In this blog post, I will talk about how I reflected on my feelings and inner self through a documentary about the ecology and maternal love of humpback whales.
National Geographic Whale Secrets Why I chose this documentary
I remember going to the aquarium with my mother when I was little. It was part of the tour, and at the end, we went into a theater and watched a documentary about whales. That was the first documentary I had ever seen. At the time, I was a little scared and didn’t understand what was so great about it, so I found it a little boring. I wasn’t very good at concentrating at that age, so I remember being distracted. Nevertheless, for some reason, it stuck with me, and now, 10 years later, it leaves me with a deep impression and a sense of comfort.
I am a very sensitive person. I get extremely stressed when someone invades my personal space. I suppose all introverts feel this way to some extent, but my hysteria is particularly self-destructive. I am the type of person who tries hard not to be disliked. I wasn’t being hypocritical to appear nice; I just wanted to be loved. When things didn’t go as planned or I felt like I had failed, I would wander aimlessly and engage in severe self-deprecation and self-abuse. This is a problem that only I can fix.
That’s why I always needed time alone to overcome it. When I came to college, even that became difficult. Sometimes I get tired of communicating. I often feel disconnected when I talk to people. I am becoming more and more pretentious, and so are the people around me. This is not what I wanted. Just when I felt that something was wrong, I happened to see a video about whales. Whales seemed to have a clearer concept of their territory than humans. Even though they are mammals, they seemed to communicate with each other and live in harmony. It even made me feel nostalgic for my childhood. Watching that video made me feel at ease.
So when it came time to do my documentary lecture assignment, I knew I wanted to use that documentary. It meant a lot to me, and I wanted to see it again. Partly because I’m not very good at searching, I couldn’t find anything except for a few fragments of a huge whale swimming, which I remembered. It was a shame, but I still wanted to see whales. I liked the movie Free Willy, so I thought about watching a documentary about killer whales, but this time I decided to watch a documentary about humpback whales, which I had never seen before.
I was already feeling frustrated with relationships, so it was good to have this opportunity to revisit whales, which I hadn’t had time to look up before, and to get myself back on track.
National Geographic Secrets of Whales documentary sequence summary
I’m not sure how to start this. It’s not a documentary about the life of a single whale, but more like an ecological report on humpback whales traveling in pods. What impressed me most about this documentary was how they lived in harmony, protecting their territory and each other, and the maternal love they showed toward their calves.
First of all, I think that having a territory is a very important part of life in the animal world. I thought that was only true for land animals, but it seems that animals are just like humans in that regard. I saw that they were very protective of their territory, probably because it was directly linked to their safety. They were docile when left alone, but became violent when provoked. In a world where the strong prey on the weak, I realized that giving up one’s territory is the same as saying, “I don’t care if I live or die, so do whatever you want.” Perhaps human relationships would be less tense if we kept a proper distance from each other. In our civilized world, people are quick to judge those who are sensitive about their personal space. Sometimes I wonder if we realize how hurtful those words can be to others. I wonder if whales are the same. If a whale invades another whale’s territory and is attacked, would it think that the other whale is unreasonable?
Second is maternal love. I think I used to be very proud of being human. Actually, I had never thought deeply about whether animals have feelings, but I had heard that they do, like animals in myths and legends, but I wasn’t sure. I felt that way. I thought it was “natural” for dogs to like people. In any case, I thought that animals have an instinct to preserve their species and reproduce, so they give birth to and raise their young. However, after watching this documentary, I realized that I was completely wrong. Love transcends national borders and is something universal. Furthermore, whether it is between humans or animals, the purest form of love is maternal love. Baby humpback whales have small lungs, so they need to surface every five minutes to breathe. The mother whale holds her calf close to her side and lifts it up when it is time. Then the baby whale breathes and returns to its mother to feed. Day and night, the mother whale is completely focused on raising her baby. Without its mother’s help in breathing and feeding, a baby whale cannot survive for long. As mammals, the bond between mother and child seems to be particularly strong. This is even more true for sea turtles. Baby turtles are born independent from the moment they hatch from their eggs. They have no idea who their mother is or where she is, and they have to figure everything out on their own. They are thrown into a world where the strong prey on the weak, and they must survive. However, humpback whales do not leave their mothers until they are able to become independent. Their mothers also care for them with utmost devotion. Thinking that my mother must have raised me with at least as much love as that, I felt a lump in my throat and missed her for the first time in a long time.
National Geographic’s Secrets of Whales: Documentary Format and Theme Analysis
The format was a documentary explaining humpback whales. There were moments when I wondered if it was the right choice, but I still enjoyed it. The theme is also very simple. Humpback whales themselves are the theme.
Rather than following the life of a single humpback whale, it felt more like an analysis of the ecology of humpback whales traveling in pods. Therefore, it did not show the whales in order from baby to adult. And as it is a documentary about animals, narration was essential. Without human interpretation, I would have had no way of knowing what the whales were doing. Perhaps because of this, it felt like watching an ocean version of Animal Kingdom.
If I had watched a documentary about dolphins, I would have seen one with a message about the indiscriminate slaughter of dolphins in Japan, but due to my lack of knowledge, the theme of this documentary was simply to provide information about humpback whales.
National Geographic Whale Secrets Documentary Review
I knew that whales are mammals, but it was still surprising to learn that baby whales drink milk. I wondered what a whale’s breasts look like. I also wondered what fish breasts look like. Whales are said to have a lot of fat, so I wondered if their breasts are made of fat like humans. It’s not that I’m curious for any perverted reasons, but I would like to see it for myself someday. If they are mammals, they must have umbilical cords, so I wondered how they break them and how they protect their babies from predators during birth, when there must be a lot of blood. I was a little disappointed that the documentary didn’t go into detail about those things. After watching it, I didn’t feel particularly cleansed. Maybe it was because I saw how fiercely they lived, but I realized that life is not easy anywhere. Still, seeing how they live somehow, I felt that my life might be easier than theirs. It became complicated and subtle.
When I think about it, I feel that I am not an animal, so there is no need to act violently like a rabid dog when someone invades my territory. Still, I don’t like it when someone invades my space without permission.
