The World Has Reached Peak Attenborough

If there is anyone who gets a lot of admiration in the UK, it is David Attenborough. Since the 1950s, the nature documentary has had a hold on our attention. In his later years, Attenborough has continued to release new films and shows about life on the planet.

Frozen Planet II is a follow-up to the first Frozen Planet. This year there are two offerings about dinosaurs and a sequel to last year's Dynasties, a kind of documentary-cum-soap-opera that follows named animals as they go about their daily lives. The majority of his documentaries are produced by the Natural History Unit of the British Broadcasting Corporation, but recent shows have been commissioned by Apple TV+ and the streaming service. If Earth had to give up a planetary spokesman for the natural world, Attenborough is the odds-on favorite, and for good reason: His softly intoned reverence for the natural world has inspired a feeling of wonder for generations. He has done more than any other person to remind us that we are damaging the environment.

There is something strange about the first episode of Frozen Planet II. There are ominous strings as killer whales chase a seal atop some ice. The glaciers are smashing into the sea. It's all lovely. After all, it is, after all. The documentary feels strange with a planet on fire.

Nature is beautiful in most of the films. There are strings on the ice. It might as well be plucked from the pages of a fantasy novel because it is something that is outside of ordinary human experience. Humans are rarely seen in the film. There is a destructive presence just outside of the natural system. A person appearing in a documentary is usually accompanied by the naturalist himself.

There are other ways to look at the natural world. The author of Under a White Sky describes the chaotic way that humans are imprinted on the planet. Humans are wreaking havoc everywhere we step, but only by stepping away can we correct the wrongs we have done. This view isn't fully subscribed to by Attenborough. He points out that reversing climate change will require humans to adopt renewable technology, eat less meat, and try other solutions. He is a patron of Population Matters, a charity that advocates for reducing global populations in order to alleviate pressure on the planet. If nature is kept intact, we should have fewer people to enjoy it.

I believe that wishing away humans in order to focus on nature has two other side effects that can be seen in the films of David Attenborough. Our destruction of the natural world is not always seen as important. Julia Jones was involved in the filming of Our Planet for three weeks in 2015. She criticized the documentary for mentioning forests burning in Madagascar, but didn't show footage of the destruction. Jones praised the filmmakers for showing the impact of humans in the 2020 documentary Extinction: The Fact.