Bird-watching TV: getting intimate with wildlife on Planet Earth II

Abstract

On a cold, remote island, a huge colony of chinstrap penguins makes its home at the foot of an active volcano. As seen on television in Planet Earth II (BBC, 2016), the dramatic scenery appears treacherous and intimidating, but every day chinstrap parents must venture out into the surrounding water to gather food for their young. From over a million of these penguins, the television camera eventually narrows its focus to one family. While the father is out hunting, the mother penguin stays at the nest, bravely sheltering two chicks from marauding predators. But the chicks need food. In a tight close-up shot, one of the penguin hatchlings looks up at its mother, vulnerable and hungry. ‘Everything will be fine’, presenter David Attenborough portentously narrates, ‘as long as their father comes back soon’. On television, animals act out melodramas that are recognizably human.1 And like melodrama, wildlife documentaries make...