You only have to watch a TV documentary about nature to realise how we love to see it portrayed in all of its splendour. Films about nature have elevating music, that special way of narrating, and amazing imagery. But…can we connect with something that we idealise?

It’s a rainy Sunday. We sit back and relax on the couch, ready to watch a documentary about the natural world. Soon the narrator, cameraperson, director and the producer, all take us by the hand to explore that otherworldly, natural world. Exactly in the way we love so much. We go through a series of extreme close-ups, intense slow motion and magical soundtracks.

With all of our senses

So much spectacular beauty should be experienced on a huge screen with surround sound. Engaging all of our senses. We should sit back with a snack, and let stunning images and music take us to unimaginable heights. Why shouldn’t we? The natural world is awe-inspiring and we should watch in a way that matches that. In a big, epic way.

Hero-worshipping

But (you heard it coming), when we romanticise something, do we create a ‘them and us’ situation? Also beteen people that ‘get it’ and those that do not? Perhaps, in doing so, we make it something unattainable? Can we truly see it?

Are we so fascinated by the images that we don’t notice certain things? For example, why so many films about wildlife focus on inter-animal killing? And how this can be giving us a distorted view of nature?

Do we stop to think that some images and sounds are sometimes simply too beautiful and perfect to have been produced at that specific moment? That some were created in staged situations, with captive animals, or are the result of biased editing?

Do we remind ourselves that the film we watch is a story, a mere perspective of the filmmakers? And that this often colours how we see nature? Do we wonder how concerned the filmmakers were when they did not to intervene when animals were being killed?

Magic and down to earth?

What would happen if we changed our perspective on nature films? For example, by seeing the natural world as something beautiful, but without all the bells and whistles. Without admiring it from a distance. To see it as something magical and complicated, but also as down-to-earth and simple? After all, we can ask ourselves the question: aren’t we ‘nature’ ourselves?

Can we see the natural world as something that is just as magical and complicated, as it is down-to-earth and simple? Can we truly connect with nature when we don’t?

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