First off, I participated in a study like this once in college (I sold my body for science pretty regularly; I was poor). The scientists wanted to see whether actual fear or just worry had an impact on sexual arousal, so they set me up with a sensor in my cooter and a randomly-rotating series of film clips that including porn, nature videos that did not show animals fucking, and a "scary" scene from the movie. That scene, unfortunately for them, was the dental-torture scene from Marathon Man. I say "unfortunately" because I am not scared of dentists and so I just busted out laughing and probably skewed their results. The same standard applies here: pictures can or can not be frightening to people, depending on their phobias or preconceived notions. One could just as easily say that conservatives are more prone to being afraid of bugs, or that liberal have more exposure to bugs since they're "outdoorsy" or something and thus aren't scared. Like, you want to get that enormous spider crawling on my face, I think I'd react with plenty of fear, but looking at it once removed it totally fine. I could also argue with the sample size and homogenous population of the study, but at least the author, John Alford, acknowledges that as a flaw.

Look, it's a brilliant study for an election year because it allows people to spin it anyway they want — and if the Newsweek article and the one in the National Geographic News are any indication, people have already started. Conservatives are scared of every little shadow! Liberals aren't scared enough! Politics has its roots in biology! The red state-blue state divide cannot be overcome! Like any survey, you can pull out the conclusions that you like best — and most people will.

Ummm, oh, and Alford thinks that Mark Penn is has "a sort of folk wisdom that exceeds the general knowledge, and even the academic knowledge." Okay, now, that's some scary shit right there.

Are You More Likely To Be Politically Left Or Right If You Scare Easily? [Scientific American]
Spiders, Maggots, Politics [Newsweek]
Conservatives Have Stronger Startle Reflexes? [National Geographic News]

Nathalia Ramos, who plays Yasmin (and whom we suspect has been coached), sums it up: "Nothing scandalous. One of the things about the movie is to change the reputation of the dolls." Hear that, parents? The movie will not be skanky!

Over in the Inquirer, the stars emphasize the positivity and friendship of the movie. (The word "friend" or "friendship" appears six times in the article.) "Moms love it," says Ramos. "There's this one line where Cloe goes, 'My mom is my hero,' and all the moms in the audience just go, 'Awww.'" So. For those slow to pick up: Kids lured in by a glamorous, pseudo-sexy doll are getting the old bait-and-switch, because the movie is not like that at all. Skanky doll; clean movie. Any questions?

By the way, a few reviews are in over at Rotten Tomatoes. Some highlights:

"The storyline is almost too easy to rag on, what with its almost complete incoherence..."

"Wow, is this movie mind-numblingly vapid and shrill."

"'Bratz' is like being raped by MySpace."

Earlier: The Bratz Movie Will Be So Good For Feminism, In Case You Can't Tell From All The Shopping And Makeup
The Unsluttification Of Bratz?