“Ocean’s Deadliest”
I was reading an article today in one of my favorite newspapers, the Sydney Morning Herald. A multitude of articles about Steve Irwin have popped up there since his death, and more have popped up recently, given the impending release of his last documentary, Ocean’s Deadliest, on January 21st. This is the most recent of those articles, and it describes how Steve Irwin’s last day will not be shown in the film. Really? Who would have thought?
There’s two reasons this won’t be shown, one that wasn’t included in the article. Reason number 1 is that he was actually filming footage of “harmless” stingrays on the day of his death for his daughter Bindi’s show. Reason number 2 is that nobody should see that footage, because it’s just not right for someone’s last moments, especially when they involve pulling a stingray barb out of a heart, to be shown to everyone. It’s an intensely private and heart-yanking moment that, if it was footage of one of my family members, would be incredibly difficult to watch, and this would be made even more difficult if the whole world had access to it and it was plastered all over the evening news. Plus, many of his fans are children. Do they really need to be seeing that? After the reaction to Saddam’s death, where 3 kids hanged themselves–including one in Houston–just because they saw it on TV, I’d hate to see what they tried after seeing Steve Irwin’s death.
On the subject of Steve Irwin, I have to say that I was one of the people that wasn’t such a fan before his death. I thought he was a bit over-the-top and kind of crazy. Hindsight is always 20/20 though, and I’ve seen how much good he did for conservation and so many other things in Australia. Plus, I’ve watched a couple full episodes of the Croc Hunter, as well as his absolutely hilarious interview with Conan, and I’ve realized that had I left the TV on for more than a few minutes, I would have really liked him. I am really glad that I visited his zoo before he died, and got plenty of pictures with life-size cutouts and ginormous posters on the wall.
Well that’s my thoughts on the current Steve Irwin “news.” I’m off to play my brother’s Wii.
Tags: Australia, Steve Irwin, Tag Index