It sure seems like those scenes were dramatacized far beyond the others, and the goriness maximized.
So you don’t think that most animals feel emotion? How many pets have you had close relationships with? I just don’t get this mindset as it conflicts with all the evidence that I’ve ever seen in my whole life, as well as general logic.
No, I don’t. Dogs have evolved and have been selected to become fantastic mimics of emotion, but I don’t believe that’s actually what they’re experiencing. For a board dedicated to fighting ignorance, this article might be of interest. I certainly like dogs, and have had some great pets in the past, but I’m willing to consider that like every other member of the animal kingdom, dogs are driven by the impulse to propigate their genes, and the solution this particular subspecies has settled on is to allow for stunted development and perminent juvenile behavior to elicit our misdirected maternal instincts.
I wouldn’t go so far as the author to say it’s a bad deal for humans: I think the symbiosis between humans and dogs has probably had net benefit for a lot of communities, not only in terms of hunting but also serving humans’ emotional needs. But dogs have been selected genetically for this behavior, to a great extent artificially so.
Perhaps they only seem to have special emphasis because you have an especially strong emotional reaction to such material? Like you’ve got specific subjects that trigger tunnel vision. Obviously unless you have a bizarre phobia of animals walking, you’re not going to note that they’re being shown in a similar dramatic fashion.
And yeah, I can understand siding with the mammals, but you have to remember that that was an especially good day for the crocodile. Watch a documentary about crocs and you’ll likely see how much danger and death baby crocs experience, and the strong protective instinct of the mother crocs.
And death scenes are dramatic because death IS dramatic to witness. I agree with others who wonder exactly why you feel those scenes sbould not be shown in dramatic fashion. Are we to watch death scenes with a stoic, matter of fact presentation worthy of a sociopath? We acknowledge the dramatic nature of death when we film or watch those scenes.
There is no objective basis for that belief though. The scenes were shot exactly like any other scenes in the episode.
I’m willing to concede that might be true.
You and I probably don’t have much to talk about, then. I’ve seen plenty of genuine emotions in my cats. Both toward me and toward each other. I don’t see any reason to believe that’s “mimicked” verses real. Why assume it isn’t exactly what it appears to be? You don’t need to answer that–as I said, you and I probably have very little to discuss.
Gee, I somehow have the suspicion that you’ve filed me away as a Bad Person in your book.
And the fact that you failed to remember multiple such instances tends to reinforce the idea.
Not really sure why, but this gets my vote for the winner winner ducky dinner.
I watch a lot of nature documentaries, and I don’t entirely agree with this. I’ve found that in the past few years, there has been a change in the way many nature documentaries deal with the actual moment of impact, if you will, and that this exceeds the amount of time and detail shown on most (not all) aspects of life. It feels vaguely pornographic to me. In part, I think this is due to the availability of super high-speed cameras now; the moment of impact can be slowed down to super-slow-motion so that each instant can be seen in vivid detail. They also do this for things like showing the actual wing motion of birds and insects, for example, but I think they do it more consistently and more lingeringly for predatory interactions.
There’s no question in my mind that they do this to up the emotional impact for the viewer, and I’ve found the trend mildly distasteful. I’d rather that time be spent on additional information.
When David Attenborough writes it (as oppposed to just doing the narration), it’s usually just about right the right balance. His series Life of Mammals and Blue Planet were just about right (as was his recent program First Life), but I found Planet Earth, where he only wrote five of eleven episodes, to be a little overly focused on the precise moments of predation. I don’t think anyone could seriously accuse Attenborough of overly romanticizing or "cute"ifying the natural world. He’s clearly fascinated by every aspect of it, but there are no rosy goggles there.
You know, I teared up at the wildebeast baby that just couldn’t walk anymore, and it’s mother left it, and the vultures moved in approximately 37 seconds later. It didn’t make me think “the filmmakers are exploiting this creature’s death for the amusement of sickos”. It did make me think “Shit, I’d better go out and buy tampons.”
I’m sure it was very sad, but are we really so easily manipulated that some loud sound effects and sad music will get a reaction? I mean, really? I like to think I’m above it and that I also require some pretty cutting edge dialogue before my emotions are involved.
Though considering my reaction to close up shots of dogs with a wide angle lens…maybe not…
Not me, that’s for sure. Hell, these days if I want to get aroused I have to go out and kill the damn animals myself.
I’m still giggling at this five minutes later.
I whip out my trusty channel flipper and watch something else. Then i come back after the gore is done.
But then how else will you be able to describe the scene in detail on the Internet?
This OP kind of reminds me of the one about how awful certain books were (the Marquis de Sade among others)–oh, and could we list the titles of some similar books? Just, you know, for research purposes. If watching these scenes was really that upsetting, would you really want to constantly post about how horribly sad and disturbed you were, or would you rather just change the channel and move on?
Amusing post/username combo. 
But see I really like the rest of the show. And I really wouldn’t mind the circle of life bits if they were over fast and not so zoomed in. You know, so I could just kind of unfocus my eyes for a few seconds and be all set? You have to understand I’m a ginormous softie about animals though. I’ve cried driving past road kill before. I fully admit to being hypersensitive.
Well shit, at least it wasn’t a male deer getting killed. Then the OP would have *really *freaked out.