Expelled Impressions
| April 18, 2008 | Posted by scordova under Intelligent Design |
I’m opening a thread for those who would like to report their impressions of seeing the movie Expelled as well the numbers of viewers and their reactions to the movie.
Here is my report:
Location: Memphis, TN Stage 13 Cinema, just north of Cordova Tennessee
2:00 PM Friday Showing
I expected to see only 3 people at the 2PM showing, but there were 60 people! I asked what people thought, they said they would recommend the movie to their friends. They braved bad weather to get here.
The ticket manager said she had a steady stream of positive comments from the movie goers.
The audience was laughing at Richard Dawkins. They seemed in awe of the cellular animation, and they gasped at the images of the Nazi death camps.
In the movie, Uta George, the director of the Hadamar Gas Chamber Memorial explicitly said that the Nazis drew inspiration from Darwin. Darwinism was associated with atheism, eugenics — along with various macabre images. ID was associated with freedom, morality, and heroism. That went over well with the audience….
Will Provine’s interview was very noteworthy. Provine is a good friend of Phil Johnson, and has shown himself to be honorable in treatment of pro-ID students even though Provine himself rejects ID. Some of his statements brought a chill. He said that life has no meaning, no free will, no morality. He said he may put a gun to his head one day because he faces the possibility of terminal illness. I was very sorry to hear this. Up until today, I was not sure that part of Will’s interview would air….
You’ll see Will at the end of the movie saying he applauds students who, after weighing the evidence, decide to become creationists. Thus, Will came across as the most honorable of the non-ID side. In contrast, Dawkins looked like a buffoon. When Berlinski called Dawkins a “reptile” the audience was in stitches laughing….
I also attended the later 4:50 showing, and about 70 people were there.
I asked people what they thought and how they heard about the movie. Much of the word spread through the churches and radio. The negative reviews such as USA Today were ignored by those buying tickets….
It is hard to say whether what is happening here in Memphis can be extrapolated anywhere else. So I hope some of you from other parts of the world will report. My thanks in advance to those providing reports….
76 Responses to Expelled Impressions
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I bought 10 tickets for Boise ID showing — should have bought 20 as the people who wanted to go came out of the woodwork.
I work with youth in the 12-18 age range. This movie had a MAJOR impact on the youth that went with me, and after seeing it I am certain that the younger audience was the prime target. The motivation it caused in those youth with me was exceptional.
I think this is why the details of the science was downplayed. The purpose was creating awareness — as one of my Juniors so astutely pointed out.
After you create the awareness, you can get people to listen to the shop talk.
Here is Dr. John West’s account of ISU Showing
Apr. 19, 2:25 PM
Torrance, CA
40-50 people, apparently pleased – they applauded afterward.
I enjoyed it very much.
I saw it in Maple Grove, Minnesota on Friday at 2:50pm. I thought there were about 20 people in the cinema, mostly older and retired people. The reaction seemed somewhat muted.
Personally, I thought the film was beautifully done. I disagree with whoever it was that said there was too much intercutting of old footage: all of that worked very well, in my view, to give the movie a distinctive momentum, and kept it from becoming dull.
The movie brought home the point that the ID hypothesis is not stupid or crazy or anything like that. Its supporters are credentialed, sophisticated, and intelligent. It is enough that even Richard Dawkins called it an “intriguing possibility” towards the end of the film. The persecution of ID supporters is obviously shown to be the result of a religious (or anti-religious) agenda, witnessed by P.Z. Myers’ dream of pusng religion onto the periphery.
Well, of course Expelled gave a far more fair and accurate picture of ID than any previous documentary, so I guess I was expecting too much, but I came away somewhat disappointed. Here’s why: if there really is no evidence for Intelligent Design, the other side has every right to expell it from the science classroom, and virtually none was presented in the film. Of course, for most people, the evidence is so obvious and overwhelming that no one would ever believe something as counter-intuitive as Darwinism unless they were constantly told that ALL scientists believe it, then they start to think, maybe they know something I don’t–hence the need for the constant intimidation and repression of dissent that the film is really about. So all they need is to know that there are a few good scientists who doubt it, and they will revert back to common sense.
Still, it would have been nice to see some discussion of the “scientific” evidence, so academic types who aren’t able to see what the rest of the world sees, couldn’t come away still thinking, there isn’t any evidence for ID, so why shouldn’t it be expelled from the science classroom? Behe could have at least been included, with a short discussion of irreducible complexity. (For crl529 and other newcomers who want a short summary of the evidence, I suggest you go here or here ).
All in all, a very good movie, I think I was just expecting the film to bring down the Berlin wall itself, it clearly won’t. Maybe if the producers make a sequel some evidence will be presented; then I’ll probably still find something to complain about, I’m afraid I’m a tough reviewer.
At the 4:50 pm showing at the Embassy in San Antonio, there were 20-30 people. Dawkins drew the strongest audible reaction during the film, in the form of laughter. At the end, the audience applauded.
I was surprised by the film’s emotional impact. Among the poinient moments, Stein facing down the statue of Darwin brought a lump to my throat.
I agree with Granville Sewell @ 65. What I found myself wishing for, sitting in the theater, was more exposition of what ID is about. Answers by the interviewees, from both sides, to the Journalism 101 question “What is the ID?” would have been interesting to hear.
I think that the film, as a documentary, would have benefited from thumbnail sketches of the concepts such IC, DI, NFL and the fine-tuned universe. Seeing such common-sense ideas being supressed by mainstream science would have made the plight of the expelled scientists that much more reprehensible.
It was great to see faces put on some of the names I’ve heard for years, Berlinski and Provine especially. But Behe was sorely missed.
Grapevine, Texas (near DFW airport):
Approx 50 attendees at 5:40 Friday showing. My wife and son went.
Applause afterword. Great movie.
I would have preffered more actual science/math evidence supporting ID.
I just sent in my donation to the Discovery Institute. I want them to be able to buy the whole building.
Denyse, today I noticed in the entertainment section of the Dallas Morning News it had the EXPELLED movie ad almost hidden. It was one page after the rest of the movie ads, all by itself, and away from the movie listings. What are the odds of that “coincidence”?
Smurf
Re my post above: The showing I went to was on Friday.
I went to the showing 9:30 Friday at the multiplex in the Greenway Plaza district of Houston a couple of blocks away from the former Summit, now the giant Lakewood Church. About 30 attended. I bought tickets for Dr. R. P. who came to Houston to found the Pain Management Center at M.D. Anderson Clinic, and his wife. I loved the film and thought it very emotional, seemed to communicate a sense of gravity regarding what has happened to Western Civilization. Dr. P said he resented the film. However, his wife and I laughed uproariously at Dawkins at the end, as did others in the theater not including Dr. P. who by the way is not a materialist.
Scottsdale, AZ Desert Ridge Harkins. Sold out a very big theatre.
Much laughter at Dawkins and others.
30 secs or more applause at the end.
They loved that Dawkins made a fool of himself.
It made 3 million yesterday so it’s at about 5 million so far. This is pretty remarkable for a documentry film.
I saw the movie Friday at 7 pm. There was some speaker malfunction, but most of the film was intelligible. Not a full house, but a fair number of people nonetheless. There was actually a full-fledged scientific/philosophic debate afterwards; someone down in front asked for reactions to the film, and most of us were happy to talk. We actually had a couple of atheists in the crowd who readily admitted that “certain mistakes in Academia have been made”, although they didn’t care to elaborate on the precise nature of those mistakes. Ah well.
I think that the connection between Darwinism and Nazism was fair in the context used. The point was to draw to attention the fact that Darwinism is an ideology, and like any ideology it can be twisted or misinterpreted with truly horrifying consequences. I approved of the acknowledgement that Hitler truly believed that he was doing the right thing, at least when it came to the slaughter of people with disabilities and ethnic cleansing. He truly thought he could create a “perfect” race. Nazism is a deadly mixture of misinformation, self-righteousness, and extreme Darwinism. That is undeniable. I’m an agnostic myself, and I have no quarrel with those who draw attention to atrocities commited “In the Name of God”. But say that Darwinism is incapable of begetting evil, to say that organized religion exclusively a source of corruption… that is simply absurd. Humans have always lived, died, and killed for causes. At the end of the day, Darwinism is just another cause, an old cause that’s started to crumble. And the purpose of this film was to expose the oppression suffered by those who oppose it.
I saw it Friday in Ventura, CA. (near Santa Barbara). The room was half-full—more than I’m used to for name-brand features. The movie was well-received, with applause at the end.
I know that some have complained that the movie didn’t focus more on ID as science, but my deep impression was that this film indeed was a documentary: documenting Ben Stein’s odyssey searching for the real answer as to whether or not academia was silencing debate. If you look at each vignette, it builds on the prior ones as Stein comes to the realization that ID is not bogus science, and that Darwinism is indeed like a religion.
The objective nature of this odyssey gives the movie its strength. So, I, for one, am happy with its composition. I think it accomplishes what it sets out to do: document Darwinian bigotry and idealogy.
Submitted to scordova:
5-STAR!
I went with my son and a friend to a 10 p.m. showing on the 18th in Fayetteville, NC.
Only about 20 or so there at that late hour.
The movie is GREAT! Stein and producers have a knack at keeping the action flow lively so it is not just a series of boring interviews, but should have an appeal to a much wider audience than solely science and/or religion aficionados.
The juxtaposition of old movie footage interspersed throughout drove home key points being made and provided some creative humor interlude. All was done respectfully enough, it should be noted, and not in the sarcastic and profane way that so much of this has been done in similar contexts by the evolutionists.
It was made clrearer than ever through the on-site interviews at the death camps with Uta George and Dr, Weikhart that Nazism and the horrors of the Holocaust WERE justified ultimately by the irreligious spirit pervading Germany at the time which emanated from the German academy.
There is plenty of history available to corroborate this and its open-handed discussion should be undertaken in our schools today as a fair warning to our children.
The connections between the eugenicists and Planned Parenthood were noted and are obviously quite ominous in our day as PPH is the recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars of government largess. (I was expecting to see a picture of Terry Schiavo flash across the screen when euthanasia was mentioned, but time or taste apparently did not allow for this)
I couldn’t help but smile when I saw a colored push pin protruding clearly from the heart of Cumberland County, NC, on Eugenie Scott’s Hot-spot
U. S. map of “creationist” uprisings for which she had been called to assist in suppressing! This was our doing not too long ago.
Ben Stein was so calm and collected through the whole set of interviews and it was amazing how he had Dawkins, P.Z. Meyers, and others confessing to ulterior (sociological/political) motivations and implications of their grand Neo-Darwinian programme.
Don’t expect rave reviews in secular media. Mostly they will attempt to ignore it and hope it “goes away” and is soon forgotten. But it is timeless in content and should be promoted via DVDs in every school in America as well as shown on television wherever this can be arranged.
Granville @65
The real measure of a work of art is what is left out of it. In the realm of communication, the theme is what provides the power and the persuasion. If the producers had cluttered up the theme of injustice by introducing extraneous intellectual material, it would have ruined the effect. As an analogy, consider Martin Luther King’s speech “I have a dream.” Now picture him reserving a section for commenting on trickle down economics and imagine what happens to the inspirational tone of the address.
Here is Rob Crowther’s collection of reports: