http://faerye.net/tag/bbc Posts tagged with "bbc" - Faerye Net 2011-12-03T15:54:36+00:00 Felicity Shoulders http://faerye.net/ http://faerye.net/post/frozen Frozen 2011-12-03T15:54:36+00:00 2012-01-03T16:52:35+00:00 <center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfws_alaska/5165071314/" title="Polar bear cubs. by USFWSAlaska, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1327/5165071314_2338c79544.jpg" width="500" height="328" border="0" alt="Polar bear cubs."></a></center> <p>So <a href="http://wonko.com">Ryan</a> and I have been watching <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mfl7n" target="links"><em>Frozen Planet</em></a>, and I realize I may be a little obsessed.</p> <p>For example, when describing to a hapless class of high school sophomores the other day how language and the exchange of stories allows us to create continuous culture, I said otherwise we would have to learn everything from scratch, &#8220;like baby polar bears emerging from a snow den for the first time.&#8221; Because, you know, that was the obvious metaphor?</p> <p>Or how I drive along thinking about narwhal traffic jams. Or I look at my friends&#8217; dogs and think about how odd it was someone looked at those terrible wolves slavering along after caribou or bison and thought, &#8220;I want one of <em>those</em> in my house!&#8221;</p> <p>I think it&#8217;s the focused nature of this special that makes it stick so much in my mind: not <em>what</em> it&#8217;s about so much as that it&#8217;s about one thing. The <em>Planet Earth</em> series was a collection of dazzling and fascinating sights, but so different they didn&#8217;t leave an overall impression save that of majesty and variety. This is a symphony with overarching themes. It leaves you looking about you for the cycles in your own life, in humans: the frozen winter that gives way, all of a sudden, to a brief, frenetic period of creation and growth. I think how important it is to seize those moments of sunwarmed opportunity and beauty; but also to know that they will, like the summer sun, always come again.</p>