Random Thoughts

By dave on November 2, 2006 12:34 AM | Permalink

Today's random thought.

American Documentaries about esoteric subjects try to engage the average guy by disguising the whole thing in sports metaphors (10 most poisonous spiders, 20 most carnivorous sheep, etc). BBC documentaries are not afraid to show boffins (geeks) being excited about things which appear to be as dull as ditchwater and then they explain just why these are exciting.

This leads, in my opinion, to a better class of presenter from the BBC. They must know their subject, and preferably be a boffin themselves. They should be passionate about their subject and expect the viewers to pay attention. This leads to a higher class of documentary, where the presenter clearly expects you to care about what he's saying and to take pleasure in the wonder of what he's showing you. (c.f. David Attenborough in, well, anything, but The Blue Planet, plus just about everything he's ever made, springs to mind. Also see: Carl Sagan.)

When it's reduced to "10 fastest/weirdest/most orthogonal", it becomes a soundbite show, treating the viewer like an idiot with a short attention span.

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