Recently, I have been obsessed with Discovery’s documentaries. They are really splendidly produced. Every documentary focuses on a special topic with in-depth exploration. I have downloaded a great many of these available online. Today, I viewed two pieces. Really impressive and eye-opening.
First piece is about the secret life of the cats. It’s no more bizarre or strange nowadays to keep a pet at home. There are many house cats especially in western households. These cats could be emotional resort when modern people are too vulnerable to pressure and sense of insecurity. So, more people feed and keep cats. However, this documentary points out an underlying crisis that many people fail to notice, that is, how the strong fertility of cats may lead to grave social or even ecological problems. Many cat’s people don’t desex the cats out of negligence or natural sympathy whatsoever, this seeming harmless act actually has very upsetting consequence. Once the cat gives birth to more baby cats, where would these babies settle and whether they would receive due care and attention or not. Usually not. So many hosts are forced to abandon these excessive cats outside or in the wild. Then these homeless cats begin to breed trouble. Some of them may linger in the streets and drift away their life without shelter, without sufficient food to live on, it is a pathetic scene. However, Most of them are discarded in the wild. Then their instinct of being the predator awakens. They could survive the hostile environment with their agile move, sharp craws and penetrating eyes. It seems the other sort of optimistic scene, in contrast with those in urban areas. However, these wild cats become such aggressive predators. They attack the birds, rabbits and even some very rare creatures that are meant to be preserved on earth. Many such species all fall on their prey and their number shrinks soon. Some valuable bird species even face the disaster of being eliminated. The food chain is completely impaired. That’s really something I have never thought of before. Everything lies in such a circle, one thing dominates, the other victimizes.
The other shot is concerned about the witchcraft and witches. Horrific but very profound indeed. It’s hard for one to believe that in modern society, witchcraft still exists and wields its power. The narrator starts from a weird crime happening in Thames River. A boy was very cruelly dissected, some of his body parts missing. Like a detective tale. Holmes Sherlock then set out his detective journey to find the clues. Someone asserted that it was surely associated with the witchcraft. But why? Holmes then track down the history of witchcraft, how it ever played an enormous part in the royal rule, how it takes on for the time being, whether it brings about downside or sunny side? Etc. Shakespeare’s Macbeth was most successful in creating the most unforgettable and “artistic” images of witches. From then on, the witch as someone evil, predicting omens, corrupting the noble mind, disrupting the social norms is deeply ingrained in our mind. Somehow, we may think the witch and her craft is just already gone or immortalized in the literary works to scare those timid souls or teach a moral. However, more than that. In many countries like Africa, witchcraft plays a leading role in their life as it’s associated with the belief. They firmly hold to their traditional belief in the spiritual father. So they bow to the spirit of ancestors, which would reveal their voice through the sacrifice of animals and prayers. In the ceremony or ritual, they would torture the animals to the cruelest degree. The louder these animals scream as a result of such anatomy and suffering, the more likely these prayers would reach the spirits of ancestors. What’s more absurd, some of these prayers would use the human part and remains for sacrifice or witchcraft. The anchor of this documentary seeks out the most unbelievable truth behind such crime occurring in Thames River eventually that this little boy just died from such merciless and stupid witchcraft. He is an absolute victim of the devil’s work-witchcraft. So we see many unreasonable traditional practice haven’t died out, which keeps threatening the so-called civilized society in its usual barbarian way. Very devastating!!
There are many other appealing elements in these documentaries which really worth watching and thinking apart from the fresh information they convey. Any document is coherently knit and structured and it even intoxicates me with its inspiring script.
Bravo!!
Tags: Discovery Channel