Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. Now, let us talk about D: BA, as we should have earlier last week, but because real life sucks, see above, let us talk about the current PBS Nature special series, of women and nature.
In the season’s premiere, we meet Ms. Doma, (that is
her name, I checked), and her relationship with the greater one-horned rhinos.
Technically, they are also called the Indian rhinos, but because this episode
takes place In Nepal, which is not India, let us call them greater one-horned
rhinos instead. There are also lesser one-horned rhinos, a different species,
but more on them below.
First, what this relatively short (about 20 minutes
long) video was about? Hence the reason behind my anger – it is not about anything
in specific, it does not commit.
…Oh, on a certain level it does – it is a product
placement. The aesthetics and other visuals are beautiful, the people are
obviously aware that they’re being filmed and took care of coming across
attractive and appealing, especially the female majority of the cast – they’re
not stunningly beautiful, but they are appealing, well-groomed, clearly have
spent time (and have time to spend) on their appearance, contradicting the
episode’s narration that Nepal isn’t a very forward nation, that women are
still being oppressed there. Since we never see any oppression, you either take
the narration at its’ face worth, or not at all.
What do we see? Foreign people, especially of the
female gender, presented appealingly. Foreign locations, presented also in a
positive way. Foreign animals in their natural habitat… or rather brief clips
of various animals, doing their thing, oblivious to humans around them.
This is something of a point, as Ms. Doma’s mother
was killed in a rhino attack – presumably. In the modern world of fake news and
what else have you, this is what happened, or it might not have. In any case,
this event is a), treated by showing more beautiful imagery on screen, and b),
so what? This is real life, not Marvel, DC, or what else have you; the mother
died because of a rhino attack, so the daughter became a wildlife tour guide
because of it? Seriously, at least Peter Parker’s superhero origin story makes
more sense than this!
In real life, the tour industry is nothing to sneeze
at; I worked for a tour company behind the scenes, and there is serious effort
and money involved in running one; for Ms. Doma to work in a tour company means
that she makes money, and she has a lot of important social connections – i.e.,
her family isn’t struggling, and they’re upper middle class on the average.
Pause.
What all of the above has to do with wildlife of our
planet? Nothing, because the episode was about Ms. Doma and whatever impact she’s
making on the Nepalese society – more women are getting hired as wildlife tour
guides, for example. That is commendable, but what about the rhinos?
Nothing and that is a point. A large segment is
dedicated to people teaching others how to handle an encounter with a rhino,
but what does Ms. Doma’s gender identity has to do with it?
Again, nothing, and this is the same point. In a
20-minute special, PBS Nature could have talked about Ms. Doma’s biography, how
she rose from humble roots to become a person of importance; they could’ve
talked about Nepal, how it is moving forwards, to become a more gender-equal,
more Western country; they could’ve talked about the Nepalese wildlife, and how
it interacts with humans (and with each other), but no. They tried to mix it
all together and came up with nothing because they did not stick to anything.
By contrast, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom series talked,
and talk, only about wildlife; their episodes run for about 24-25 minutes, not
that much longer than what PBS Nature has, but because they follow only one narrative,
they have no problem in getting their message across. What next?
Um, in last week’s episode of D: BA, White Tiger was
killed - that is it. The Fisks run NYC, but the Kingpin was doing that in the
Marvel Comics for a while now, so nothing new here. What is notable is the
absence of Echo – remember her? She fought the Kingpin and won, (sort of), but
no mention of her or her friends or of Kazy and the tracksuit mafia in this show.
Just as CA: BNA movie, this series is resetting MCU to Disney’s new standards
and socio-political landmarks; Echo may be back, but right now? Apparently not.
Back to Nepal and its’ rhinos? The greater
one-horned rhino is the biggest Asian rhino and might be the second biggest
rhino in the world, even more so than the African black rhinoceros. However,
there are important differences between the two rhino groups. (It should be
noted that while the rhinos are all related to each other, they are not as close
relates as donkeys and horses are, for comparison, so they do not hybridize
unlike the latter). No, not the number of the horns – there is one Asian rhino
species that also has two, but rather everything else.
The African rhinos are terrestrial animals that come
to water only to drink. The white rhino is a grazer; it has a wide square upper
lip and a low-set head for easier grass reach and consumption. The black rhino
is a browser; it has a hook-shaped upper lip and a high-set head for easier
foliage reach and consumption. It is smaller, more lightweight and mobile than
the white rhino is, and when the two species clash, the black rhino loses. The
point is that the two African species coexist with each other on the open savannah/scrubland
and evolved visible physical differences to avoid competing with each other.
On the other hand, the Asian rhinos (the last three
species) all live in dense tropical jungle, in marshland, on floodplains, and
come into water regularly enough – they are almost semi-aquatic, more like the
hippos than like their African cousins, in fact. Consequently, all of them are
built similarly – large, bulky bodies with thick armor; though the greater
one-horned rhino does overshadow the other two rhino species – but the ranges
of the species in question do not overlap, due to population crashes of all of
them. Moreover, Whether one horn or two, Asian rhinos’ horns are smaller than
the African rhinos horns are, while their teeth are bigger and more tusk-like –
they tend to bite humans instead of goring them, as the African rhinos do. The
Asian rhinos are herbivores, they do not eat meat, but neither do they
specialise as the African rhinos in either grass or leaves – they eat everything,
and their teeth, lips, heads and necks, are not as specialised as the African
rhinos are.
All rhinoceros species are in danger however, and
all of their ranges are shrinking. People are trying to change this, but while
the two African rhino species are getting better, (perhaps), the three Asian species
– not so much, so it is important for us to protect them – and if that and
social gender politics can’t be balanced, then maybe they should be treated
separately instead.
For now, then, this is it. See you all soon.
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