Back in the day, movies used to feature people called "actors"

Today, I found out something even more curious about Benjamin Button than the fact that he's aging backwards, for 52 minutes of the movie...he isn't even there! "What the audience is actually seeing in the first third of the movie is a computer-generated copy of Pitt's head, which the studio aged digitally." (see article)
So they've actually done it: created an almost flawless digital recreation of a human being to play a part in their movie. For 52 minutes, 325 shots, of the movie, Brad Pitt wasn't actually there, it was a digitally created person acting. This is absolutely revolutionary for the movie industry, but is it really progress? I mean, maybe this is just me not liking too much change, but I personally find it more scary then exciting. Is this new leap in technology going to make actors and actresses obsolete in the future? UCLA Acting Professor Judith Moreland says no, "real actors have an ineffable quality that isn't easily re-created...I still think that there is something about actually looking at a human being and seeing something real look back at you ... it's about that human connection." It scares me to think of a future where actors might be a thing of the past, I mean...I doubt that will ever happen, still-I don't doubt that some movies in the future will feature fictional human beings in staring roles. As Laura Sydell said in the article, "Now that they've done what was once considered impossible, it's hard to believe that they aren't going to try and breathe life into an entirely computer generated person."

Earth: The Movie

Today I was at home sick watching television when I saw the following preview for a movie coming out soon entitled, "Earth: The Movie". Now, it's hard to say exactly but from what I got from it, I think the plot of the movie is tracking the daily lives of three different animals, whales, polar bears, and elephants. Seems like it'd be an interesting documentary...but not an amazing, moving work of cinema...right? Well apparently not, because I don't know what it was specifically, but when I watched that preview, I just became enthralled (in retrospect, I'm thinking it was the music.) Whatever is was, I got really excited when (if you watch the preview you'll get the reference) the little chick jumps all the way from a tree branch to the forest floor while the narrator talks about it's immense courage. And when all the goats are crossing the river, oh man. I really wish I was kidding right now but I swear to you I'm not.

So anyway, then as I sat down to try and think of examples of how we, as Americans, are prone to romanticizing things, it hit me how overdone that commercial was. "Join three families on an amazing journey across our planet"? Really? Needless to say, I felt like such a sucker. Romanticizing American? Guilty. My reaction was exactly that which the makers of that movie were looking for, someone to identify with the large humpback whales, foraging the ocean; To feel for the elephants as they ran across the savanna. Don't get me wrong, I do love animals. But really...it's hard to deny how romanticized that movie is. I'm sure the stories are real and interesting, however I can say for sure that every possible angle has been played up to tug at the heart strings of a bunch of eco-friendly, animal loving people. I mean, come on, it even comes out on Earth Day...seriously?