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Stung by TV

Steve Irwin, Animal Planet's lovable motormouth, died while shooting yet another wildlife film. BHUMIKA K. wonders if TV exhibitionism is going too far to grab eyeballs and pump adrenaline at the cost of human as well as animal lives

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS

NEVER SHY Steve Irwin ushered in the era of `television with a bite'

"I knew it! I just instinctively knew something like this would happen to him!" I heard many around me say with shock and awe written on their faces when they heard that Australian Croc Hunter Steve Irwin, who had brought reptiles into Indian drawing rooms through Animal Planet, died in a freak accident. Stung to death by a stingray while shooting yet another wildlife film.

Many said he "asked for it". Too many said he always "tempted fate". Between the cluck-clucks of sympathy and sorrow, heated debates and discussion about TV making voyeurs out of us, and a general buzz on safety and interpretations of `adventure', a young man was heard declaring: "A death like this is worth a life like this!"

The mixed bag of reactions that Steve Irwin's death has brought about is a telling statement on our lives — our diverse perceptions of threat and danger, the realities of up close and personal "reality TV" that our kids thrive on, and of course, the audience that gape in wonder, demand more and more for their vicarious highs.

`Television with bite'

It's dubbed "television with bite" where TV hopes to pander wildlife to an eager audience with adrenaline-soaked shows. This glamorised telling of wild tales has anchors track and grapple with reptiles, hold snakes close to their faces or wear them casually around their arm and neck, thrust their arms right down dark unknown caverns scrabbling for wild creatures, grapple with them, go dangerously close to them, peer deep into their powerful jaws...

Their seemingly audacious acts, and their larger-than-life image obviously have also captivated younger audiences enough to think of issues in wildlife conservation; even inspire them to make careers out of them. It's visual manna, something that makes adrenaline junkies of us as much as the anchors. It's made household names of Steve Irwin, Mark O'Shea, and our own Romulus Whitaker and Gerry Martin apart from many others.

Bangalore's popular herpetologist and snake conservationist Mohammed Anees, like fellow-wildlife lovers, is heartbroken over Irwin's death. Anees, who's caught and relocated over 20,000 snakes, including 4,000 cobras, has filmed for all the three major channels that air such programmes — Discovery, NatGeo and Animal Planet. "Among snake-people we have a saying," Anees tells me in a lighter vein, "that you must be careful in front of a camera and in front of a girl."

He tells of the exhilaration of being on camera and how sometimes it becomes a matter of showmanship. He also speaks of how many snake-handlers all over the world have been bitten during filming. Of long hours and exhaustion following continuous filming. And that TV does put pressure on presenters: "There are a few producers who will push you hard and ask you to do many retakes. Eventually the presenter should draw the line and say that's enough." Of course, there are relaxed schedules too.

Incidentally, Anees had met Irwin in Goa three years ago and they were supposed to work on a film in 2007 on king cobras. Anees also admits how many anchors eventually let down their guard when such daring acts become "too much of a routine". "You tend to push and see how much further you can go. You tend to take things easily... I mean, when I started catching snakes, I used to take along enough equipment to look like I was on a three-day camp. Today I just tuck a good snake bag in my back pocket and rush to the spot!"

While Anees offers the perspective from one side of the camera, Rukmini.S. , whose seven-year-old daughter watches such shows on TV, is confounded by them: "You can't really stress out animals like that, can you? Climbing on them, clamping their jaws, holding down their tail... and expect them not to react? I wonder how animal rights activists, who jump at everyone and everything, never object to such shows."

Gerry Martin, India's first adventurer on National Geographic and reptile expert who's done films like SuperCroc, Croc Chronicles and the Snake Wranglers series, now runs Strider Expeditions in Bangalore. Gerry has a completely different perspective to offer — he sees it as just a part of life for a wildlife specialist. "This is not daredevilry. This is just what you do. These are not death-defying acts. Just as a construction worker can fall from a scaffolding and die... with animals too things can go wrong. Accidents do happen."

Growing up on a farm, Gerry got hooked on snakes at a young age, and feels living those experiences was far more valuable than watching them on TV. "TV is a safe place to watch things from. But TV is a double-edged sword; while it teaches you much, it also sort of creates a disconnect. Kids know so much of a world far away but very little of what is happening just outside their gate. There is a lot of information, but no context."

Perceptions of danger

Perceptions of danger, what is "a bit too close" and how far you can go while making such films, are all parameters quite difficult to define, says Gerry. "Being a presenter, you are in control of what you do. I don't blame the channels. Let's admit it, these channels use wildlife to `entertain'. And they only show what society wants — being titillated with the sight of blood and fangs and bites on camera." Audiences are so carried away by the power of visuals they sometimes don't realise that a show like this may not be as dangerous to the animal as an oil slick may be.

Murali Raj, consultant psychiatrist at Manipal Hospital says that the way people seek out thrills varies from one generation to the other. Today's TV audiences would rather get it from "real" situations. "Reality is preferred because you feel vicariously participative. There is definitely a thrill about watching people do things you yourself can't do. It's the satisfaction of overcoming something strong and powerful... like kids feel when they overcome the enemy in a video game."

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