I am an avid watcher of documentary productions by the National Geographic Society.
In Sydney, documentaries by the National Geographic Society are usually about the reproduction cycle of plants or animals, about travel, about marine ecosystems, etc etc. You know, the David Attenborough type of documentaries.
Here in Malaysia, it seems that Nat Geo Wild on Astro seems to be mainly about killing and death!!!
For example, it will be about vicious African killers like lions, cheetahs and leopards.
Or it’ll be about deadly snakes and spiders from around the world.
Or it’ll be about killers sharks and orcas.
Or it’ll be about killer elephants and hippos!!
Kill, kill, kill.
kill…. kiLL….KILLLLL
To make sure one doesn’t miss the violence and killing, the documentaries are usually repeated several times throughout the week in different time slots.
For example, right now, I am watching “Africa’s Deadliest Giant Killers”. I can already predict there will be plenty of lions killing prey and ripping into flesh, or crocodiles tearing up wildebeests, or hyenas crunching on carrions.
The Astro synopsis for this documentary is “There is no peace in Africa for natures giant killers.”
Just before this I was watching “Animal Superpowers” about killer ants, killer alligators and the peregrine falcon. That synopsis was “Patrick Stewart unravels the mysterious superpowers of natures most successful killers – the alligator, peregrine falcon, and army ant.”
Next up, the documentary is “Animal Fight Club”. This synopsis is “Episode looks at a rookie tiger whose hunger for territory ends in fatal violence.”
Now bear in mind that this is a truly random slice of the programming for the Nat Geo Wild channel on Astro. I had just decided to write about it just now.
If one goes to the Astro page for the programs available for the rest of the week for Nat Geo Wild, one will find lots of programming for similar violent documentaries.
I have just realised that by the time you look at that link, programming may have changed but then given past history, I have a feeling that you will still see similar programming even if you read this article in a few months.
The hilarious thing I find is that the page title for the Nat Geo Wild channel proudly boasts “National Geographic Wild – Learning Channel”!!
So, exactly what is a viewer supposed to be learning when watching Nat Geo Wild on Astro?
I would what other viewers of Nat Geo Wild think.
In the wild animal world, killing is for survival. However, in the human world, killing for money,income, greed, luxurious….Both are cruel….the weak will be defeated…the stronger alive….the other stronger merge up….repeat the recycle….
Hm… both may be cruel but one of them is an act of nature and has been going on since the first organism existed.
The question is whether those acts of nature need to be repeated over and over and over in such fine detail.
As an aside, I note that the weekend programming seem to not have any of the gratuitous violence I saw during the week days.
I’ll bet that the violence will return to screen come Monday.
In my opinion, food cycle as an act of nature should not screen in such fine detail. However, it need days, weeks or even years to snapshot the details. This is big project for the biologist or the researcher. For the sake of the healthy generation, the violence should be focus away or edit before the programme is on.
Well, Astro seems to like screening the most explicit and gory details – almost every day 🙂
Better switch off the channel. However, Youtube also got the agony screening…
Hm… I am not sure if switching off is the answer.
It is more the sociological aspect that I am interested in – eg what is Astro’s motivation for showing such programming?
Good question for research. The planning for good documentary programme and the resources is demanded.
Well, the last few days – Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues have been quite good in terms of programming (light hearted docos, educational studies, etc) but we seem to be back to the death and destruction again.
Surely Astro must know the effect of such programming on viewers, especially the young ones.