There's an interesting phenomenon I've been seeing in movies and TV shows lately that kind of annoys me. It would seem that many people like using their stories to make fun of things they obviously don't know much about.
The most recent example for me was Horton Hears a Who; I just watched it earlier today, and realized that for all the fun they make of homeschooling, they don't even seem to know the stereotype on which they're basing their insults. The oppressive kangaroo that keeps her child in "pouch school" seems be the film's version of a devout atheist (always insisting that, since Whoville cannot be seen, heard, or touched, it cannot exist), which is contradictory to the homeschool stereotype they were trying to make fun of (which usually involves a misguided idea that homeschool parents are trying to indoctrinate their children with religion). For that matter, she also got upset about the children "using their imaginations;" every single homeschool parent I've ever known makes a point to cultivate imagination more than the public school system does.
Another example would be Sheldon's mother in The Big Bang Theory. I love that show, but their making fun of conservative Christianity is blatantly ignorant. The instance I remember most is when Sheldon mentioned evolution, to which his mom replied it was his opinion. He immediately responded that evolution is fact, to which his mother replied, "And that is your opinion!" If the writers knew anything at all about Christianity they would know that the post-modern subjectivism that would lead someone to merge the ideas of fact and opinion like that are not at all accepted by Christianity on any level, let alone a hyper-conservative Texan.
Anyway, am I the only one who gets annoyed when movies and shows make fun of things they obviously know nothing about? What are other examples you can think of where this happens?
The most recent example for me was Horton Hears a Who; I just watched it earlier today, and realized that for all the fun they make of homeschooling, they don't even seem to know the stereotype on which they're basing their insults. The oppressive kangaroo that keeps her child in "pouch school" seems be the film's version of a devout atheist (always insisting that, since Whoville cannot be seen, heard, or touched, it cannot exist), which is contradictory to the homeschool stereotype they were trying to make fun of (which usually involves a misguided idea that homeschool parents are trying to indoctrinate their children with religion). For that matter, she also got upset about the children "using their imaginations;" every single homeschool parent I've ever known makes a point to cultivate imagination more than the public school system does.
Another example would be Sheldon's mother in The Big Bang Theory. I love that show, but their making fun of conservative Christianity is blatantly ignorant. The instance I remember most is when Sheldon mentioned evolution, to which his mom replied it was his opinion. He immediately responded that evolution is fact, to which his mother replied, "And that is your opinion!" If the writers knew anything at all about Christianity they would know that the post-modern subjectivism that would lead someone to merge the ideas of fact and opinion like that are not at all accepted by Christianity on any level, let alone a hyper-conservative Texan.
Anyway, am I the only one who gets annoyed when movies and shows make fun of things they obviously know nothing about? What are other examples you can think of where this happens?
