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TOTO: Right medium for a 'message'?

In summer, films can't neglect the fun when showing ideas

By Christian Toto (Contact) | Friday, July 4, 2008

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Two of this summer's blockbuster hopefuls, "The Happening" and "Wall•E," bring more than just entertainment to the table. We're being generous to "The Happening," but stay with us.

Each contains an embedded green message. Don't mistreat Mother Nature, or the wind will bring deadly toxins your way ("The Happening"). The Earth will soon be one giant trash heap ("Wall•E") if we don't recycle.

The latter goes the extra mile, throwing in a critique of our technology worship plus a jab at consumerism gone berserk.

Try slapping those messages on a Happy Meal.

Do summer moviegoers want to think that much about what they're seeing? Isn't this the time of year for pure escapism? For better and worse, that's what the first summer blockbusters of our era ("Jaws," "Star Wars") set in motion 30-plus years ago.

Hollywood routinely cranks out message movies. Their spin usually starts and ends on the left side of the ideological aisle, and the films bow during Oscar season - late fall - for maximum highbrow impact.

So far, the commercial results of the major message movies are mixed. "The Happening" premiered to a solid $30 million, but sank over subsequent weekends. However, "Wall•E" scored big last weekend with $62.5 million despite, or because of, early word that the film involved a lonely robot on a trash-filled Earth.

It's hard to ignore either film's environmental message.

Patricia King Hanson, executive editor and project director with the American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films, contends that while audiences respond to message movies no matter what time of year it is, summer movies have to be more audience-conscious, given the pressure to earn back their large production and marketing costs.

"You need a little bit more entertainment if you're talking about mass audience," Ms. Hanson says.