Nature Shows

Occasionally PBS will have a show that catches my eye. The other day landed on one about these veterinarians in Africa (Botswana maybe?) that worked at a habitat for elephants. A baby elephant had some disease they needed to monitor so they separated him from the pack to medicate him and monitor his progress. I’m not sure what diseases he contracted or why he needed to be separated. The saddest part was watching these doctors and clinic workers drag this little guy away from his family while they freaked out and try to attack the workers, who they basically trust. The little elephant came around after a few days of serious emotional turmoil and started feeding from a bottle. 

Most of us won't get to experience animals in the wild or even in a reserve. These shows get us closer than we otherwise might. 

The BBC is the gold standard. Their nature stuff is impressive; the camera work is flawless. Each episode of Planet Earth, or Blue Planet tells small stories inside of larger ones, colonies of pipers within island communities and how dolphins follow mackerels. I’m cynical enough to think maybe the footage doesn’t show exactly what it purports to show however. Does the family of geese on screen encounter predators exactly the way the narrator lays it out or am I seeing clever camera work and a lot of different geese? Are bison running from wolfs in real time, or is it different packs at different times? How much mundane filming do the crew engage in before they have enough footage? Every so often they get lucky. I thoroughly enjoyed this seal attack from a starving polar bear. I don’t think the film crew could have gotten a better shot if they air dropped the seal on the patch of Ice before releasing the skinny bear from a cage.

With filming it’s tough to get that perfect shot where the great white bites down on a struggling sea lion paddling like mad. I can understand adding sounds like crunching snow and bones cracking. Is it dishonest? I guess a little, but it’s a long way from staging events. It’s a little hard to take the ‘family’ dynamic angle in the stories cooked up by the narrator. Every pair of mating birds or turtles or snakes is somehow a family working hard to keep their offspring safe and learn a trade. Some animals mate for life and raise the next generation, wolves and penguins, but it isn’t the norm and notions of familial care seems forced. Narrators get carried away on this. I understand why they do it; it adds a personal touch in an otherwise monotonous video.

As to why I enjoy zoning out on nature films, this article gets it. From the Independent: “They are tranquilizing television, a form of social calming, as soothing and unthreatening as a hot bath.” Love the phrase ‘social calming’.  It almost sounds like the opposite of social media. I think it gets to the heart of why I enjoy them so much, I don’t have to follow characters, scripts and bother with Adult content if kids are in the room. So far the politics (mostly) are low key, running in the background but easy enough to ignore. There are too many dark, nihilistic shows on TV and Netflix and I’d rather not try analyze another philosophy. Certainly I’ll turn off anything preachy but most nature shows tread lightly hoping to avoid the fate of so many shows today, political exhaustion.

Nature and nature documentaries are different beasts, the same as watching a basketball game in the arena and seeing it on TV. But appreciation breeds experimentation and if the BBC is responsible for an interest in nature that leads to hiking and camping than bring it on. As of now I’m not a huge fan of camping, not the real kind at least with tents and lanterns. I’ll do the cabin style with the screen door and electric outlets, as long Wifi is available. I’m not crazy about clip clopping down to the shower carrying a towel and a change of clothes and hoping the last person didn’t use all the hot water.

I enjoy nature because it was created to be enjoyed. Natural wonder is a kind of unifying beauty we can all share. Animals are a part of it too. It isn’t surprising that so many of us love to see the same majestic stuff on summer vacations. From the Grand Canyon to Yosemite and the Rocky Mountains we all enjoy the same things.

So keep filming and creating; I’ll certainly be watching.