ANIMATION DOCUMENTARIES AND BIODIVERSITy issues— Is ‘plAnt blindness’ A CONCEPT WORTH KEEPING? INSIGHTS FROM THE PORTUGUESE ANImaTION DOCUMENTARY A JOURNEY TO CAPE VERDE (2010) M. ALEXANDRA ABREU LIma INIAV, I.P. Abstract From the contemporary panorama of creative media, the animation documentary A Journey to Cape Verde (2010, Viagem a Cabo Verde) is analysed in terms of its content concerning biodiversity and plant issues. The concept of ‘plant blindness’ is revisited, a term introduced by Wandersee and Schussler in 1998 (Allen, 2003) to describe “the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment” and their importance in the biosphere. Some future con- siderations are discussed. It is hoped this case- study displays a picture of what can be done to improve collective knowledge about biodiversity issues and could inspire and help others to de- velop awareness raising projects about them. Keywords: ‘Plant blindness’, Creative media, Animation documentary 62 Introduction posits that “a full account of documen- (2014) centred in the analysis of ani- tary animation within documentary as a mation documentary aesthetics and Both animation and documentary whole could begin as early as Eadweard discourses about biodiversity and plant are notoriously difficult to define Muybridge’s experiments in animated issues. (Hight, 2008, p. 9) sequences of photographic stills, and offer a trajectory […] through to contem- These issues are intertwined with the The media used by naturalists, scien- porary examples […].” acknowledgment of current human tists and other stakeholders to convey pressures on Earth and their conse- messages about biodiversity can include Muybridge’s multimedia show, which quences (e.g. loss of biological diversity documentary and narrative films, TV, and alternates still views with animations and ecosystem functions; spread of in- radio programs aside from journalism and is produced with projecting appa- vasive species; pollution, food insecurity, and internet activism. ratus, was reviewed by Fresko (2013), declining water supply and quality, and who highlighted its role in entertaining the more rapid spread of infectious dis- Documentaries are an instrument and educating audiences: “[…] dynamic eases), which are being incorporated in through which filmmakers present ver- process animating still images into mo- a conceptual framework known as cou- sions of reality and personal points of tion, […] he bred truth through illusion and pled human and natural systems (CHANS) view on socio-political, historical, and helped prepare audiences for an emerg- (Chen, 2015). environmental matters. ing cinematic sensibility.” Within this framework, the documentary As is the case with many other genres, An extensive overview of the history of A Journey to Cape Verde (2010) is briefly documentary is considered as being in animated documentary has been con- analysed in this paper in terms of its role a continuous evolution, responding, in ducted by Roe (2011), considering that in conveying messages about natural Hight’s (2008, p. 10) view, to changes in animation can show and evoke things contexts and their coupling with devel- the wider social contexts of their produc- that elude live action. Acknowledging opment issues. tion and to developments in media tech- that animation has often involved some nologies. These developments, namely degree of drawing, it is worth mentioning In this animation documentary José in the last two decades, with huge tech- that analysis of relevant data concerning Miguel Ribeiro (director and scriptwrit- nological advances in digital and com- the history, processes, and evolutionary er) follows a personal two-month-long puter-generated imagery, have changed qualities of animated sketching are be- journey he had some years ago to the the animation landscape, making the ing studied by other authors (e.g. Torre, islands of Cape Verde during which he definition of animation more problematic 2015). used neither his mobile phone nor a (Martinez, 2015). camera. He brought with him two paper Elsewhere, Chang (2014) has discussed travel notebooks, on which he did his According to Hight (2008, p. 9), anima- the form of the evolution and analysis drawings and writings. Three years later, tion as a set of techniques “has long of past and present theoretical models these written notebooks and visual data been incorporated into documentary of animation to categorise their types were used and adjusted to create the an- culture” and, concerning this intersection (and liveaction films), with the scope of imation documentary film. between animation and documentary, he this paper by Chang, Chung and Huang 63 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS vol 1, n.º1 In an interview, José Miguel Ribeiro Plant blindness also comprises an “in- taries as tools to counteract ‘plant blind- (2012) explained that for the documen- ability to appreciate the aesthetic and ness’. tary’s final editing process it was neces- unique biological features” of plants sary to travel to the Cape Verde islands (Allen, 2003) and “the misguided, an- Documentary film-making: again, this time with filmmaking devices, thropocentric ranking of plants as infe- The animation documentary A to record the real sounds of the wind, rior to animals, leading to the erroneous Journey to Cape Verde sea, peoples, guitars, and everything that conclusion that they are unworthy of could be heard to complete the whole human consideration.” More recently, it However, what do audiences want animation project. was recognised that “this is apparently a from nature documentaries? […] problem not just among students, but in From the outset, the nature docu- Particular emphasis was given to plant the general population” (Chang, Chung, & mentary has exhibited a tendency resources: although plants constitute Huang, 2014, p. 2). toward a particular visual experi- the basis of the food chain and fulfil ence and viewer disposition – spe- other important human needs (e.g. med- Two decades ago, Clark (1995, p. 373) cifically, the unquenchable desire icine, textile, etc.), their huge relevance is discussed the challenges around the for an encounter with the sublime. not always highlighted as it should be, growing field of virtual nature and eco- (O’Grady, 2012, p. 161) leading to what has been called ‘plant logical consciousness. By then it was blindness’. stated that “ecologists have devoted According to O’Grady (2012, p. 159), the considerable attention to the ways in history of documentary film keeps evolv- which knowledge, wisdom or intuition ing, and “its styles (e.g. newsreels, propa- Plant blindness arise out of immersion in ‘wilderness’ ganda, cinéma-vérité, direct cinema and Plants fuel life on Earth by tapping […].” To this end, Clark stated that reli- so on) and its variants (e.g. docudrama the sun’s energy. But if plants are ance upon “representations of nature and mockumentary) suggests that doc- the main mediators between the – textual, photographic, cinematic” was umentary consciousness and documen- physical and biological worlds, frequently used to raise consciousness tary filmmaking may yet discover new why do most people tend to appre- about environmental issues, although species.” ciate animals so much more than other authors raised concerns about the plants? (Allen, 2003, p. 926) possibility of “computer-generated sim- In this sense, the animation documenta- ulations of nature” broadening the gap ry A Journey to Cape Verde can be seen as The term ‘plant blindness’ was introduced between humankind and the rest of the an interesting “new species” which ad- in 1998 by Wandersee and Schussler (Al- natural world. justs, partly, to Oldham’s (2014, p. 708) len, 2003, p. 926) after years of discus- statement of “reportage drawing” as “il- sion, literature searches, and investiga- This and other topics about computer lustration’s equivalent of documentary tion. It has been defined as “the inability and interactive learning environments filmmaking. Broadly it can be defined as to see or notice the plants in one’s own are extensively reviewed elsewhere drawing in the field, on location, observ- environment, leading to the inability to (Chang et al., 2014). This paper explores ing the actuality of life as it happens in recognize the importance of plants in the the potential role of animation documen- the moment.” According to this author, in biosphere and in human affairs.” “reportage drawing,” like in documentary, 64 ANIMATION DOCUMENTARIES AND BIODIVERSITY ISSUES M. ALEXANDRA ABREU LIma artists are free to focus their attention the challenges faced by the people of the Assuming that in modern culture, among on whatever subject matter they choose, Cape Verde islands, where drought, wa- all mediums, cinema is considered as including “the social, the political, or ter scarcity, and plant cover are relevant one of the more popular, Aldous (2014, the journalistic as a means of engag- issues. p. 1049) highlighted that the creators of ing meaningfully with the world around film content bear a “responsibility to en- them […].” It is worth mentioning the following sure that the potential of this utility is not scenes from the film viewing of A Jour- squandered.” In agreement with this, the director of ney to Cape Verde: A Journey to Cape Verde, José Miguel It is interesting to remark that beyond Ribeiro, has somehow focused his at- 03:47–05:22—At Santiago is- this responsibility to convey relevant tention on the natural characteristics of land interior, in the region of messages about nature and biodiversity these islands, revealing in an interview Assomada, the big “Ceiba” or to wider audiences, some of the “most the “Landscape surroundings of those “kapok tree” (Ceiba pentendra (L) profitable documentaries in history are islands, some black, others more yellow- Gaertn) was even bigger than nature films and mini-series, such asThe ish, with an almost rare, but precious, the photos I have previously Blue Planet (2001), Planet Earth (2006) green plant cover; and the water which is seen in Portugal. “I have to take and March of the Penguins (2005).