Well put Claire -- I think the Disney nature series of the 50's
("Living Desert," etc.) were a key influence on a whole generation
who have become the environmentalists of the 70's-80's-90's...
(Which is not to exonerate all Disney enterprises...)

In 1974, I remember being out at the Aquarium at Coney Island
and watching two young kids from Bed-Sty "interacting" with a Beluga...
The whale blew out, showering the kids with salt water.  They squealed
with delight.  There was no "interpretation", nothing beyond that simple
event...    What was the net effect?  Don't know.  But I think it
may have established a new & lasting memory for those kids.  (The contrast
with the familiar scene of NYC kids playing in the spray of an opened fire
hydrant  was apparent...)

Not long after this I had a chance to go to Sea World in San Diego and saw one
of their vaudeville performances enlisting pinnipeds in doing circus
stunts on a stage in an outdoor arena...  Sitting in my seat in the arena, the
"affective" content of that experience was different.

I just don't believe the audience was connected in the same way -- it
was -- I think we could say -- "inauthentic" -- in fact, my gut reaction is
that the net effect was destructive...  Animals as burlesque props...

So perhaps there are "themes" and there are "themes"...?

Tom
                Tom Moritz  Academy Librarian
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