Blog #8: Nature in Advertising on Television

Nature is visible on television in a variety of different forms. It appears on all sorts of programs with all sorts of meanings and intentions. Whole networks are devoted to documenting nature and they broadcast its beauty out to viewers who can enjoy its majesty from the safety and comfort of their own homes. But nature on television is just a construction. It has been scouted, filmed, and edited in such a way that it appears as only a representation of the actual natural world.

What is so strange to me is the way that nature, and its image are used to sell products. Nature is so prominently displayed in advertising that the only way to escape seeing its image would be to go outside, and even then you’d likely see a beautiful scene plastered across some billboard. Especially in TV commercials, nature has become a major selling point. Nature is invoked in advertisements for any and all products, usually with an emphasis on how the product lets you return to the natural world or somehow conquer it. Yet the products they advertise in these nature scenes will hardly ever be used in those scenarios, even if they are actually designed to be. Nature becomes artificial in these ads and represents a world that you will not ever see. Look at any commercial for any SUV on the market. Chances are you’ll find images of monstrous vehicles tearing through muddy forests, windswept deserts, or craggy mountainsides, all with the purpose of showing the viewer how tough and rugged these products are. They can withstand any and all conditions that you might be faced with and they can prove it too you. But, in all of these commercials you will see some very tiny text at the bottom of your screen that states quite clearly: “Professional driver on a closed course. Do not attempt.”

The natural world as depicted in the world of television commercials is anything but natural. It is constructed to sell a product. You can use your Iphone to help you navigate the Grand Canyon and your Ford Escape can take you there, and that’s what they’d like you to believe. However, it is far more likely that the Iphone will be used to surf the Internet while the SUV sits idly in a parking space for hours in between short treks around town. The nature we see in advertisements is the nature we would like to find if we were to venture out in to the world, we could see ourselves out there in it. In the same way we imagine we will go out and find that natural world with the help of our smartphones and SUVs. We wouldn’t be fit to find that world without these things, so we won’t try. Television commercials sell us a world we would like to live in, a beautiful, untamed wilderness that exists just beyond our sights, and that all we have to do is go find it with the help of some novel products. Only that world they show us doesn’t really exist, and they know that you won’t be using their products to find it. Because you weren’t ever really meant to.

A Zed and Two Noughts

There is a lot that could be said about Peter Greenaway’s film A Zed and Two Noughts (1985). The film is very complex and could be read in many ways. The scenes that I kept coming back to were the scenes in the theater, where one of the brothers was watching the David Attenborough documentaries. The inclusion of the documentary footage and the accompanying narration from Attenborough provide an interesting feel to the film. The footage from the popular documentary, and the character’s obsession with it, points to the human fascination with documenting natural phenomena and viewing the natural world for pleasure and entertainment.

The character takes comfort in watching the nature documentaries after the death of his wife, and he quickly becomes obsessed with viewing them. The character turns to these films in his grief, films that tell of the origin of life on our planet. The life/death theme is one of the many major binary oppositions visible in the film, and it is interesting that the film references nature films in this way. Nature documentaries are often intended to inform and educate as they entertain. They provide the viewer with an understanding of the natural world around them. By documenting nature and then putting it on display for ourselves we assert our dominance over the natural world. By gaining an understanding of nature, we demystify it and allow ourselves to feel like we have some semblance of control over the world we live in.

The documentary footage and narration in A Zed and Two Noughts lend the film a somewhat documentary-like tone. The film focuses on the unraveling lives of several people as they adapt to new circumstances in the wake of a tragic accident. These characters are bizarre, yet fascinating. We watch movies for entertainment, and they need to have amusing subjects for us to be intrigued enough to watch. A Zed and Two Noughts provides the interesting subjects and shows us a glimpse of their strange world. Nature documentaries attempt to do the same thing. Humans have always been fascinated by the incredible world that we live in, and we are always trying to capture its essence in our attempts to understand it. Film gives humans the ability to shape our own world according to our distinct views and purposes. Unfortunately, our views are often skewed and misdirected. It is important to remember there is more to the natural world than meets the eye, and that nature itself can be cruel and unpredictable. It is doubtful that man will ever truly understand the complexities of life in the world around us, but our fascination with nature continues.

An Incident in Animal Entertainment

I have only ever ridden a horse one time in my life. I remember it very well. On the occasion of my eight birthday my mother took me and a friend horseback riding. I lived in a small, rural town that was surrounded by farmland and forests, which made it not only a great place to raise horses but also to ride them. There were several local stables nearby and every one had ample land with plenty of trail to ride. Growing up I knew several people who had horses, and I had seen them regularly throughout my childhood, yet I had never had the opportunity to ride one.

I will always remember this day for a few strange reasons, not the least of which was the experience of riding the horse. Not only was it my birthday, but also the day that the new public library opened in my small hometown. I was in attendance at the grand opening party for the library because my mother was a member of the village board and had worked on the update of the public library. I did not want to be there, but I patiently waited and enjoyed the refreshments as I counted down the minutes until I would finally get to ride a horse. Waiting for my mom at the library function was taking its toll and I was starting to get upset, because I was an impatient (and probably spoiled) child and it was also my birthday. Right before we finally left the library my picture was taken by a photographer from the local paper, I thought nothing of it at the time it but it would prove significant in the long run.

After a lot of waiting, I was finally on my way to realizing my dream of riding a horse. We got to the stable, got a quick lesson, chose the horses that we wanted to ride and before too long we were off down the trail! I was not impressed. Though horses are beautiful, majestic creatures, they require a degree of skill in their control that any eight year old will undoubtedly lack. And while trail riding is certainly enjoyable, it is not what an eight year old who was raised watching television and movies has in mind when he envisions himself on a horse. That said, I was thoroughly disappointed by the whole experience. As it got dark we turned back toward the stable and our slow, boring ride was coming to a close. For the entire ride our horses had walked slowly, single-file down the trail and obediently followed our guide. That is until the very end. When we emerged from the forest trail and out into a large clearing as we approached the stable, my horse veered slightly away from the path of the other three horses. My horse and I were behind all of the others and my horse was not following any of my frightened commands. The horse was heading back to the stable, but he was headed right toward a tree whose limbs I would not be able to duck under. The horse would not stop and before I could react I was smacked with a thick tree branch. As the horse walked underneath the branch unscathed, I was bent backward as the branch scraped over my torso and then my face, eventually knocking me off of the horse. The horse continued on its way, and eventually I made my way back to the stable, bloodied and crying, with the help of my mom and our guide.

Riding a horse was a huge disappointment to my eight-year-old self, not only because it lacked the speed and excitement I had hoped for, but also because of the horse’s complete disregard for my presence. Not only had I been injured in my collision with the tree, but I had destroyed my favorite jacket, which also upset me. I tried to forget about the whole incident completely, which worked for a few days until I saw my picture from that same day on the cover of the newspaper next week. The photo taken of me at the library served as a reminder of that fateful day, and I have not forgotten it since.

I know now that the horse was not trying to harm me, it was just doing what it wanted to do. I was so angry at the horse at the time that that anger and resentment stuck with me. I have never ridden a horse since that first awful experience. I don’t blame the horse for what happened. It is a strange thing to use animals as a source of entertainment. We go into these situations with certain expectations, and when our expectations are not met, we get disappointed and angry. When we put animals to work solely for the purpose of entertainment, we have to ask ourselves what the cost might be for both humans and animals. The animal is forced to live an unnatural lifestyle with the expectations and demands of the human thrust upon it. When an animal reacts adversely to its unfortunate circumstance it is often the human that pays the price. It cannot be expected of a horse to be aware of a child’s safety. When humans pressure animals to perform, it should be expected that the animals might react to that pressure with dangerous consequences. I still remember that afternoon of my eighth birthday and the strange experience of all of it. I got over my resentment of horses around the time all my cuts and bruises had healed, and I knew that the horse hadn’t hurt me on purpose. However, I have never gotten back on the horse.