The Martian

[WaveMan]

a few things, C5 actors rarely, if ever take an "anti gun stance" 'on film' (though there are precedence, such as Mel Gibson and Lethal Weapon), though they do make insidious anti-gun statements through out their respective films. What annoys me is the hypocrisy they display, making millions from 'gun films' and yet being anti-gun in real life. If they were 'real men' or in any way honorable then they would forego any gig that put them in a position of hypocrisy.

A perfect example is Rossie O'Donnell, a notorious anti gun hoplophobe and yet has armed body guards.....



I would also point out this is 'General chat', so there is no OT if you comply with in the forum rules, which I believe I have.

[Owen E Oulton]

There may be no Off Topic, but we do have to tread carefully with the "no politics" blanket rule. Nobody's quite stepped over the line yet, but this thread has the real possibility.

However, IMNSHO, anyone who take any actor's opinions on anything of import is a fool. Actors are there to provide entertainment, and their opinions are irrelevant. Whether it's Tom Cruise and John Travolta's espousal of Scatology (oops, Scientology - alway have trouble with that one since it defame Science), so many actors' pushing of veganism, or opinions on politics, guns or drugs, it's totally irrelevant. Actors should not be viewed as "role-models".

[WaveMan]

There may be no Off Topic, but we do have to tread carefully with the "no politics" blanket rule.

the site admin contradicts this


"Cpt. Lundgren
Real life politics and religion have to be discussed in the area designed for it, and things have to be legal and PG-13ish. But otherwise, No banned topics I'm aware of."

has the policy changed? One would assume a mod would know this....

and the description of the General chat area
(where we are posting at the moment)

"Open discussion on any topic you'd like."

[WaveMan]

plus I would point out, while actors most likely shouldn't be viewed as role models, MILLIONS of people all across the planet do hold various actors as role models. Actors have massive power over modern society (and tend to be rich so have the funds to be very influential) and if any one of them decides to become political (take Arnold Schwarzenegger for example, or Ronald Reagan...etc) they can cash in on their star power to effect political arenas significantly.

Another example is Oprah Winfrey (while not an actor per say she is still a TV celebrity and akin to an actor) who is held as an African American woman role model (and now also speaks for over weight people) and has a massive world wide audience and a net worth to be very influential..... one cannot deny this fact. The fact is they have become role models.


Films/movies also have the power to effect the audience, and influence their opinions. I personally do not dismiss any of it as 'pure entertainment' because it is not.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

I'm going to need some hard data on the number of people who actually think Matt Damon is a role model to buy that. Is he big in Australia or something?

[WaveMan]

where did I say that Matt Damon was a role model? The only thing I said was he was a hypocrite anti-gunner. I suggest you reread my post (#19)

[The Tatterdemalion King]

"plus I would point out, while actors most likely shouldn't be viewed as role models, MILLIONS of people all across the planet do hold various actors as role models."

People may claim they hold individual people as role-models, but honestly I think we shouldn't take them at their word. It's hard to imitate the rich and famous if you ain't rich and famous.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

I'm going to release a short film called The Venusian. It's about Matt Damon melting in 5 seconds.

[WaveMan]

I reiterate "where did I say that Matt Damon was a role model? The only thing I said was he was a hypocrite anti-gunner".
Could you not find the post where I stated that Matt was a role model?????

I can only assume you think 'various' is me meaning Matt Damon, I can assure you that is not the case.

You seem only capable of asking asinine questions in this thread, and so I will only answer in kind to you. If you have an intelligent question pose it....

[C5]

For the record, my comment about the off topic was mainly about the fact that this thread was supposed to be about the Martian movie...

[The Tatterdemalion King]

What, do you have a burning need to complain about the tyrannical Australian gun laws?

[Owen E Oulton]

This thread has strayed way off the movie. Opinions about Matt Damon's beliefs about guns are utterly irrelevant as there were no guns portrayed in the movie at all. None I don't even think we saw a cop or a Chinese soldier armed in the flick, even though street scenes were shown. However, I find the suggestion that an actor can only portray characters who share his or her political beliefs ludicrous in the extreme. Should Sir Anthony Hopkins be required to do PSAs on the benefits of cannibalism? Another actor who is anti-gun is Richard Dean Anderson, but he played the gun-happy Colonel Jack O'Neill on Stargate SG-1 and sees no moral quandary there. In his words "It's acting". By your lights, nobody should be allowed to play a criminal unless they also go out and rob innocent victims. I think this thread has run its course, unless someone wants to adtually talk about the flippin' movie. This thread-jack ENDS NOW. No more gun talk Go start your own freaking thread.

[Cpt. Lundgren]

WaveMan, regarding discussions of political topics, it currently is a bit more complicated than the text you quoted. Real world politics have its own dedicated forum.

On request, I have copied out the hypocrisy debate to its own thread. It can be found here http://forum.trek-rpg.net/showthread...nd-celebrities

It will stay in General chat for now.

[Cpt. Lundgren]

So... Back to topic

I saw The Martian on the flight back from Colombia. I will definitely watch it again, as the small screen and bad headset wasn't the most optimal way to see it. I really liked the hard sci-fi it presented, and also that it got quite a few of the psychological aspects of it.

Just a side note... Didn't they draw the sling shot the wrong way (unless they wanted to decrease speed)? Well, the risk is that I'm not remember either the movie nor what I learned from Kerbal Space Program

[Owen E Oulton]

This You Tube posting is worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCxQ3hYHrZk If you're watching the movie without reading the book, you're missing lots of the story.