With the new restrictions announced yesterday, it is likely that we will all be spending more time indoors this Christmas. So, we’ve lined up our top five documentaries (all of which are currently available on Netflix) for you to take a look at over the holiday, and some of their links to the Geography Tripos. Enjoy!
1. Steven Rinella – Stars in the Sky: A hunting story
This documentary film follows the lives of American Hunters and aims to showcase the relationship they share with the environment. It presents moral and ethical debates, with responses from a wide variety of viewpoints. What I personally found most interesting about watching this documentary is the questions that it forces us to ask ourselves about where our food comes from and the process of ‘producing’ that food. As a Part II student who takes the ‘Political Appetites’ course, it was also interesting to reflect upon what was shown in the documentary to factory farms and more commercialised ways of producing meat. Overall, this is a really emotive, but interesting documentary!
As the title suggests, this documentary clearly focuses on hunting and the act of killing an animal, so viewer discretion is advised! This has clear links to the Part II food paper, which examines the question of ‘is hunting in human nature’, and to the Part II Politics of the Arctic course.
2. Jeff Orlowski – Chasing Coral
This fantastic documentary explores why coral reefs are disappearing, the process of coral bleaching and emotively calls us to action in order to save and protect our coral reefs. Not only is this a really interesting documentary, but the videography is stunning (which is unsurprising given the lengths the team went to in order to capture a coral bleaching event on time lapse).
Coral reefs are so important to our oceans, and they are directly affected by climate change – both in terms of coral bleaching but also coral growth potential, which is essential for coastal protection for low-lying coastlines. So if you’re still not convinced this documentary is one to watch here are a few reasons why we need to educate ourselves about the link between coral reefs and climate change:
- Hurricanes and tropical storms are the most frequent disturbances to coral reefs, and anthropogenic climate change is likely to increase the intensity and frequency of such hazards.
- The second recorded bleaching event in the main Hawaiian Islands in 2014, occurred at approximately the same times as current high ocean temperatures. This event resulted in the bleaching and death of parts of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
- The frequency of bleaching events is set to increase as the sea surface temperatures continue to rise – We do not yet fully understand such links.
- El Nino, which is affected by the atmospheric warming of anthropogenic climate change, can prolong bleaching events, causing further damage to the coral reefs.
However, those of you who have been lectured by Tom Spencer will know that it is not all doom and gloom as moderate hurricanes (those at approximately category three) can stimulate growth as the destruction opens up the reef structure which is useful for causing the vertical growth of the coral (Bayliss-Smith, 1988). This is therefore a really good documentary to begin to understand the relationships between climate change and coral reefs, and can be linked to so many parts of the Geography Tripos, and may even provide good dissertation inspiration!
3. Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer – Into the Inferno
We couldn’t possibly have a geography-documentary list that didn’t feature our very own Clive Oppenheimer! And if you’re unsure as to who Werner Herzog is, he was in and consulted on The Mandalorian, so this really is a documentary done well. The documentary is based on Oppenheimer’s 2011 book (‘Eruptions That Shook the World’), and other than that there is not much really more to be said than GO AND WATCH IT!
This documentary has clear links to the Part IA Physical Geography course, particularly Clive’s lectures, and can be a useful recap for those taking the Part II Volcanology course.
4. Jennnifer Siebel Newsom – Miss Representation
I first watched this documentary when doing some initial research for my dissertation, which focuses on how ‘healthy female bodies’ are represented on Instagram. It is such an interesting exploration of how, and why, the media focuses negatively on the female body in America and how this is being received by the public – and as the title suggests, women are being seriously mis-represented. What hit me the most about this documentary is the interviews with current (at the time of filming) high school students and hearing what they thought about the representation of women. It was shocking that at such a young age conflict could be felt by the dangerous and confusing messages promoted by the media, with one student asking ‘when will it be enough?’ whilst another commented ‘it’s all about the body, not about the brain’.
This explicitly discusses sexism, and the hyper-sexualisation of women, in American society, so again viewer discretion is advised. This documentary has clear links throughout the whole of the geography tripos!
5. David Attenborough – A Life on Our Planet
This is one that most of you have probably watched, but if you haven’t it really is one to watch! The documentary follows Attenborough’s career and acts as his ‘witness statement’ for the environmental damage that has occured throughout this career.
For me, what was most powerful about this documentary is the fact that all the change and damage shown takes place over a single lifetime. The opening statement of ‘I am David Attnborough and I’m 93. This is my witness statement’ really hits home as to how quickly, and therefore severely, humanity has changed the planet. However, hope is given towards the end of the documentary through laying out actions that we can take and encouraging us to make more sustainable choices.Suggestions include protecting coastal areas from fishing, eating a more plant-based diet and use our voice to petition for change.
This documentary has links to virtually every aspect of the Geography Tripos!
Written by Sophie John, a third year geographer at Corpus Christi College.
DISCLAIMER: THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR ONLY AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS OR OPINIONS OF COMPASS MAGAZINE AS A WHOLE OR THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY.