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 English paper on Finding Nemo..

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mangoman

mangoman


Join date : 2011-07-12
Posts : 755

English paper on Finding Nemo.. Empty
PostSubject: English paper on Finding Nemo..   English paper on Finding Nemo.. EmptyMon Nov 28, 2011 2:20 pm

Had to write an argumenitive paper for my eng. comp 1 class..

Decided to write it on the effects of finding nemo. Saddly there's not much research out there and its hard to get statistics without calling/emailing people. I was short on time (had to write this before I left for thanksgiving) so I had to skip a lot of nice facts Sad

Anyway, here it is, I don't know the grade on it yet..

hopefully an A! fingers-crossed My teacher's pretty nice





Eight years ago, the story of a father’s search for his lost son captured our hearts. In the movie “Finding Nemo,” the loveable clownfish “Nemo” is taken from his reef home by a diver, and put into a dentist’s aquarium and his father sets out to find him and bring him home. While a very touching story, the movie also projects a strong message. The writers of Disney and Pixar’s 2003 film “Finding Nemo” inteded to show viewers that animals are better off when left in their natural habitat; however, the mega-hit movie birthed an unpredicted outcome. Everyone now wanted his/her own “Nemo”! This new surge in the demand for clownfish has had widespread effects: pet stores gained new customers, more people have become aquarium hobbyists, wild populations of clownfish dropped and aquaculture breeding of clownfish increased. While the movie’s purpose may have been to protect wild marine life, “Finding Nemo” had quite the opposite effect by making the saltwater aquarium hobby increasingly popular.

One of the more visable effects of the movie “Finding Nemo”, was kids everywhere wanted a “Nemo” clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) for their very own. While a somewhat predictable outcome, from a heart-warming movie with a cute loveable character, many people were still amazed at how many people joined the hobby due to one movie. A similar scenario occurred when “101 and 102 Dalmations” hit the theaters: kids all over America wanted their own Dalmation dogs and thus many families became dog-owners . Following the “Finding Nemo” release, pet stores all over the world started carrying clownfish. “Nemo” kits (small, cramped tanks with a “Nemo” in them) became available at such unlikely places as kiosks in shopping malls. Disney and Pixar’s script writers wrote “Finding Nemo” to discourage people to from buying wild-caught aquarium fish, not sky-rocket the sales of them. Some kids have tried to flush their “Nemo’s” down the toilet to release them back to the ocean (an escape method used in the movie). While a part of the message was succesfully received, the rest of it was totally ignored: people were buying clownfish left and right for their pleading children after seeing the movie. This increase in demand has caused some stores to see as much as a 50% increase in sales of “Nemo” clownfish, certainly not what the writers predicted.


The repurcussions of this surge in clownfish popularity have been brutal to wild populations of clownfish. Accoriding to Dr. Sinclair, an expert who has conducted numerous studies, some areas have experienced population declines “by more than seventy-five percent!” On the flip side, large breeding companies like Oceans, Reefs and Aquariums (ORA) have experienced an increase in the amount of clownfish being ordered by pet stores, with some breeders reporting as high as a 20% increase just in ocellaris clownfish. Many private hobbyists have also ventured into captive rearing, raising clownfish out of their houses and selling them to fellow hobbyists. While all this sounds encouraging, there still are not enough ocellaris clownfish being captive-bred to compete with the ease and low cost of wild harvesting that is so prevelant. The additional pressure being put on wild populations has had a few benefits though. Additional people are being hired as fish collectors, more people have taken notice of how fish are collected and there has been a more emphasis put on sustainable and ethical collecting programs.


One of the industries that “Finding Nemo” has benefited the most has been the private aquarium hobby. There have been major improvements all over the industry; everything from the water chemistry to the way we feed our fish has been revolutionized since “Finding Nemo” came out. While most improvements have not been directly related to the movie, many have come about due to the sudden increase in people in the hobby and the need for major renovations. Pet shops dedicated strictly to saltwater fish and corals have sprung up in most cities. There are dozens of online forums available for hobbyists with incredible amounts of information, tips, and experimentation experiences available at a mere “click” of a mouse. Leaps and bounds have been made in the improvement of water chemistry and the corals that are now accepted as “easy-to-keep”.

While these immense improvements cannot be directly linked to the movie’s release, the increase in the number of hobbyists experimenting has surely had something to do with it. I think it is fair to say that these are not the results the writers would have predicted when they encouraged people to give up their collecting of wild fish and try to conserve the reefs. However, I think the writers would still agree that these changes did have positve benefits.


“Finding Nemo” was a great example of how often it is hard to predict the outcome a movie will have on the viewers. Thankfully, “Finding Nemo” had a primarily favorable effect on its viewers; there were some areas that were impacted detrimentally but the rest seems to have turned out alright.


Citations:
1. "How Finding Nemo Destroyed the Clownfish | Drew Davis." Andrew Davis | Professional Speaker. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://morekeynote.com/2011/06/29/how-finding-nemo-destroyed-the-clownfish/>.

2. Kohen, Kevin. "Finding Nemo . . . In Your Home?" Aquarium Fish: Tropical Freshwater Fish and Saltwater Fish for Home Aquariums. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=197>.

3. MacAllister, Tiffany. "Fish Are Friends: The Effects of Finding Nemo on Clownfish - Gainesville Aquatic Pets | Examiner.com." Welcome to Examiner.com | Examiner.com. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://www.examiner.com/aquatic-pets-in-gainesville/fish-are-friends-the-effects-of-finding-nemo-on-clownfish-1>.

4. Wilson, Christie. "'Finding Nemo' Spurring Sales of Clownfish | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper." Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Jun/17/ln/ln16a.html>.
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Sam_G
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Sam_G


Join date : 2011-01-15
Posts : 2530

English paper on Finding Nemo.. Empty
PostSubject: Re: English paper on Finding Nemo..   English paper on Finding Nemo.. EmptyMon Nov 28, 2011 3:18 pm

Looks like an A+ to me! Very Happy
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AshleyG

AshleyG


Join date : 2011-08-28
Posts : 266

English paper on Finding Nemo.. Empty
PostSubject: Re: English paper on Finding Nemo..   English paper on Finding Nemo.. EmptyTue Nov 29, 2011 3:20 pm

I'm impressed with those research articles too, makes for a very good read! Those numbers sure are daunting, aren't they?
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