The Ethics of Mermaids

[JoanDrake]

I recently watched the Mockumentary Mermaids, the Body Found, yet again on the Animal Channel. I found it a delightful bit of Science Fiction, an artful combination of much fancy and a very few facts to make a good story, using the documentary format to gain verisimilitude.

However, I have since seen reviews that call it "the rotting carcass of science programming on television" and, "a middle finger aimed precisely at any rational discussion of the ocean's problems"

I dunno, I'm quite sure that Orson Welles was roundly sued for his "War of the Worlds" broadcast, but I've never heard he served any time for it, or even lost much rep in Hollywood. OTOH if people believe stuff like MtBF and then find out it's not true when (and if) they read the end credits they might assume that all environmentalism is fake, like it seems the Global Warming Deniers are bent on doing.

(One of the more surprising things I noticed was the Twitter reaction. While thousands did come on saying they definitely believed in mermaids, it was also thoroughly debunked about an hour after it was shown)

What do you think?

 

[BetaWolf]

I haven't seen it, so I can't comment, but it seems like the creators are being blamed for not creating what their critics wanted them to. It's a fictional documentary about mermaids, by the sound of it, not a call to action on any of various important problems.

 

[Glisterspeck]

I 've yet to meet a mermaid who didn't have a completely twisted moral compass, and thus, I can hardly believe that, as a species, they've managed to build from such depravity any sort of ethics at all!

 

[Triceratops]

I just have the inescapable feeling that this "New Evidence" sequel was intended to milk the ratings of every last die-hard mermaid believer on the planet. The Body Found, the first installment, raked in millions of viewers shooting the ratings skyward. Some kind of a record, I believe. They were all actors, reading their lines. It was obviously heavily scripted and I found it a ruse, a scam to even present such a program. Hence, we are entering a media age where sensationalism is taking even a larger cut that has been previously experienced. Remember the bruhahas over that paranormal movie that had a sequel? Can't remember the name, but it was the first time (for me) to see such a "mockumentary."

 

[hopewrites]

Blare witch hunt I supose.
There was a thread abouth the show down in discussions a year or so ago, I suspect if we wish to keep this one up here we ought to ask ourselves what responsibility we have as creators to the validity of our creations when reaching for plausibility sufficient to maintain suspension of disbelief.

For which I have no answer at present.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

I'm thinking we have the responsibility to point out our work is fiction, even if it's presented in a documentary format. Maybe especially then.

 

[hopewrites]

I don't know that that would suffice. I remember when I was quite young believing everything I saw was real. Television programming, movies, as well as what was happening around me. I also believed everything I was told. "Once upon a time" did not mean "here is a pleasing fiction from which one my draw ones own moral values" it meant "sometime in the past this happened"

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I sort of think that the people who would believe a documentary about mermaids was true already don't believe in global warming anyway.

 

[hopewrites]

LOL hey! *smirky grin* I believe in mermaids and global warming *sassy wink*

I also believe in dinosaurs and dragons, aliens and god, souls and science. So I guess that makes me ether gullible or unhypocritically open minded...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well, there's a lot more evidence for mermaids than there is against global warming.

I'm not sure that I don't believe in mermaids, but I never believe documentaries on the History or Science channels. Unless they say something I already know is true ... like the sun rises in the east.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Hmm.

I don't buy the equating of mermaid-belief and a failure to believe in global warming. One's a myth, the other's a theory that many find persuasive, and some don't. I dislike the view of some that a failure to agree with global warming (as caused by man's industrial activities) makes one an idiot.

 

[hopewrites]

I like the ideas they plant in my head. I agree I cant take everything at face value. I would get a lot less enjoyment out of both fiction and nonfiction if I did.

Travel Channel documentaries are the ones I have to really look into afterwards before believing them though. At least that channel is honest enough to not hid the fact they are just trying to get you to go there and see for yourself.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I dislike the view of some that a failure to agree with global warming (as caused by man's industrial activities) makes one an idiot.

Certainly not my view. I think some otherwise very intelligent people refuse to believe in global warming. But I also think that such people display a reluctance to believe in anything that might interfere with their comfort or suggest that they ought to adjust, in even the smallest particulars, a life style they enjoy, for fear they might later feel obliged to do even more.

But mermaids ... I think they were the subject of our discourse here? In the past, otherwise very reliable people testified to having seen mermaids, and I think it is almost easier to believe in the existence of mermaids than to believe than anyone could mistake a manatee for a beautiful half-woman creature with long golden hair.

I say almost easier. Not quite. Because the incidence of mermaid sightings seems to have radically decreased, and unlike the whale, there has apparently been no commercial value in hunting them to extinction.

 

[hopewrites]

perhaps they died off or retreated to deeper waters because of extensive fishing and or modern fishing techniques.
or those who do sight them now, doubt their senses too strongly to believe they have seen one.

 

[Glitch]

I don't know that that would suffice. I remember when I was quite young believing everything I saw was real. Television programming, movies, as well as what was happening around me. I also believed everything I was told. "Once upon a time" did not mean "here is a pleasing fiction from which one my draw ones own moral values" it meant "sometime in the past this happened"

Did you watch starwars when you were younger?

 

[hopewrites]

yes. but at home on the TV when it I was finally old enough to stay up and watch movies with my parents.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I'm going to keep an eye out for this; I'd never even heard of it let alone the ensuing hubbub. I feel like I've missed out on something and can't join in the thread has put me in mind of Michael Crichton's State of Fear, though.

pH

 

[Gordian Knot]

It is a sad reality of cable television that channels focused on "realism" like The History Channel, The Nat. Geo channel, The Science channel, etc. must run shows of dubious reality because these shows boost ratings. To stay true to their prime focus does not bring in enough money to keep them on the air.

 

[hopewrites]

Its the same sad reality that has me working in bureaucracy rather than picking up the degree I want and skipping civilization for the jungles of central and south America to study the adorable creatures who make up so many of my avatars.

No money in it.