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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

David Attenborough

121 replies

felineflutter · 15/10/2020 14:14

To be find his nature programmes too distressing to watch and children should be spared from watching them?

Ok so little flamingo with salt stuck to legs so couldn't keep up with his/her peers in search of water? DS still asking did he make it? Penguin being bopped around like a volleyball and his little face in the killer whales jaw. Luckily DS didn't watch this episode and probably won't watch the rest of the series.

I get this is life but surely they could skip the gruesome bits? We know animals eat other animals but I don't want to see the inside of an abattoir for entertainment either?

OP posts:

PlanetSlattern · 15/10/2020 15:05

Or rather, birth*, death and sex.

Ylfa · 15/10/2020 15:05

Maybe it’s because we live rurally but roadkill, hunting, commercial shoots, sheep randomly dying, buzzards with baby bunnies in their talons, the sparrow hawk swooping into our garden and grabbing a live snack - all this stuff happens every day and gives you a good grasp of life and death. Even Beatrix Potter is scary for very young children if they’re not exposed to reality first.

AllPlayedOut · 15/10/2020 15:09

I do think the way that nature documentaries are filmed now is very different to what I watched as a child in the '90s. I used to love nature documentaries and watched them obsessively. A particular favourite was a series called The Velvet Claw which was about carnivores so obviously showed a lot of hunting but they weren't filmed or narrated in the almost lurid way they seem to be now. They focus on the suffering in a way that I don't remember these shows doing when I was younger. They used to be presented much more factually. Now it feels as though the animals are soap characters and every detail of their struggle lingered over.

I no longer watch them.

BlusteryShowers · 15/10/2020 15:11

It's real nature; there are no heroes and villains in the natural world. They use the footage to make a dramatic story for interest purposes and there is often a lot of emotion involved. They're often intended to be quite a hard watch to encourage the viewer to take an interest in conservation and environmental issues.

It is for the parent to decide what to let our children watch. There are more child friendly, less suspenseful series' out there for them to learn about animals.

EmpressSuiko · 15/10/2020 15:11

I will add A life on our planet got very serious, we watched it all with great interest but my DD was very sad about the predictions of what could happen if we don’t change, it’s didn’t scare her but it made her uncomfortable. It did start a brilliant conversation between us all on what we (humans) did wrong in the past and how we’ve all been working hard to make changes and what else we can do to ensure a brighter future for the natural world.

Original poster

felineflutter · 15/10/2020 15:15

DA doesn't focus on the hunt. What else is there, other than life, death and sex?

Social interactions, ingenuity, migration and nest building etc!

OP posts:

Ylfa · 15/10/2020 15:17

What are nest building and social interaction and migration and ingenuity FOR if not the perpetuation of the species ie sex?

EmpressSuiko · 15/10/2020 15:18

He does cover those topics though?

FrankskinnerscRoc · 15/10/2020 15:22

I find the sound of his voice absolutely soul destroying & have to switch him off or leave the room.

Branches1 · 15/10/2020 15:22

I agree with OP. I feel many nature shows are rather depressing. I used to love nature programmes as a child and I distinctly remember distressing scenes of animals being hunted and the like but I feel it’s more gory these days.

Also pretty much all of these programmes dedicate a large chunk to topics like global warming/plastics in oceans etc etc, all very doom and gloom with the dying corals etc etc. These are all very important issues and I absolutely feel that our children need to be aware of them, but could we have some shows that celebrate the beauty in nature and/or are educational without all the misery? What I’m saying is that I’d like to show my children both types of programmes: the ones that educate re important environmental issues, and also the ones that are mesmerising and beautiful.

Original poster

felineflutter · 15/10/2020 15:26

Yes Branches1, sometimes you just want to wonder in awe at the beauty of nature.

OP posts:

cakeforbreakfast1 · 15/10/2020 15:31

Maybe just stick to nature shows on cbbc ?

vanillandhoney · 15/10/2020 15:31

@felineflutter

Yes Branches1, sometimes you just want to wonder in awe at the beauty of nature.

Then maybe watch a different set of programmes for that kind of thing? There are thousands of nature documentaries out there - YouTube has a lot of old ones focusing on different species from the BBC archives that are very good.

blubberball · 15/10/2020 15:36

I used to love watching Steve Irwin too. I miss him a lot.

blubberball · 15/10/2020 15:37

There's also a nice programme on Disney + at the moment, following behind the scenes at their Animal kingdom park in Florida. Quite a sweet programme.

vanillandhoney · 15/10/2020 15:39

@blubberball

There's also a nice programme on Disney + at the moment, following behind the scenes at their Animal kingdom park in Florida. Quite a sweet programme.

Ooh, yes. Disney+ have a lot of good nature programmes on there. There's a good series called the Yukon Vet about a lady named Michelle who is a vet in Alaska - as well as domestic cases she does work for local zoos and wildlife parks too.

It follows her practise and her family as they accompany her to work - it's really good. Some episodes are also available on NowTV.

MayYouLiveInInterestingTimes · 15/10/2020 15:42

@Caroncanta

But why does DA focus on the hunt?

Because it's aimed at people who actually want to learn more.

and ohallrightthen "Because there's not much to discuss when it comes to their interior design skills?"

Actually I think the op has a point. There are other aspects of life even among animals. I have noticed a tendency among wildlife films to focus more and more on the "sensational" hunt aspects. They deliberately select and show just the short "interesting" clips of events, whereas years ago there would have been a longer film on, e.g. lions or meerkats, showing them living all their lives, including the points where there was just a group lazing around. Whoever it was who complained about people romanticising life in the wild is of course correct: but we seem to have jumped to the other extreme. And why not show the increasing evidence we have built up now about tool use, or about building their homes instead?

DA's modern films in my view are constructed to be a symptom and sign of the changes in our own culture just as much as any reflection of reality.

LavaCake · 15/10/2020 15:43

I actually think people probably should be made to watch footage from an abattoir - it would reduce meat consumption enormously imo. At least in nature the prey animal has a chance of getting out alive.

I wouldn’t let a young or sensitive child watch a nature programme, but I think it’s important for kids to appreciate that nature is brutal as well as beautiful. You see so much anthropomorphising of animals these days, and it’s not a healthy attitude to have towards them. We have to appreciate animals for what they are (sometimes viciously bloodthirsty) and not what we want them to be or think is cute.

vanillandhoney · 15/10/2020 15:46

Whoever it was who complained about people romanticising life in the wild is of course correct: but we seem to have jumped to the other extreme. And why not show the increasing evidence we have built up now about tool use, or about building their homes instead?

But there ARE lots of programmes out here that focus on those things. It's not like DA documentaries are the only option. Disney+ has lots, National Geographic too. Sky Nature is another channel. The latter two are both available for free on NowTV, plus there are lots of slightly older documentaries on YouTube from the BBC.

If you don't like DA's style, just watch some of the hundreds of other options out there.

Youandmeareluckytobeus · 15/10/2020 15:47

We know animals eat other animals but I don't want to see the inside of an abattoir for entertainment either?
But how do you really know that animals eat other animals? Surely it is only because you have seen it on TV or do you just take someone else's word for it?

NotOfThisWorld · 15/10/2020 15:50

What I’m saying is that I’d like to show my children both types of programmes: the ones that educate re important environmental issues, and also the ones that are mesmerising and beautiful.

But there are loads of nature documentaries like that. DA became famous and well respected for depicting nature as it is; sometimes awe inspiringly beautiful, sometimes brutal and soul destroying, always fragile.

There are plenty of documentaries that shy away from the gritty reality, especially on CBBC which are directed towards children. They're not as well respected because they're not as broadly realistic but there are plenty out there. It's a bit much to insist DA himself has to make the particular type of nature documentary you enjoy.

NotOfThisWorld · 15/10/2020 15:52

We know animals eat other animals but I don't want to see the inside of an abattoir for entertainment either?

The point of the documentaries isn't to offer light entertainment, it's meant to be educational and illuminating. I don't always enjoy watching every scene but I'm glad I did because I learned something new, occasionally it's something brutal. If you want to watch something lighter that's fine - but then why put it on in the first place?

Enchantmentz · 15/10/2020 15:55

I think yabu, I haven't watched those episodes for a good while. Is there no warning in the info section for each episode? My dc was unfazed by that season, I did have empathy for the baby flamingo as it was clearly implicated that it was going to die. The worst episode is the walruses(I think) climbing high up onto cliffs because there isn't space but due to poor eyesight and lack ability to climb down many fall to their deaths. Very sad to see however that is life and sure children can be sensitive to it but they can also build resilience to the realities of life through this kind of exposure, it is up to you to judge when and how that is done. My dd at your ds age would peer down at any animal corpse she came across for a good 20 minutes to inspect it if we let her.

I don't get the fandom for DA although I do appreciate his work and quality of his documentaries, they are excellent and informative.

Hangingover · 15/10/2020 16:01

You should write to him OP, tell him to make nature a bit nicer for your DC

Leaannb · 15/10/2020 16:01

@felineflutter

So I would probably shield a child or most people from throttling a rabbit and skinning it before I put it in a soup but hey that's just me.

I went out of my way to teach my children that. Its a good skill to learn

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