Regular readers know -- unless you're skimming... and forgetting... -- that one of my favorite TV shows is "I Shouldn't Be Alive." In fact, this is the only show that I find myself telling other people to watch. (I used to tell people to watch "The Comeback," which is now off the air.) Part of it is that real-life situations can remind you of something that happened on "I Shouldn't Be Alive." Things go awry and you can say, You know, if this was "I Shouldn't Be Alive'... well, you know, all sorts of unfortunate decisions and bad consequences would ensue.
Usually, the characters on "I Shouldn't Be Alive" are hardy, experienced outdoorsmen taking on a tough challenge and running into some bad luck. The new episode, "Lost in the Amazon," is not like that. You have a young couple, fulfilling their dream of seeing the Amazon rain forest, starting out from a lodge, onto what they know know to be a 3-mile hiking path. All they have to do is stay on the path. Like little children, they become charmed by the cute animals they see and totter about pointing at things -- ooh, it's a toucan! -- until they realize they're not on the path. They have a compass, but they've left the map back at the lodge, and instead of preserving their awareness of their starting spot and meticulously exploring the possible ways back to the path or just staying put and waiting for rescue, they decide they're sure which direction on the compass point is the correct one and hike straight into the forest trying to go as far as they can. They trudge on for days, into unmarked forest, completely destroying any chance that people who go out to search for them can possibly find them. They keep going as if they've got a shot at coming out on the other side of the forest, when, if they remember anything about where they are, there could be nothing but 1000 miles of forest ahead of them.
In all the other episodes of the show, the tough guys with problems display an astounding will to live. Horribly crushed leg bones, -70 degree temperatures, an elephant stampede, trapped under a boulder.... they deal with it. "Lost in the Amazon" is different. These characters don't just give up, they get tired of struggling and decide to commit suicide! And their struggle, on the physical level, consists of foot blisters, unclean drinking water, mosquitoes, sleeping outdoors, and -- despite much talk of scary animals like jaguars and snakes -- a herd of little pigs. The man does a decent job of yelling at the pigs to make them go, and the woman has the good idea of straining the water through her bra cup. But mostly, they slap mosquitoes, keep walking (as if it's a solution), and talk about ending it all. They happen to run across a man in a boat who saves them, but this is right before the deadline on their suicide pact, which was premised on the notion I'd rather die than spend one more night in the forest.
I was picturing an alternate version of the couple who realize that they are so deeply lost that they may never get out and decide they will live out their lives in the forest. Build a camp, develop your hunting and gathering skills, and find a way to make life good. Wouldn't you get to the point where you'd look at each other and say Hey, we're Adam and Eve.
December 3, 2006
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8 comments:
When I've found myself quite turned around in the wilderness, the loss of rational thought and onset of panic was immediate and inexplicable. Although I've always been able to find my out with little further incident, I've always held onto the idea that if my situation were worse, I'd eventually get my wits about me and figure out how to make do until I was found. For me, the most unnerving part about this story is that they continued to make stupid decisions.
I've recently started carrying a GPS in addition to a compass, so I doubt I'll find myself in such situations much in the future.
The reenactments can be effective or cheesy, depending on the acting and the editing. Bu they are still lightyears ahead of most reenactment-based reality shows. A lot also depends on the storytelling skills of the survivors. I find that overall, most episodes are really suspenseful... even though the title itself pretty much gives away the ending.
The one where the helicopter crashes into a volcano--literally--is just unreal.
If you haven't seen it, I think you'd be interested (both from a substantive viewpoint, and from that of your artist's eye) in watching "The Emerald Forest", a 1985 movie which is available on DVD.
Here's the blurb on the movie: "For ten years, engineer Bill Markham (Powers Boothe) has searched tirelessly for his son Tommy who disappeared from the edge of the Brazilian rainforest. Miraculously, he finds the boy living among the reclusive Amazon tribe who adopted him. And that's when Bill's adventure truly begins. For his son (Charley Boorman) is now a grown tribesman who moves skillfully through this beautiful-but-dangerous terrain, fearful only of those who would exploit it. And as Bill attempts to "rescue" him from the savagery of the untamed jungle, Tommy challenges Bill's idea of true civilization ... and his notions about who needs rescuing."
The photography in the movie is superb.
Try catching Survivorman on The Science Channel sometime as well. He goes alone into various wilderness areas with a bunch of cameras and does all his survival stuff for 7 days. It's not hard-core survivalism (he doesn't eat worms, for instance), but there's no camera crew with him, which makes it interesting.
From time to time, in remote desert canyons, Ms Right and I have looked at each other and said, "Hey, we're Adam and Eve." But when you get that particular identity flash, you don't waste a lot of time getting it said.
If you're on Discovery anyhow, I would highly recommend "Man vs. Wild". It has the bonus of the Man, whose name is Bear, being endearingly watchable.
One would imagine that it would be tricky to find a man wearing a urine soaked rag on his head so aesthetically pleasing. And yet...
Something about the penchant for union-jack undershorts perhaps.
Hey, it's a metaphor for Iraq!
I never gave this show a chance. Thanks for the post I look forward to trying it!
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