A film in development, Rising Star, might have a sympathetic lead character who is vegan or vegetarian. The filmmaker, Marty Lang, is leaving that decision up to a vote. I would love to see this character developed as a vegan. All too often, when I've seen vegans depicted in pop culture, the character is judgmental and annoying, and the characters that we viewers are supposed to identify with mock the vegan character[s]. How I Met Your Mother, I am looking at YOU! Oh, and I haven't seen Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but I have heard that the villains in the movie are evil vegans who are defeated when tricked into consuming half-and-half laden coffee. Not cool, if that's true.
I agree with the film's Sustainability Planner, Ali Berman, that this is a tremendous opportunity to create positive associations with being vegan. Vote "vegan" and give Ali a chance to run with this!
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4 comments:
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
The villains in the movie are evil vegans who are defeated when tricked into consuming half-and-half laden coffee.
Well, that is part true and you should kick the person who spoiled the half-and-half business. I don't want to spoil any more of it for you, but the sequence with the (one) Vegan villain is pretty darn funny. The other villains are not Vegan. I suppose it depends on how sensitive you are about half-and-half, or the idea that anyone who is like you are, cannot possibly be a villain. Are all Vegans good, or can one be evil, in spite of his excellent dietary practices?
Since I am aware that you have a pretty darn fine sense-of-humor, I think you might like it. My wife laughed all the way through the Vegan villain sequence, and my daughter loved the movie. Of course we were sitting in front of a row of teenaged girls who were lavishing praise on the movie and the comic book on which it was based, so she (my daughter) might have been influenced by older girl peer pressure.
The spoilage was from a blog comment I read--I don't remember which blog.
I would feel less sensitive if I didn't perceive a dearth of positive representations of vegans in pop culture. It seems as though it's become a negative short-hand--make a character vegan, and s/he will be a judgmental killjoy. (I hope I don't seem as if I'm being one right now!) That's why I'd like to see a film where a sympathetic character happens to be vegan--and that isn't presented as some kind of deep flaw that needs to be tolerated.
That said, I won't let this keep me from seeing Scott Pilgrim(though I will likely wait for the DVD release--I just rarely get out to the theaters anymore).
The character in Scott Pilgrim will not fulfill your dream of seeing a positive representation of a vegan in pop culture. On the other hand, the character's veganism is not a negative short-hand for a judgmental killjoy. The character's veganism in this case is more like Popeye's spinach.
I just rarely get out to the theaters anymore
I remember this age. When my kids were the age of your son, the only thing I saw in theaters for years was kid pictures.
The character's veganism in this case is more like Popeye's spinach.
Okay, I can live with that. :)
I remember this age. When my kids were the age of your son, the only thing I saw in theaters for years was kid pictures.
Yup, that's our situation exactly. The last movie we saw in the theater was... [thinks] ... Ugh, I'm blanking. I'm pretty sure it was a Disney-Pixar thing but I can't for the life of me recall which one.
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