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*Note*
This post contains discussion on the Netflix film, My Octopus Teacher. I’m not sure if the rules on spoilers apply to documentary films, and I try not to go into much detail about the content. However, out of an abundance of caution, here’s a quick warning for you to avert your eyes if you feel strongly about octopus spoilers.
I caught “My Octopus Teacher” on Netflix over the last few weeks (thanks Janessa for the recommendation, I'm terrible at keeping up with the latest shows). I officially declare it to be my favourite documentary right now (sorry Chasing Coral!). I have never had a nature show fill me with such awe.
My Octopus Teacher is about a filmmaker, Craig Foster, who, as a response to burnout, returns to his childhood experiences of free diving off the coast of Cape Town. He discovers a patch of kelp forest and dives there daily. Eventually he encounters an octopus living in that forest and befriends it over a year of free diving.
The underwater world fascinates me, the weirder the better. My favourite books as a child were about marine life. I am one of those strange people who plan visits to the aquarium when on holiday, and even held my wedding in one.
With some regret, I never leveraged this interest. I had no courage to learn diving, nor explore exotic waters. I made my career in a concrete corporate world of law and business, rather than science, I do wonder what my life would be if I had taken a different path. I am not sure why it never entered my mind to take that path when I was younger, was I influenced by everyone around me having corporate type disciplines, and choosing what would appear more successful in their eyes?
Now, I live vicariously through nature documentaries. I knew this film had a unique premise, but I never expected it to be as inspiring for me as it was. Watching how it described the relationship between a person and an octopus left me stunned by a mixed feeling of amazement and intensity. It made me think of a few things:
1. This film is a product of serendipity rather than planning.
This could not have originated with a plan. No one had an idea to make a nature documentary about befriending an octopus. The experiences came first, and the film later.
It was a perfect alignment of stars. A burnt out filmmaker, who was also a free diver, with knowledge of the South African coast, had the luck to meet an octopus which was willing to trust him. Without all these factors coming together, this film could never be created. I doubt Craig Foster even expected his life experiences would culminate into this.
I thought about how I try to control my life’s direction. Trying to play architect and make a perfect plan for life. What courses to attend, what jobs to do, how to engineer the perfect opportunity. Decisions are evaluated against an amorphous master plan. Trying to force outcomes rarely works. Do I even know what my ideal future looks like? What if it is actually something I am unable to even think of right now, and I end up closing my mind to new possibilities in the process of planning?
As a romantic (not in the ‘love’ sense of the term…or maybe so as well) the kind of serendipity in this film appeals to me. I ought to embrace it in my own life more. I wrote above about my regrets in failing to follow my interests in sea creatures. I should follow my intuition and interests into my life more, rather than think of any “right” path or decisions. In that same vein though. I don’t need to regret this past decision to pursue law. There is no right or wrong to it. Even those decisions I think I regret now, they might lead to something amazing later on too.
2. We can learn more from detailed observation of simple things than trying to keep up with the information in the world.
The word “teacher” in the title feels awkward. How can an octopus be a teacher?
Through his interactions with this one octopus, Craig Foster learns about a whole new world. He learns everything about the octopus, maps out the kelp forest, understands all the different animals, and their relationships in this ecosystem. This led him to discover 8 new species of shrimp. Beyond learning about nature, he learns about his own life, his own relationships with people, and strengthens his bond with his son.
“My incredible octopus teacher, she helped me in many ways to uncover many of those lives, because she's in the middle of this food web. And to know her, you have to know so many animals that she preys on, and of course her predators as well, and then all the scavengers that come to her den. She's this amazing teacher in many ways for the other lives of the animals in the forest.”
source: npr
His teacher is not some brilliant professor, world leader, or CEO. It was a common octopus and a patch of kelp forest. Even from such a small, seemingly insignificant source, there is so much knowledge to unlock. We merely need to give it our attention and focus.
I wonder if Craig Foster questioned whether he could be making better use of his time? Should he be learning something else instead? Is there a better patch of kelp forest, a smarter octopus he could be learning from?
In my own rush to keep up, and to be doing well, I have lost this focus. In fearing missing out on important information, I follow more news and content sources than I can manage. In rushing to get through them, I read mindlessly and learn little. Instead of actually making progress to learn new skills, I was time reading about what I should be learning and how to learn it.
This film reminds me not to care so much about these, to operate with less breadth and give the things I do more attention.
3. We have the technology to experience how amazing the world is, but are we doing enough to protect it?
My sense of wonder when watching this film is amplified by the beautiful underwater photography, showing the alien world of the kelp forest in crystal clarity. We have progressed so much from the grainy photos and documentaries of the past. It surpasses what I could observe with my own eyes. We can capture all these views from so many angles, up to microscopic proportions. I can watch this with almost no barrier to entry, from the comforts of my living room.
I could probably see all of these creatures up close in an aquarium, but there is always something different about seeing them in their natural habitat. Unlike an exhibit crafted by humans, every fish, sea urchin, and other creature in the film, was much more amazing because it was there due to the invisible hand of nature.
The Busselton Jetty in Western Australia is one of those places to observe nature in a similar raw state. The fish behave nothing like in an aquarium, and the variety is phenomenal.
Will the world continue to be around for us to explore? At the rate we intrude into the natural world, and extract resources from it, I wonder how long more can the world still exist in this natural form. I am no environmental activist. I am a city-dweller by nature, completely uncomfortable with the outdoors. However, I feel I ought to be doing more to respect the world, and be careful about my impact to the world.
A free diver befriending an octopus shows us how connected we could be to nature, if we wanted to be. Rather than trying to control and shape it to our human intentions, maybe we can live more symbiotically with the world.
Have a good week!
James
Thanks for reading! I would love to hear any thoughts you had about this post and to discuss it further.
If you have watched Octopus Teacher too, I’d love to hear if it impacted you in any way. If you have other nature documentaries to recommend please do so!
I still think about how I could pivot my work to be closer to the underwater world, if you know of people in this space with legal issues or are looking for others to collaborate, please link me up!
You can email me at jameschanwz@hey.com, leave a comment, or starting a conversation on whatsapp.
Other interesting things this week
Ad tech could be the next internet bubble - An interesting view that the revenues of digital marketing giants like Facebook and Google are based on marketing products which aren’t worth the money.
Meet the customer service reps for disney and airbnb who have to pay to talk to you - An inside look at the outsourcing of customer service to independent contractors in the US. See also: Should gig workers be employees? A reflection on the Uber CEO's letter to the NYT.