Queen Of The Sun Review
We went to see Queen of the Sun on Friday, and I have to say that it was a rather well done documentary. It was very close to what I teach when I do a class on honey bees. There were some parts that were very uncomfortably WoWo for me where those being interviewed anthropomorphized the bees beyond recognition. There was a shirtless yogi who brushed the bees with his mustache. When I saw this I realized his colonies were not wild bees at all and I'd love to see him come to my place and try that act with one hot wild colony I have.
It was refreshing to hear Michael Pollan's comments on agricultural monoculture and how our food supply is aiming recklessly towards self destruction and doom.
I often get questions about the disappearance of honey bees and people seem to have a sincere concern over it, though many people may not have a clue about the global implications if this trend continues.
The only turn-offs of this film for me is the graphic they used of a young woman dancing while covered in bees. It was the opening shot of the film and had no real relevance to the content other than people are pretty silly wasting bees time performing such stunts. The other turnoff was the name, Queen of the Sun which only significance was a song that was played as the credits rolled at the end of the film. Honey bee queens pretty much live their lives in the darkness of the hive. They only ever see the sun while on their mating flights early in their lives, when they eventually swarm when they get old or when a beekeeper exposes them to light on hive inspections. It seems the double punch of that name and the woman covered in bees was an attempt to draw the well intentioned WoWo crowd that doesn't know any better. But all in all these were minor annoyances with a documentary of this magnitude.
The film encourages people to do what they can to help save the bees and encourages people to become beekeepers. As I left the theater I had a snicker of concern over the flack I'm probably going to get next month with the publishing of my article on why people shouldn't become beekeepers.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
3 Comments:
I've never had any desire to become a beekeeper, so you don't have to worry about me. I try to help the cause, though, by telling not-so-smart relatives that it is NOT the time to spray fruit trees when they are in full bloom, I don't care how effective it is!
No bees for me either, thank you. I'd take then over a cornfield, you understand, but otherwise no. I can see beekeeping becoming the new up and coming hip and trendy thing with urban yupsters putting apiaries on the roofs of their apartment buildings then losing interest. The next thing you know there would be gangs of feral bees roaming the streets and painting graffiti everywhere, selling fake royal jelly on the corners and in abandoned houses... It would be a mess.
I am personally sick to death of all the hype over "save the bees".
I am constantly contacted by folks that "just want to do something" to help bees.
Translation: They want to turn a percieved crisis into a cash stream. Next time you get a call from one of these hucksters, ask them if they are a beekeeper. Answer: no. Its too bad that Al Gore cornered the global warming sham before them.
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