Director’s Commentary

Purpose
The purpose of this video is to answer the questions: Are we natural? Or are we special, different from, and better than nature? Throughout time we have evolved side by side with our fellow inhabitants of Earth, but we are separate in many ways. We are not ‘better’ than nature we are cohabiters with nature. Our relationship with nature is not black and white it is an interwoven tapestry that closely knits us with nature, together, but separate. There are many things we share with nature and varying degrees in which we share them. But there are also aspects of nature we cannot attain and there are aspects of ourselves that are out of reach of nature. Humans are special.

Rationale.
Our video opens with a set of skits showing some of the ways that we are special, how we are different from nature. Our first skit shows an example of human ‘manners,’ it shows that we as humans use silverware, and cook our food by controlling fire. Animals do practice ‘manners’ in the sense that the alpha members or leaders of a group will eat first, but this is not nearly to the degree that humans take their table manners. The next skit is an example of human’s sense of humor a trait that is lacking in the natural world. The third skit shows man’s fear of death and that we as humans are built in the image of God. Nature does act in ways to evade death but they are actions based on instinct and only to hold it off until they can pass on their genetic code. For example, when some tree species are attacked by insects or are dying due to a disease they stop producing leaves and allocate all their energy to producing seeds thus spreading their genetic legacy. The fourth skit is an example of how humans practice deceit, it is true that some species feign injury to misinform their predators but this too is on more of an instinct level and not the same as how humans implement this tool. The final short skit is demonstrating how humans think rationally. No natural organism can match the human mind’s ability to think logically. We chose to use this short skit format to quickly show some of the ways that humans are different from nature in a way that is entertaining, educating, and thought provoking.

Next in our video is a longer skit showing the downfalls of speciesism. We are different. Not better. As humans we cannot say our species deserves more because we can talk or because we have thumbs. This is the ‘trap of speciesism.’ If I say that I am better than a monkey because I can read how is that different from racism or sexism that I am better due to the color of my skin or my gender. Evolution is not a ladder, it is a tree branching in many directions. Natural selection decides which direction each branch heads toward. Natural selection is not forward looking, meaning it has no end, no goal. There is no end to evolution, change is inevitable. This section of the video was meant to show the irrational mind of a prejudice. We chose to show nature taking back its rights from the ignorant man with physical force to make the message sink in.

The final portion of our video is a narrative summarizing our views on human’s relationship with nature. The section begins by showing the traces of evolution through time to show that all organisms share an evolutionary birth. The narrative then explains how humans’ more advanced brain, attained by evolution, set us apart from nature. The narrative goes through many examples that we feel set us apart from nature, and how it is because of our complex mind that these things are possible. The narrative then goes on to explain that through evolution every species is made special and unique. At this point in the video we felt it was appropriate to show the varying differences in nature that has all shared the same evolutionary birth. The narrative ends with our specialness due to a complex brain. This is the summary and conclusion of our video meant to cause thought and reflection.

Compare/Contrast:
1. The book advocates that polite eating habits such as using utensils and having table manners sets us apart from our natural inhabitants. This is a point we directly make in our first skit of the video. The video depicts a man at dinner about to enjoy his meal. The table is set and the man chooses to use a fork and knife to cut the food into manageable pieces where as the dogs beside him wolf down their food without so much as a thought for decorum.

2. The book also writes about speciesism, a form of prejudice where one species is set above another and allowed more rights because of its traits or lack of traits. This is also a point made directly in the video. Speciesism is just as wrong as racism, sexism, or any other prejudicial –ism. No trait or lack of trait grants the right to with hold the rights of anyone or anything.

3. The book mentions that humans are special because of our ability to ‘weather any storm’ by saying that ‘only humans can survive all of Earth’s environmental conditions. This was not a point made in the movie because it has too many holes in it. Yes, humans can survive in all conditions as a whole, but individuals die in environmental conditions all the time. In most disasters not 100% of anything will die, there are fighters and survivors in all species.

4. The book also suggests that only we as humans possess a soul. However, proving the existence of a soul in either humans or animals is impossible. One can present support for the existence of a soul by using certain examples but real proof is unattainable. Since it is impossible to prove a soul exists in a human it is equally impossible to prove a soul does not exist in nature.

5. As stated by the book we are also special because we plan for our future. This is discussed near the end of our video and is depicted by an election campaign poster and a squirrel gathering nuts. Nature does plan for the future, squirrels prepare for the winter, dogs shed hair in the summer months, and some animals have the same sexual partner their entire lives. But these ‘plans’ are not even breaking the surface; humans plan to a much farther extent planning every last detail. The extent of humans planning ranges from planning an evening to investing money for ones grandchildren. Our in-depth knowledge of time and use of our knowledge to plan our future sets us apart from nature.

References

"Are Animals and Humans the Same? ? Feministe." Feministe. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. .
This article discusses some of the practices of PETA, an organization that fights for animal’s rights. This article helped us understand some of the speciesism aspects of our argument.
"Are humans unique? | Psychology Today." Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness Find a Therapist. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. .
This article discusses our similarities with nature and argues that we are not special that nature shows just as much uniqueness as humans. This article was beneficial because it allowed us to look at our position from the other side. It allowed us the ability to understand our contradictor’s side enabling us to better prove our own point.
Flinn, M. V., Geary, D. C., & Ward, C. V. (2005). Ecological dominance, social competition,

and coalitionary arms races: Why humans evolved extraordinary intelligence. Evolution

and Human Behavior, 26, 10-46.

This article discusses the advances in the mind through evolution. Our complex brain is an achievement of evolution, we were more likely to survive in a community then we were in isolation and our communities were more likely to prosper the more communication we had together so slowly language evolved. Our social structure is an achievement of evolution.

"Human evolution -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. .
This is a basic article on human evolution. This article gave us a strong background in our argument so we could argue our point more intelligently. Our complex brain is our strongest evidence that humans are special, evolution was the mechanism that allowed for our complex brain.
"Humans vs. "Animals"" Erraticwisdom. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. .
This is a blog posted asking the same questions that our video deals with. This article was helpful beyond belief, not only did it demonstrate to us that the issue is important to other people it also showed us how other people felt about the subject.