Blue Planet II

The ocean isn't chill.

It’s a choice to binge Blue Planet II under any circumstance, but to watch it shortly after the submersible disaster of 2023, is a choice.

In the weeks following the horrific accident, I, like so many, have been trying to reconcile my views of the incident, at once tragic and absurd (a bunch of billionaires essentially bought their way in to taking a closer look at Titanic debris).

The whole event reminded me of a concept we Americans learn in middle school, of manifest destiny, a phrase used by colonialists to morally justify western expansion (and genocide). This divine right to conquer feels like a curse passed down, and today it’s been repackaged using terms such as innovation and global human exploration. The desire exists in Elon and in Richard Branson and in just about everybody who wants to be the first to get anywhere.

But what is it about conquering the unknown that is so seductive? Ego, for sure, but I’d be so much more comfortable focusing on.. less.

And what does this have to do with Blue Planet II, a BBC-produced ocean-themed documentary series that first aired in 2001 and then again in 2017? It became famous for its never before seen footage of weird fish doing weird shit, and for narrator Davis Attenborough’s soothing voice, but why else did it come to mind?

—

I started watching this last season mostly for the vibes. I’ve been highly anxious these days and wanted to commit to something non-narrative and, frankly, non-human. I’ve always loved the ocean, in an abstract *I’m glad this thing exists to put my silly life into perspective* way, and I also share this maybe very human need to see and experience things that have been deemed rare, difficult, or otherwise inaccessible.

The documentary is beautiful and takes us across ecosystems all around the world. We interact with dolphins, seahorses, sea cucumbers, urchin, seals, sharks, jellyfish, and those creepy looking deep water creatures that always remind me of that one Lynchian episode of SpongeBob. I thought I would be most excited by those, as Attenborough informs us that we are reaching new depths with this footage.

Turns out I may not like what I don’t understand. Lol. Again, I want less.

—

I don’t mean that in a blissfully ignorant way, but lately I’ve been trying to find a smart way to talk about our half-joke-y fascination with smooth-brainedness. We talk about the Himbo and laugh at how life would be easier with less thoughts/post-lobotomy. But at some point the fantasy of being unburdened by all that we choose to know doesn’t seem half-bad.

I’m over-stimulated, and as I go on nearly a year without working, I’m finding it increasingly important to limit my curiosity. I don’t mean this in terms of growing politically ignorant or oblivious of worlds and communities beyond my own. A need to think less isn’t some sort of individualistic endeavor to put others aside.

That’s not where I’m coming from.

I just don’t I necessarily need to know about sea snakes at the bottom of the ocean or fish that look like Dragon Ball Z characters. If anything the less preoccupied I am with the bullshit, with all that is unknown or foreign or exotic, the more present I can be with what I do want to give my energy to. Maybe, we should all refocus and dumb down!

(I still love Blue Planet, it just had me thinking! Stop thinking, Eric)