animal "documentaries" - the weird/dark side
I'm watching a documentary as I type - it's about animals in entertainment (produced by the canadian broadcasting corporation). really interesting.
nature/wildlife "documentary" makers use animal actors, captive and trained - the "natural" actions of the animals are choreographed. weird. it's the dark side of natural history filmmaking - IMAX, the discovery channel, and other corporations call up agencies like Animals of Montana, Inc (http://www.animalsofmontana.com/) for animal actors.
just to get ratings, to make their films more interesting...
I never would have guessed it. but it makes sense that they'd do this, doesn't it? we're not seeing the animals in their natural state. it's weird to me. it's like propaganda. oh, and I'm sure the animals are treated wonderfully, too. no abuse whatsoever.
anyways, I just thought I'd share.
After watching "Earthlings" I am very suspect to how animals appear in entertainment. One way of thinking is that humans have absolute dominion over animals naturally. Another way is to think that animals are abused if they do the wrong thing and eventually are trained to do the right thing for the cameras. I am becoming to realize that animals may not always be treated the best off screen....
Anyways, I hope the documentary was enlightening!
Laura, I watched that show last night & found it to be very disturbing. I have always loved watching nature shows & wondered how they got all the incredible shots that they get...well, now I know. They were all staged using animal 'actors' that were NOT in their natural habitat.
Did you see the part that showed the baby polar bear trying to climb the steep hill? They said it was way up north somewhere but it was in fact, filmed in Calgary on a ski hill. The fall that the baby bear took was terrible. At first he started to toboggan down the hill but quickly picked up so much speed that he was tumbling head over heels...It's a wonder he didn't get hurt (or killed) when it hit rocks at the bottom. I was mad when I learned what they do to get a 'money shot' as someone called it.
I don't know if I'll ever watch another nature show again. If they said in the documentary that what we are seeing is not wild animals in their natural habitat, that would be one thing. I could choose to not watch but to infer that it is wild animals, is definitely misrepresentation. I don't understand how it can be allowed.
I know, it's pretty terrible.
if anyone wants to see the show, it's available online at: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/cruelcamera/
I just finished watching this. I have to say I look at things like Planet Earth in a totally different light now...
And Jane Goodall is my hero!!!
Waaay back in the day, "Wild Kingdom" always had this proviso on their credits: Some scenes have been re-created. I take it that is what they meant, so obviously it's not a new phenomenon.
(Kind of like those dumb "re-enactments" on those silly reality shows. Which I prefer the Spanglish name for: wealitee chows.)