Yet Another Warm Fuzzy Disney Tale
But, you're saying....it's Disney. So what if there's a little T & A in the movies? So what if they kill off all the mothers in their films? No one pays attention to this stuff! Want to know just how much Disney's influence effects Life As We Know It?
Well, I'll tell you anyway. Everyone knows Lemmings commit suicide by throwing themselves off of cliffs, right? We have the expression "lead astray like lemmings to the sea".."followed like lemmings" ...used to describe stupid acts by several people. Thing is, Lemmings don't behave that way - Walt Disney made it up.
You'd be surprized how many people believe this as fact; go ask a few.
The nature documentary 'White Wilderness' was filmed in 1958 in the arctic wilds of Alberta, Canada. It was a massive undertaking and took 3 years. No one has yet to figure out why - and Disney never explained - why they got it in their heads to film a "real lemming migration" complete with rare, never before seen footage of the critters drowning themselves in the sea. This was never before seen because lemmings don't do this. Population explosions sometimes happen and lemmings do migrate and maybe a few will accidentally fall off a cliff or tumble down some rocks. Sucks to be them. You could just as easily say ants migrate and commit suicide by throwing themselves off hills or drowning themselves in puddles. Apparently The Disney Documentary Braintrust neglected, in researching their Wildlife documentary, to actually document the wildlife. Not to fear! The head photographer and crew decided to take the liberty of bullshitting. They paid Inuit kids from 25 cents for every lemming they brought in and they got a few dozen.
They put the critters on a huge, snow-covered "Lazy Susan" turntable and spun it, then filmed from various angles as the critters ran, fell and slid into each other. This pretty much made it look like a "migration" sequence showing a bunch of spinning, running, sliding lemmings. Afterwards, instead of just letting the things go with a few $ and some Mickey Mouse ears, they were all taken to where there was a cliff overlooking a river and herded over the edge, down into the water, where they drowned. And were filmed. Cut and Wrap! Disney got his footage and the myth of the Lemming Hurling Off Cliffs To Commit Suicide was born.
This is how much people trusted Uncle Walt and the stuff that came out of Disney Studios back then. Disney Documentary was as good as God's Honest Wholesome Truth. People to this day will still believe this story is Nature Wilderness fact.
IS THIS TURE AND HAS ANYONE SEEN THE FILM
PEACE,
Wy-Man
http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Lemmings.html