I don't think it's healthy to dwell on the past too much. We never seem to learn from history so we must learn to accept our past and leave it where it is.

Give the Russians a chance. It's only a short time since they were a subjugated people under the auspices of the USSR. Perhaps in time they will become just as peace loving and good looking as the Americans. They don't all look like shot putt champions of dubious gender.

I don't believe it's a healthy attitude of the film producers to vilify any particular race or creed especially in what is supposed to be a kids film. I will not be taking my children to see this one.

This is the first time I've ever felt the need to comment on the IMDB but your incredible anger and arrogance has got to be exposed for the lies it contains and the terrible prejudices you live with. I can imagine you in a white sheet carrying a length of rope.

Remember that these comments are my personal opinion which I am entitled to expound in most countries of the world including Russia.

[–] colpaty 15 years ago

Maybe you should go look at the box office of this film in Russia. They do not seem to feel discriminated. And do take your kids it is a good movie with indeed some stereotyping. I am not Russian nor American just somebody with some common sense

[–] Ponzer 15 years ago

I'm neither American or Russian and my common sense is awesome, and I would not recommend this movie, regardless of the appaling stereotypes. It was just a bad movie. The characters, the story, the dialouge, all of it was mediocre. Even Bee movie was better than this.

[–] ajmal-m 15 years ago

don't forget that George's Bush's family and many wealthy american industrialists (including Coke-A-Cola) were helping to fund germany and the German war machine in the years they were deciding to join WWII. they funded weapons factories and helped germany in its war effort. traitors by any other name but it was all quietly forgotten

Many if not all Nazi scientists came to america and were employed by america and NASA in the rocket and space program. nazi nuclear experts helped america develop the atomic bomb.

its important to be clear about the reality of america and its perception as a 'good-guy'. its education system must be interesting when its own citizens are unclear about its true role in WW2

[–] Phil-Suter 15 years ago

You're mixing two things: Russian government and Russian people. Not all Russians are murderers because their regimes were. Just like not all Americans are idiots because your current president is one (and at least you voted for him, not like the Russians who didn't really chose their leaders).

Oh and adding Afghanistan to the list of freed countries is a bit cynical, isn't it?

[–] LittleMatchGirl 15 years ago

You know what would be a better lesson, anatjust? When the kid is old enough to understand and learn all this stuff, let the kid learn about it and exercise his/her own critical thinking skills to come to the conclusion their self, rather than a movie telling them that is how they are supposed to think without giving any reason let alone one that they could grasp.

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Posting and You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9q2jNjOPdk

[–] starvinmarvin-3 15 years ago

LOL, I want to see YOU explaining it to your 3 years old kid.

But hey, you are

1. an american patriot
2. an american conservative
3. an american who's first concern about a movie is the degree of nudity and explicity

that about as biased as you are???

[–] rgcustomer 15 years ago

Blaming the citizenry for decisions made by their leaders hardly makes any sense (except for a free democracy, which the Soviets were not). Although races really aren't involved, I think it is what most people would call racist today.

[–] cokoholicar 15 years ago

Spoiler

[–] cwoliver-1 15 years ago

farhad-10;

This is a perfect opportunity to teach your son that much of the trash produced by Hollywood has no basis in reality. Anybody can say anything and it is blindly accepted by 90% of the world. Any fool with a few bucks can produce any propaganda they wish. This is especially true on the internet.

Based on what I've seen in movies I might believe that all Germans are blood-thirsty goose-stepping killers. I might believe that all Mexicans are lazy people who sleep all afternoon. I might believe that American streets are filled with gun toting criminals who engage in car chases all day. Or I can realize that Hollywood is in the business of making money and truth is not important. Such tripe is to be seen for what it is - propaganda.

Teach your son that this movie was only one persons view of the world which may or may not be true. Teach him that the movie was made to make money not tell the truth. We therefore must test any assertions and if they are found to be in error we must then reject them and question the truthfulness of the remainder of the material.

I was raised during the Cold War when Russians were the enemy. After the end many Russians emigrated to the US. Some are criminals and animals and need to be sent to Siberia; others are wonderful people and have proven to be great friends and have added a positive contribution to the culture of America - nothing at all like the propaganda we were given during the Cold War. And I'm sure that we are nothing like the propaganda the Russians were given.

Teach him to guard against propaganda from all sources at all times.

Good luck to you and your son. I hope this helps.

[–] Ponzer 15 years ago

Excellent post.
Especially liked this line:

Teach your son that this movie was only one persons view of the world which may or may not be true.

Going to use it if I have kids and need to explain something about a movie. Cheers.

[–] tim-2306 15 years ago

If you are American then why aren't you the President? It's about time we all had a taste of the REAL truth in all walks of life and stopped listening to the garbage spouted by Hollywood and most of our politicians.

[–] oharrison91102 15 years ago

Well said!

[–] gjieuh 15 years ago

considering the time period the movie was set in, i kinda would expect that type of content (russians vs americans) to be in it. but i didn't watch the whole movie anyway. i just couldn't see what would be amusing about flies going to the moon so i stopped...

[–] LittleMatchGirl 15 years ago

When we came out of the movie my son asked me: "why Russians are so bad, why they cannot be as good as Americans", I am yet to decide how best to answer him

That is heart-breaking, really. I wish you best of like trying to unteach the garbage this movie 'taught'.
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Posting and You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9q2jNjOPdk

[–] violet_yoshi 15 years ago

This movie also teaches children it is acceptable to hate fat people. That it is entirely their fault for their lack of self-esteem. Apparently the creator of this film, wouldn't acknowledge that this is their contribution to the self-hate and low self-esteem of fat people.

Teaching children to use knowledge, to belittle others, is a insult towards learning. As is shown here:

www.bigfatfacts.com

Most of the myths about fat people perpetuated by the diet company funded media, are false. All the so-called "facts" that fly listed off are absolute lies. Not to mention, it also makes nerds look bad, as in that they would not have the ability to understand what they're saying is hurting the other fly.

I have Asperger's Syndrome, which includes a lot of people who may be classified as nerds. We're trying to fight the stigma that people with Asperger's Syndrome are arrogant and un-empathetic. I guess this means the creator, has one more group of people they can check off on their list of "People who I have gleefully made targets of." today.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] patchoulisandalwood 15 years ago

In the end I think we can all agree that the movie was horrible, the script, the voices, etc. My kids definitely could not tolerate this movie and stopped after 15 minutes. It's sad because this movie had potential but the arrogance and ignorance of the writers, editors, etc took over.

[–] 15 years ago

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