Poor Koko. Her pigheaded trainer, Penny Patterson, has not only demanded that Koko communicate using only human sign language (instead of ape grunts), but she has also reduced Koko's gorilla-integrity even more by having her tart herself up with make-up and, with feather duster in hand, go around dusting and tidying up her living space. Talk about total humiliation for poor Koko.
And, when it all came down to this annoying, incessant needling (5 years of it) from Patterson for Koko to "sign! sign! sign!" - I ask you - What good did it all do for the benefit of Koko, as a wild animal, who belongs in the jungle, hanging out with her own kind - Instead of "signing" and playing with dolls.
You know, this 1978 documentary actually riled me a lot more than I initially thought that it would - 'Cause what I saw the self-righteous Penny Patterson doing (all in the name of scientific research) was completely destroying the gorilla in Koko.
What this documentary really needed was for someone to come forward and intelligently argue to the contrary of what Patterson was doing with this ape's head.
Yes. There was a bit of argument to this effect, but from my perspective, it just wasn't anywhere near enough to satisfy this decidedly irked off viewer.
And, when it all came down to this annoying, incessant needling (5 years of it) from Patterson for Koko to "sign! sign! sign!" - I ask you - What good did it all do for the benefit of Koko, as a wild animal, who belongs in the jungle, hanging out with her own kind - Instead of "signing" and playing with dolls.
You know, this 1978 documentary actually riled me a lot more than I initially thought that it would - 'Cause what I saw the self-righteous Penny Patterson doing (all in the name of scientific research) was completely destroying the gorilla in Koko.
What this documentary really needed was for someone to come forward and intelligently argue to the contrary of what Patterson was doing with this ape's head.
Yes. There was a bit of argument to this effect, but from my perspective, it just wasn't anywhere near enough to satisfy this decidedly irked off viewer.