66: Man vs. Wild

Another representative here - for the kinds of shows that seem to litter the Discovery Channels and National Geographics - Survivorman and I Shouldn't Be Alive come to mind, but there's a ton more (Deadliest Catch, I'm pretty sure there are a few about other non-fishing professions), that are more or less about people surviving (usually) grave danger due to nature - animals, plants, weather, whatever. In my mind, Man vs. Wild is the most well-known, and around the last year and a half or so has really begun to pick up some steam - I've heard a bunch of talk shows mentioning it just offhandedly. Plus, it is the show with the coolest named host - Bear Grylls (sure, Bear is not his given name, but still, it's not like he made it up for the show), and that ought to count for something.

What makes these shows so popular I don't have a clear beat on - basically, the premise of the show is that Grylls goes out into nature, with only the bare necessities (pardon the weak pun) and shows John Q. Public how he goes about surivving - and points out different ways people can die. Part of it I think might be a Nascar reflex - like those who watch to see drivers crash, some people probably watch these shows consciously or subconcsiously with the idea that maybe something will happen to them - nature will bite back. Or maybe it's the other way - man's constant quest to subdue nature - a conquering for one man is victory for all men. Maybe it's in the middle - people want to see people pushed to the brink - to see how far they can go towards death, before just coming back to a last minute victory. Or, hell, maybe people just like seeing nature and hear about it from a guy with a British accent.

I think part of it is also the fun in seeing how extreme nature can be - unlike reality shows like Survivor which focus more on how extreme people can be, sort of Lord of the Flies-style, Man vs. Wild is about the setting and the nature and plants and animals more than it is about the host (though the host certainly counts for something, as its the only voice you hear the whole program). Last year, I read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, all about the great Everest disaster in 1996, and I surprised how fascinated I was by the entire situation of mountain danger - it was riveting the tale of what it took to climb, and how many different opportunities there were for injury to life or limb on the way. I think part of that thrill is what makes it amazing to see Bear walk away from a lava field, or escape from a crevice in a mountain pass.
The stark reality of these landscapes is especially jarring as most viewers (of television in general, not just these shows) are urban or suburban and have less of an understanding of what seeing these things in real life are like - tall mountains sound more like from Lord of the Rings than something you'd ever see in real life, outside of maybe a plane window.

There was a bit of controversy last year over how "real" Man vs. Wild's survivalism was - one might think it would be obvious that since he has different camera angles and he addresses his production crew, there are people with him, but apparently people were horrified that he wasn't really off on his own. It's interesting how important it is for people to see how real the situations are - somehow danger just isn't the same if the risk wasn't there the whole time (I'm not saying I can't understand it - it's just that it's not sports, there's no competition - would people rather him be more likely to die?).