Film triggers rat craze in France http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7027671.stm It may not have featured at Paris Fashion Week, but in France there's one must-have item this season: a rat. Ratatouille - an American animated film about a French rodent with lofty aspirations - has prompted a spike in rat sales across the country." Since the film came out in August, there has been a real fashion for rats," said Gerald Moreau, vice president of rat support group APRAC."There's no doubt it has changed the perception of rats," he told the BBC. "Before rats were seen as disgusting, but now people see them as intelligent, cute, social animals." Since the film's French release, the number of visitors to Mr Moreau's l'Association de Promotion du Rat comme Animal de Compagnie (APRAC) has increased eightfold, from 50 hits per hour to more than 400, he said. The sale of rat accessories from the site, meanwhile, has leapt by 40%.
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Mr Moreau, 25, argues the increase is understandable. "Rats are much smarter, much more interesting than hamsters or mice," he said. "They recognise their name and grow very attached to their owner - they play with you like a dog or a cat." And Mr Moreau would know, as he and his girlfriend keep 19 of the long-tailed rodents as pets at home. There are now around five million pet rats in France, industry figures suggest. Combining that figure with the 60 million living wild, mostly in urban areas such as Paris, makes the urban legend that a human is always within 20 feet of a rodent in the French capital that much more credible.
Estou parva... Como é possível ter como pet o animal responsável pela peste negra!? Não percebo. Sei bem que o marketing deste tipo de filmes é agressivo, mas daí até morar com um bicho daqueles, vai uma grande distância: a distância entre "olha que animal adorável" até "chama o exterminador".
Uma opção mais moderada foi a encontrada pelo Museum of London, a propósito da exposição da Londres medieval, sim e da peste negra, onde estes adoráveis peluches estão à venda na gift shop:
No domingo lá vamos nós ver uma free screening do famoso Rat-a-to-ee, mas julgo que este filme não fará por mim aquilo que nem uma muito cara terapia faria: curar a minha fobia de ratazanas (sim, porque "rat" não é rato!!). E eu nem gosto sequer de ratatouille, o prato ex-libris da culinária francesa.
Continua no domingo.
