Perspective in wildlife films

Abstract

Discussions of perspective rarely occur in analyses of wildlife films perhaps because of the near neglect of the genre itself as well as the fact that most analysis focuses on content, rather than structure and style. Perspective has long been a part of narrative film criticism, however, and it is essential to a complete examination of a film genre. I define perspective here as the cognitive view of the mind that commands the subject. In documentary and wildlife films, credibility is vital and the film's perspective or point of view establishes this through the use of the camera apparatus and narration. The very use of these tools of perspective may add to a scientific perspective, but inevitably prevent an objectively scientific representation, the pivot of a fact-driven, wildlife film. Although credibility is established by evidence and facts, a tendency toward anthropomorphism can jeopardize claims of objectivity and scientific credibility.