RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 “This series will take you to the last wildernesses”—Planet Earth and the Question of the Animal
A1 Wieme, Marie-Theres
K1 Planet Earth (2006)
K1 Non-human othering
K1 Emotional involvement
K1 Maintenance and deconstruction of nature-culture divide
K1 Otredad de no-humanos
K1 Implicación emocional
K1 Mantenimiento y deconstrucción de la dicotomía naturaleza-cultura
K1 Literatura
K1 Literature
K1 Medio ambiente
K1 Environmental science
AB Although generally marketed as disinterested and scientific sources of information, blue chip nature documentaries actively participate in both the maintenance and subversion of the nature-culture dichotomy. Using the award-winning BBC mega series Planet Earth (2006) as its example, the following article illustrates how non-human animals are presented as other to humans, but also argues that the degree and mechanisms used vary depending on the familiarity of both the species and habitat in question. In keeping with current ecofeminist theories, particular attention is also paid to scenes where the hierarchy reveals traces of its own production, which are revealed by a close reading of some sequences from three different episodes of the series. These traces allow a perceptive audience to question the othering of the non-human. One particularly potent problematisation of these narratives occurs whenever the series appeals to the audience’s emotional engagement, since such an emotional appeal also weakens the documentary’s overt claim to disinterested objectivity. Thus, on a metalevel, the article also furthers research into how documentaries can function as emotional machines.
PB Universidad de Alcalá
SN 2171-9594
YR 2013
FD 2013-10
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10017/20270
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10017/20270
LA eng
DS MINDS@UW
RD 05-dic-2023