The Adventure Series!

[IceMaiden]

Glad to have been of some help . Have you ever seen The Lion King? The bit I described is quite gritty yes but it's not all doom and gloom, it's actually an excellent film and widely considered to be Disney's best animation. I hope I haven't put you off it.

I also tend to avoid truly gritty films but although I can't abide animal cruelty I've no problem watching something like Old Yeller, Black Beauty, Babe etc all of which feature animals getting injured or fighting. Even as a child it didn't bother me as I knew nature wasn't all cute and fluffy. Watching Animals of Farthing Wood religiously must have toughened me up!

[Boodi 2]

In view of my son's dislike of it I never watched "The Lion King", but will put it on my list of films to watch, as my husband and I enjoy animated films. By coincidence, I first met my husband at a New Year's Eve party at which all the guests played a game based on "Jungle Book", but it is so long ago now (35 years!!) that I cannot remember the details...perhaps each guest had to imitate a character from the film and the others had to guess who it was!! I never watched "The Animals of Farthing Wood" but when we lived in Dublin I occasionally bought my son a comic based on the series, which he enjoyed, although his favourites were "Lego Adventures" and either the "Dandy" or "Beano". When we moved to Germany my cousin used to send him a copy of the "Dandy" or "Beano" (whichever one it was!) occasionally and I later gave him an annual subscription to the comic as a Christmas present.

[Bertie]

Glad to have been of some help . Have you ever seen The Lion King? The bit I described is quite gritty yes but it's not all doom and gloom, it's actually an excellent film and widely considered to be Disney's best animation. I hope I haven't put you off it.

I also tend to avoid truly gritty films but although I can't abide animal cruelty I've no problem watching something like Old Yeller, Black Beauty, Babe etc all of which feature animals getting injured or fighting. Even as a child it didn't bother me as I knew nature wasn't all cute and fluffy. Watching Animals of Farthing Wood religiously must have toughened me up!

It still bothers me, even as an adult!
Even more so on TV. I know nature isn't all warm and cuddly as you say, but I do wish there were more shows that just focused on the pleasanter side of it in order to make some 'happy' TV shows about animals.
I've pretty much stopped watching all the animal / nature shows nowadays as, whenever I put them on, it never seems more than a minute or two before they're showing animals preying on each other. Even the underwater shows love to show fish, even shoals / schools of them, being eaten. One moment you're saying, 'what a lovely fish' - next second it's yet another that's been eaten!
I just don't get why we have to see that sad side of nature so often on all those types of shows. Do the majority of viewers - who I presume are mostly fond of animals if they're watching about them - really want to see animals killing each other all the time? Maybe they do, given how frequently all the shows focus on that macabre side of it. But I just find it gory and upsetting, rather than entertaining or enjoyable, so have ended up mostly avoiding them .

[Anita Bensoussane]

I like nature shows because there is so much to marvel at in the way different species survive and develop. However, even as a child I found it strange that when watching a programme centring on a pride of lions I wanted them to survive and there was a sense of relief when a lion eventually caught a zebra, yet when watching a programme centring on a herd of zebra I wanted them to outrun the lion every time!

Have you ever seen The Lion King? The bit I described is quite gritty yes but it's not all doom and gloom, it's actually an excellent film and widely considered to be Disney's best animation.

It was certainly my children's favourite when they were little, despite the sad parts. They knew most of the songs off by heart and used to act out their own stories of Simba and Nala, some of which my daughter wrote down. I've seen the stage musical twice and it's absolutely magical, with more songs added and creative use of costumes and props (e.g. huge fabric birds on sticks which are waved from all over the theatre at the beginning of Act II, including the balconies and the different tiers, to give an impression of a flying flock of all colours). The whole show is beautifully done and pretty faithful to the animated film.

[Katharine]

I just don't get why we have to see that sad side of nature so often on all those types of shows. Do the majority of viewers - who I presume are mostly fond of animals if they're watching about them - really want to see animals killing each other all the time? Maybe they do, given how frequently all the shows focus on that macabre side of it. But I just find it gory and upsetting, rather than entertaining or enjoyable, so have ended up mostly avoiding them .

It's certainly an interesting/tricky thought.

I don't tend to watch nature programmes these days as I feel I've probably seen enough over my lifetime to have sufficient information about them, and although I certainly don't hate animals, I'm not sure I'd describe myself as fond of them (other than guinea pigs. ). I guess I can take them or leave them.

I don't know that watching animals hunting each other would upset me as such, just I wouldn't particularly watch it because I'd find it gruesome - in the same way I wouldn't want to watch many modern murder stories as there's too much blood and gore.

I can accept that many animals need to prey on each in order to survive - what I would probably find more distressing is programmes that showed the devastation that humans are causing to the natural world, such as leaving vulnerable species orphaned because of poaching, deforestation etc.

I suppose to accurately show a programme about wildlife, it would need to include some footage of a hunt. For animals such as lions, who I believe work together in order to bring down their prey, the programme is just reflecting the natural lifestyle of these creatures - they wouldn't survive if they didn't eat other animals. Maybe consideration needs to be given as to how much footage is given to the actual kill and consumption of the food? Perhaps there needs to be more of a balance between showing what is an essential part of certain animals' existence, but not dwelling on certain parts too much.

[Boodi 2]

It is tricky, as while a certain amount of realism is necessary I also find too much focus on the gorier aspects distressing. My dentist has large screens in the surgery and when they are not being used to show X-rays or treatment plans a nature programme runs non-stop. Some of the fish and butterflies are very pretty, but while waiting for my root canal treatment I was treated to the unsavory spectacle of polar bears killing and devouring their prey, which I did not appreciate, especially as I was feeling queasy anyway in view of what was to come. In retrospect I should have complained to the dentist or the dental nurse and said that it was not ideal viewing for somebody awaiting dental treatment!

[Bertie]

The polar bears is a perfect example, Boodi.
I keep seeing a current advert for a nature programme that shows Polar Bears fighting each other and all bloodied up. They're using that as a selling point for the show! Well, that's another that I certainly won't be watching.

[Debbie]

I think of recent years my favourite nature films were the animal-bot set, where they had a camera disguised as the animal (or sometimes a rock or part of the scenery). They were much more about the lifestyle and prey/eating was fairly low down the list.

[Katharine]

The polar bears is a perfect example, Boodi.
I keep seeing a current advert for a nature programme that shows Polar Bears fighting each other and all bloodied up. They're using that as a selling point for the show! Well, that's another that I certainly won't be watching.

That would certainly put me off watching something, and seems a really unnecessary way to advertise a programme. It would also make me question what the target audience is. As mentioned previously, I could accept a certain amount of fighting/killing in a documentary if it was a small part of the overall life cycle of a particular animal, but I would only want as much as was 'necessary' included.

Boodi, the choice of programme on the dentist screen doesn't sound the best one to use! I remember as a child the dentist just had a map of the local area on the ceiling!

[Bertie]

I think of recent years my favourite nature films were the animal-bot set, where they had a camera disguised as the animal (or sometimes a rock or part of the scenery). They were much more about the lifestyle and prey/eating was fairly low down the list.

I'll have a look out for the animal-bot programmes, Debbie, and give them a go.

[Boodi 2]

Boodi, the choice of programme on the dentist screen doesn't sound the best one to use! I remember as a child the dentist just had a map of the local area on the ceiling!

I agree Katherine! When he first started showing such programmes about 20 years ago we thought it was a great novelty, but since then the programmes have remained more or less the same. As far as I can see they are from the BBC "Earth" series, the one with the polar bears being entitled "The ice planet/Living on ice" or something of that nature. I am due for my annual dental check up so I will definitely raise the issue with the dentist or the dental nurse!!!

[Boatbuilder]

Of course, you could always not watch what is being shown, Monique and just close your eyes. Be thankful he doesn't show programs from the Crime and Investigation channel about gruesome murders.

You have to remember, one (wo)man's meat is another (wo)man's poison.

[Boodi 2]

True John, it could be worse! I did not want to close my eyes as I wanted to appear wide awake when the dentist arrived, but I suppose I could have looked out the window or at the ceiling instead of at the screen!!!

[Boatbuilder]

On the same subject of "entertainment in the surgery", many years ago, not long after we had moved to Suffolk, our doctor's surgery used to play the local radio station through a speaker in the waiting room. Being a commercial station it always played out music of all sorts of genres - pop, rock, heavy metal, etc., (but not classical). This always annoyed me as much of the music I didn't like. If you went to the surgery feeling ill, most of that music would make you feel worse. I could never understand why they just couldn't play soft, soothing background music instead. Thankfully, when the surgery was expanded several years later they did away with the so-called "waiting-room entertainment" altogether, much to my pleasure. Sorry to keep this topic 'off-topic'.

[dsr]

The polar bears is a perfect example, Boodi.
I keep seeing a current advert for a nature programme that shows Polar Bears fighting each other and all bloodied up. They're using that as a selling point for the show! Well, that's another that I certainly won't be watching.

I suppose in nature, between birth and death an animal's life essentially consists of eat, mate, sleep. If they restricted these programmes to just sleeping, they'd get a touch dull!

I think it would be a mistake to gloss over how nature works. Children (and adults, I suppose) do need to know that individual animals die in their billions regardless of what humans do.