« New Blog: Cosmic Variance | Main | Woo hoo!, Free School! (Sort of) »
Monday, July 18, 2005
GG&S Episode Two Review
We're two thirds of the way through the epic Guns, Germs and Steel mini-series on PBS and I'm becoming increasingly more convinced of the validity of Jared Diamond's theory of geographical/ecological determinism. I'm hesitant to admit that a "popular" television program has been helpful in elucidating Diamond's theory, but I would be lying if I said that I'm glad I read the book before watching the program. While many criticisms of adapting archaeology and history for television may be true in this case (see Alun's enlightening post here), I am nevertheless impressed by the program thus far. For anyone wishing to delve into the book, I would recommend watching the series first for a visual backdrop and a relatively brief introduction to the man and his theory. While the series clearly does not do the entire scope of the book justice, it is helpful in this respect.
Like the first episode, the second was beautifully filmed and included plenty of helpful animated maps and re-enactments. It focused primarily on the Spanish conquest of the Inca in the 16th century, culminating in the capture, exploitation, and eventual execution of Atahualpa, the great Inca Sun-God (the son of the sun to be specific). Jared Diamond believes that the reason the thousands of Inca were taken by the small band of rag-tag Spanish adventurers lay in each civilization's respective geography. The Spanish had agriculture on their side, enabling them to develop the technologies necessary to create steel for swords and armor. They also brought with them the powerful and intimidating horse, which no Inca had ever seen at the time leading up to conquest. Perhaps most crucial of all, the Spanish carried immunity to human diseases derived from European domesticated animals, two things the Inca lacked. All of these things interacted in such a way as to enable a small yet representative group of one civilization to literally demolish an entire empire stretching almost the length of South America.
As I mentioned in my review of Episode One, I was a little nervous about the re-enactments that were so prominent in Episode Two. Fortunately, they weren't too cheesy and I'm elated that they used no translations or even subtitles in the little dialogue that was spoken by the actors. Only Spanish and what I presume to be a native Inca language could be heard throughout. In a way, this provided an inkling of what it must have been like to experience this extreme example of a clash of cultures.
Posted by Will at July 18, 2005 11:20 PM in In the News