MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-07-18 |
| FROM | aviva
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] [dinosaur] Prehistoric Road Trip, Tiny Teeth,
|
Hello
I had a chance to view this program this weekend with my daughter and
grandson. I have a criticism about this show, two or three of them
actually.
First, as my kids pointed out, to our view, this program was soft in
content. The scene where Emily is pulling fossils out of shale slabs
had my eyes rolling. I do believe we have all seen this before with Sir
David Attenborough. This lack of original content repeated itself
through out the program.
The second problem, and this one I consider extremely problematic, is
the lack of men in this program. The program is patently bigoted. Men
are completely sidelined in the entire show. This is not a message I
would want to expose my daughters to, and not my son either.
Thirdly, Emily's, and other women in the show are constant walking about
giggling and smiling. This doesn't serve the purpose of the show, and
reinforces some negative stereotypes. So the fails to either present a
positive view of women in the field, and it doesn't present the field
well either.
A show that doesn't find the best presenters, regardless of creed,
gender, or race, is not just repugnant, but it is dishonest, and cheats
the viewing public of quality programming, especially when much of the
nation is locked down, badly looking for new material to view and read.
I hope you find this criticism constructive, as it is intended to be
so. I remember a documentary with Paul Serano where he lost "Beth" and
they were in a panic. At the time, I thought this was rather over the
top and not what should be in a documentary. But Serano has done
considerable work to reach deep into the poverty stricken communities,
especially the Black and Latino communities of Chicago, in order to
educated and produce real talent. In my opinion, this is where our
focus should be. Our focus should not be producing false narratives and
using bigoted standards to produce programming. If one wants to do a
show about women in Paleontology, just do it. It is a fine and worth
topic. But this is not serving any purpose at all over than reinforcing
stereotypes and putting a stamp of approval on bigotry.
Avvia
PS - it would be nice to see some Black Scientist area in shows, if they
have something to contribute. There has to be one Black paleontologist
somewhere, who is an expert on a topic worth covering? No?
Scott Edwards maybe?
Alice Roberts?
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