What is Hollywood teaching your children?

[woodsman]

The only exposure to hunting a majority of people have are the shows on the outdoor channel.. That scares me too but you never hear any concern voiced from hunters and I'd be willing to wager
it's doing more damage to our image than anything else.

Chris

[chris K.]

This year is not up yet either vermonster, the majority of ours are sold in Nov. the week before fireamrms season up till around mid Feb. where our licenses would expire. And a great majority of the new comers were proubably not hunters either.

[chris K.]

should be firearms season not firemarms season. Doubting that it was because of a cartoon.

[Ted]

Chris,

I must say, in all due respect, that your apathy around this movie is concerning to me.  As Vermonster has pointed out with data in so many of his thoughtful posts in this forum there is a real threat.  I don't expect everyone to actively fight the good fight like Vermonster is doing, but we can do our parts.  I have two young daughters that would probably enjoy this movie too and it wouldn't turn them into antis, but there are a lot of other movies out there that are every bit as funny, cool, neat, etc that will result in the same net enjoyment for the girls . . . . and these other movies don't directly fly in the face of the values that I would like to teach them.

You are correct that if you go to the movie, it will not create an insurmountable problem for hunters and hunting.  Personally, I don't want my daughters confronted with disingenuious, politically motivated, propaganda mascarading as a lighthearted family movie.  It isn't about whether or not going to the movie will cause hunting to stop, rather it is about living my life in a way that is consistent with my value system.

I hope you will rethink your point of view and read your daughters something like Little Red Riding Hood instead.  A book is probably better for them in the long run anyways, and at the end of the story who saves the day . . . one of us . . . a hunter.  That is my kind of story.

Please understand that I am not trying to be confrontational and I respect your decision to go to the movie if that is what you want to do, but I did feel compelled to share my opinion on the matter.  I hope you will reconsider and decide that maybe this movie is not something you want to throw your hard earned money into.

Ted

[vermonster13]

Those numbers are total sales for the last year of sales. Chris you do what you feel you need to, I provide information and links. Do some reading and research if it interests you. There are plenty of links in this forum and in other ones. If you don't think the media effects popular perception of hunters and even our own perceptions, I ask this simple question.

When someone shoots a small deer, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?

This is a slow process, but the opposition has plenty of time as for they only have one goal anyways.

[ratgunner]

When I saw the advertisement for this garbage on tv my stomach turned.

[Stone Knife]

This has been going on in Hollywood since Walt Disney put out Bambi. This movie gave animals human qualities and i feel was the start of the anti hunting movement by Hollywood liberals. I may be wrong but this is how i feel.

[EDW]

I agree that Hollwood isn't a friend to hunters. Many stars are active in PETA & other aniaml rights movements. My concern is the behaviour of hunters in public areas. Where I hunt I usually find trash left behind by so called " Sportsman" on trails and in parking areas. Non hunters see this and associate it with all hunters and equate all with slob behaviour. I met one fellow jogging last fall while on a pre season scouting trip. He said he knows when it's deer season from the empty bait bags laying all over the road along with pop cans and trash in parking spots. I always end up bringing home a bag of crap I pick up. Last year in one spot a carton from a Block archery target, scent bottles blister packs and empty Gander Mountain  bags. To me that does more harm than a cartoon. I love watching Bugs Bunny make a fool of Elmer Fudd but it never made me anti hunting.

[T. Downing]

Yesterday my oldest son (41/2) and I saw a promo for the movie. I made the remark that this movie was complete garbage and that I did not want to see it. My son replied,"I like it, I want to see it". I immediately responded with an emphatic NO! I told him that our family are hunters and this movie told a story that hunters are bad and stupid. I wish everyone could see the look on his face as I educated him on what is right and what is wrong.(He was believing my every word) Bambi will never be seen in my house, it is the principle of it all. As a parent and ethical hunter, I have an ongoing responsibility to educate my sons as to what is true and just. This movie portrays hunters in a bad light and no matter how funny it may seem to some, it is not that funny to me. God Bless the next generation of hunters, T

[woodchucker]

I went to see "Open Season" with my family on Sunday October 1st, Which also happens to be "Open Season" (the opening day of Fall Turkey and most Small Game season) here in New York State.

It was so funny!!!!! I laughed so hard I thought I would Pi$$ myself!!!!! This movie was very tastfully done and there was no "Hunter Bashing" that you all ASSUME is in it. BTW remember folks that when you ASSUME.....

Here is the basic plot.....

Boog is a Grizzly Bear who was rescued as a cub by a female ranger.Boog lives in the rangers garage,eats from a bowl,sleeps with a teddy bear,and "goes"in a toilet.

Shaw,is the Hunter (ie.Bad Guy) He shows up in town with a busted horn buck tied to the hood of his truck.Elliot the buck is not dead,only "stunned" because Shaw hit him with his truck.As he is trying to convince Boog to cut him loose,the local sheriff is giving Shaw a butt chewing about having the buck on his hood and the season not opening for 3 more days,and Shaw is trying to tell the Sheriff that it was an "accident" that he hit the buck (which the sheriff clearly doesn't believe.

Boog cuts Elliot loose and later Elliot comes to "rescue" Boog from his garage.Together they team up to raid a store and eat all of the goodies and snacks.The Sheriff comes and gets Boog and takes him home,He tells the ranger that she has to return him to the wild,She's concerned about his safety during hunting season and the Sheriff tells her to let him go "above the falls" and that he will be safe up there.

Opening day arrives The Sheriff is selling hunting licenses,The hunters are Thanking the Sheriff,and the Sheriff is wishing them Good Luck.

Meanwhile Boog and Elliot have been trying to find thier way back to town and they end up down below the falls where the hunters are.Boog,Elliot,and the rest of the animals all team up together and chase all of the hunters out of the woods.

The ranger comes to rescue Boog and he decides that he likes being a bear and wants to stay in the woods with his friends.

My family and I give it.....              

[vermonster13]

Sounds like a great flick. Lets see, the main hunter is a poacher, a liar, and the bear is a rescued/domesticated animal. What could I have found wrong with the film and why do I even bother?

[Alex.B]

Hey Chuck,
that's a courageous post for this thread. I've got to give it up, you've got guts, pal!!!
I can't stand Hollywood and rarely go the movies, especially of the silly anthropomorphic kind, but now you made me curious, I might go see it after all, if only to hear Martin Lawrence, of whom I'm a big, big fan    
Can't wait for Oct.14th    
sharpening my incisives and broadheads
good luck, dude
alex

[Tom Walsh]

Interesting post.

Thanks for the movie critique Chuck. Doesn't sound as bad as its trailer looks.

Food for thought about Bambi. I think Bambi freaks kids out not so much from the faceless scary hunters, but because of the notion that your parents could be killed/die and leave you an orphan. Yes it is negative for hunting but its like transference...blame all hunters for leaving me an orphan.

Don't mean to hijack the thread but it seems to be germane to the issue.

[woodchucker]

David, Maybe you shouldn't "bother" trying to find fault when there is none. I fully commend folks like you who bring legitamate conserns to our attention. However... Just seeing a trailer on a TV screen hardly makes anyone an expert on the content of the movie. In this day and age as parents we spend alot of time trying to explain the differance between "real" and TV/video games.

This is a cartoon movie,and as I said it is VERY tastefully done.I see you are a full time Dad.You are to commended and your son is a very lucky young man.Boys need time to laugh and learn.Maybe you should take him to see the movie,and the two of you can laugh and have fun together.Then the two of you can come home and prepare for and go on a hunting trip,and his Dad (not Hollywood) can teach him the differance between what is real and the "movies".

May The Great Spirit Guide Your Arrows

[vermonster13]

You see Chuck, our kids have parents who can tell them the difference. 95% of the kids out there have no contact with hunting beyond this sort of thing. I choose not to finance these images, it only breeds more. I didn't base my judgement on just the trailer.

Lots of ways to make a child laugh.

[T. Downing]

There are plenty of ways to laugh with our kids other than having Hollywood provide the laughs. No thank you. I'm not quite ready yet to compromise some principles that I have obtained over the years. My boys and I will find laughter in real life experiences. See the whole issue with me is hunters image and how it is being portrayed. Our image in this country is embarrasing to me. Sure I would guess that the movie is funny and all, but like John Wooden said, "I am just a simple man who stays true to his principles". T

[Ted]

Well said, David, it's not about my kids.  It's about the kids that are being socialized in a number of subtle ways by mass media and popular culture that hunters/hunting are distasteful, unethical, etc., with no alternative voice teaching them that my chosen way of life is also a viable option.  We all do our best to perpetuate our values, but we cannot reach the masses like hollywood can and I do believe that a cute, funny, anthropomorphized moose resonates to kids more so than my ugly mug does.

Even in your description of the movie, Chuck, you mention a number of problematic aspects of the plot.  Why is the hunter a bad guy rather than a concerned conservationalist.  Why are the sales of hunting licenses viewed as an antagonistic act, rather than an effective way of maintaining the health of the population.  Why aren't there any cartoons featuring anti-hunters threatening or assaulting hunters as the bad guys thwarting the best interests of the health of the given species?

I think your intention in posting the movie description was to reassure us that the movie is o.k., but actually it only strengthened my resolve not to pay money to see it.  I just don't see any evidence that this isn't noxious anti-hunting propaganda.  Given that there are so many other options for my girls, why would I choose one that could plausibly be interpreted as defaming one of the fundamental passions of my being.  I mean it's not like this is the only cartoon movie out there right now.

It bothers me to no end the how hunters are portrayed as Slack-jawed yokels time in and time out.  It is a stereotype that simply doesn't map out to reality.  And like any other politically charged stereotype in our society, I am teaching my girls that stereotyping and other closed minded attitudes are dysfuntional.  There is no need to patronize a stereotype perpetuating movie like this one appears to be.

My rant is not directed at you Chuck - I just get frustrated when I see this kind of stuff coming from hollywood being forced in front of my little girls' faces.

Ted

[Alex.B]

Personally, in these days in age, my children and I get laughter anywhere we can get it, but I ALWAYS taught them the common sense needed to know when Bullsh..t stops and truth starts! No disturbance or confusion here. But BowmanT, I totally understand and respect your choice in that matter

[vermonster13]

I really miss Abbott & Costello

[Alex.B]

David,
that's what you get for being so close to our country's heartbeat!    By the way, thank you for always keeping us well informed and keeping it real, man
Alex