Frozen Planet Reviewed

Hello everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I’ve finally returned from Paris and completed my other project, so now that I’m in La Plagne skiing, I thought it particularly apt to write a blog post about “Frozen Planet”, especially after seeing the thick ice that had accumulated here. (Thank God London is ice free though, not too big a fan of slush).

Frozen planet was a 2011 documentary series that captured our imagination about the Polar region, 7.2 million people in fact, making it the most watched Natural History series. ( David Attenborough's Frozen Planet tops TV ratings ) Unsurprisingly, viewers seemed to related a lot more to the polar bears in the north and the Adelie penguins in the south. (Don’t we just love those massive beasts that we see in the zoo and those smart, cuddly penguins?) But why exactly was Frozen Planet so popular? Surely, there have been many documentaries that have given us great insights into snippets of animal life as it is.

Alastair Fothergill, Frozen Planet Executive Producer, wrote:
“One of the key aims of the series was to take the audience on a journey to a place most would never be fortunate to go to. The scenery in the Polar Regions is unmatched anywhere on our planet, but capturing its true beauty was an incredible challenge as well.”
( A look back at Frozen Planet )

I have a younger brother who really loves animals, and he would have loved to watch this documentary as well, but probably not specifically this one. Hence, out of curiosity, I asked my many friends who had lauded this as one of the “must-watch” documentaries what exactly had piqued their interest, and one of them had this to say to me:
“It is interesting because of the animals they chose, everyone loves Arctic animals, such as Penguins, whales, polar bears. Though I have no idea why.”

Like what the producers had anticipated, the story of this polar region is interesting because it is mysterious. Mysterious, dangerous and fragile – that is why people love the polar region so much. Mysterious because people had always imagined that the polar region is a place covered by white snow, inhabited by large exciting creatures; dangerous because of its extreme temperatures, and yet again, exciting dangerous animals, and fragile because of the climate change and its effects on the large, beautiful creatures.

All right, so maybe I overplayed it about the animals. Neither am I discounting the wonder that is Frozen Planet with its picturesque scenery and death defying shots (I meant the crew and cast of course).

If we were to examine the impetus behind this UK documentary, we might discover a different side to this documentary. To do this, we need to explore the history of the polar region.

Arctic exploration had begun early in 9th to 13th centuries by Vikings who had first discovered the presence of a white desert. However, it would only be in 1492 that the first explorations of the Arctic were recorded as Europe searched for a westerly passage. In 1845, Sir John Franklin departed England for the Arctic but never returned, unable to survive the harsh weather there. This highlights the long established quest of the human race to “conquer” the Arctic, either scientifically or for resources. Because of the prevailing difficulties that humans face in this difficult terrain, the Arctic, till today remains somewhat mysterious, and often associated with heroic behaviour.

In recent times, however, with the constant need for new sources of coal and other natural resources, the Arctic has started to become a place for geopolitical contest. With the melting ice caps, and improved technology, the Arctic has become easier to conquer. That is exactly what countries have been doing. Cities are increasingly located within the Arctic circle, and funding has increased for Arctic explorations by governments trying to establish their sovereignty over various plots of lands. The Arctic became a place reimagined as an area of great resource potential and scientific discovery.

Like many countries in the world, the UK has also taken a keen interest in the area. In 2009, then then-minister for international defence and security Ann Taylor noted:

“It’s clear to us that security in the Arctic is not foremost a military concern. We are not returning to the Cold War. But security cannot be divorced from economic activity, environmental interests and political considerations.” (Depledge and Dodds 2011, 72)

It is clear that there has been renewed interest in the Arctic from the government: The Canada – UK Colloquium on ‘The Arctic and the Northern Dimension of World Issues’ House of Lords debates in 2010, strategic relationships with Northern Europe. The Geographical influence of the Arctic on the climate system of UK was clear when the Arctic Oscillation triggered UK’s severe weather conditions in 2009 and 2010. Politically, interest in the Arctic has solidified the political alliance between UK, Canada, US and Nordic countries against the supposed threat of Russian interest in the region. Besides all these, there have been increasing debates on the role and responsibilities of sovereign nations on this open, shared space, and the construction of an Arctic Inuit Polity to try and engage indigenous populations in policies on the Arctic that seem to exclude their role and presence within the Arctic diversity (Shadian 2006).

Frozen Planet can be argued to have come in conjunction with renewed interest in these geopolitical issues in the UK revolving around Arctic exploration and sovereignty. It would reignite popular imagination and interest in the region, and at the same time emphasize the British role in conserving the flora and fauna there in a bid to stop the adverse effects of climate change. To viewers, of course, the point of this documentary is to reveal to them the beauty of a place untammed by humans (or so they believe). That is why so much unhappiness arose when viewers realised that the scene on the birth of polar bear cubs was filmed at a zoo. To them, such a revelation disrupted their imagination of how “wild” the Arctic could be.
BBC denies misleading Frozen Planet viewers over polar bear filmed in zoo
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Why should we be so upset? After all, much research had gone into polar bear livelihood. If filming the scene live would have caused the polar bears there great distress, then documentary filmmakers would have to make do with the next best thing. It is precisely that the unknown needs to remain unknown and mysterious to viewers, and not something in our own backyard that made this documentary as popular as it was. And in that way, create a heightened interest in the Arctic and all its political issues when debates about it appear in the news or political debates. Perfect strategy?

Well, we will never know the true intention of the BBC explorers. After all, if it was all just to support political debates that may not have been in the forefront of people’s interest (especially now with all the budget cuts), then they certainly went to great lengths and harsh conditions to film such a documentary. However, we must know that documentaries also play on prevailing interests during that time, and therefore, may have gotten some inspiration for this new epic show from climate change and political security concerns.

I am not here to say that the documentary was filmed completely without any purpose to inform viewers about the flora, fauna and human impacts on this area. It was truly a remarkable film and very beautifully constructed. I am sure that many people have taken away a lot more about Arctic animals (or at least those they are particularly interested in) from this documentary series. However, I am just examining other possible impetus for this project and the possible implications it has on citizen’s interest in future debates about the future of the Arctic circle.

References:

Shadian, J. (2006) “Remaking Arctic governance: the construction of an Arctic Inuit polity”, Polar Record , 42, 222, 249–259.

Depledge, D. and K. Doods (2011) “The UK and the Arctic”, The RUSI Journal, 156, 3, 72-79.

Edwards, B. (2000) “A Brief History of Arctic Exploration” (WWW) http://geography.about.com/library/misc/ucarctic.htm (Accessed 1 January 2012).

BBC ONE “Frozen Planet”