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Wednesday, October 26, 2005
A belated Reply to my Guns, Germs and Steel review
Remember when I displayed just a tad bit of interest over the National Geographic/PBS special based on Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel that aired earlier this summer? Rick Matthews, who worked behind the scenes on the special, left an enlightening comment on one of my my posts about the program. To recap, I essentially said the producers and Diamond did a good job considering they had to condense such an expansive theory and supporting evidence into a three-hour television program that would appeal to a wide audience while at the same time representing Diamond's theory fairly. By default they fell short on the task because the book covers so much material (and, apparently, worked with a "budget from hell"), but for what they were hired to do I feel that Rick along with the writers, producers, and Diamond made a beautiful film that serves as a great introduction to the book. Anyway, here is a part of Rick's comments:
Jared is nuts - a genius , but nuts . A simple man with a concept that most folk dont understand until you stand and face the reality of what is going on beyond the shimmering TV screen . I read the book , the script and met the man and with a budget from hell we tried to make a film . If I had my way we would have done a Lawrence of Arabia multiplied 1000 times , as the story of colonization , disease , war , treasure and the untold stories of Africa , the far east and the Tintin fantasies of Central America , the moon and so on , can never be told and will never be understood - we all want to but will never be there ie as a voyeur or participant in word and pictures . Cassian , Jared , Sue and myself saw really bad stuff , good stuff and traversed a cultural minefield to make this film .We tried to open peoples eyes - damn hard these days !!
Posted by Will at October 26, 2005 05:24 PM in Anthropology | In the News | Personal Reflections