The latest offering from National Geographic, "Queens," lavishes viewers with spellbinding visuals of flora and fauna as never before seen. Amidst the buzz of jungle insects and primal clashes amidst the savannah's dominant predators, the painstaking effort put into capturing such detailed imagery leaves viewers enamored and curious for more.
The seven-part series that is narrated and co-produced by Angela Bassett culminates in a behind-the-scenes expose, revealing notable details of the production. Particularly interesting is the fact that the series was exclusively directed by women, who tirelessly recorded footage over a four-year span, with established filmmakers mentoring rising talents from the locales of filming.
"Queens" presents viewers an intimate, zoomed-in look at numerous species, ranging from tiny ants to majestic elephants, offering insights into their social structures, mating routines, gender dynamics, and the bonds that keep them together in family units. However, these compelling narratives also highlight mounting challenges faced by these creatures. Climate change and rampant urban development pose existential threats to these unique animals and their shrinking habitats.
Coupled with the harsh reality of the natural world where survival is a game of fittest, "Queens" also reveals an unsettling aspect of animal behavior. The series offers no shortage of scenes where animals annihilate their own kin, commonly seen when a male eliminates a rival's offsprings, while the mother is rendered helpless. This practice of infanticide is prevalent across species, from lions to bees.
However, "Queens" does not point out these revelations directly. Instead, it subtly suggests that the matriarchs of the animal kingdom can offer human society valuable insights into feminine leadership. However, this inference seems flawed. The matriarchal societies of the featured species are not a recent phenomenon and the female leaders of these groups show no evidence of being kinder or providing a different leadership model than male-led societies.
Instead, they, too, can be observed indulging in the ruthless game of survival. For instance, the series showcases a female hyena murdering her own niece to clinch the leadership of the pack. The only offered exception to this are the bonobos, deemed as the least violent and most playful primates that happen to be female-led and dwell in a plentiful jungle. Yet, the show doesn't explore whether their harmonious lifestyle is a product of their female leadership, their prosperity, or inherently peaceful tendencies.
"Queens" seems to be more invested in dramatizing the narratives to cater to a 'feminist-light' or 'girlboss' sensibility. This perceivable bias results in an overuse of musical cues and the repeated usage of the term "queens" in a pop-culture context to foster fascination about the natural world.
Moreover, the series excessively anthropomorphizes its animal subjects, inflicting human moral standards on their actions. Whether it's a queen bee disposing of and replacing her daughter's eggs, or a queen ant sacrificing a limb to survive, their actions are painted as moral conundrums, which could simply be seen as survival tactics in the animal world.
"Queens" certainly reaps the benefit of professional narration by Angela Bassett, though the scripted dialogues, coupled with exaggerated, mood-setting background scores, seem less authentic. The narratives might have been better received if presented as intriguing biological behaviors rather than moral plays.
That said, "Queens" deserves commendation for spotlighting the largely overlooked female animal in nature and in science. This focus helps underline the underrepresentation of feminine perspectives both behind and in front of the camera, in laboratories, and in conservation efforts, which has far-reaching implications, notably within the realm of medicine.
In conclusion, "Queens" is a visually breathtaking series that unfortunately veers into territory of gender essentialism by emphasizing sex-based commonalities between humans and animals more than it inarguably should. Instead, it could have concentrated on celebrating the intricacies of animal behavior and reflecting on the need for more balanced gender representation in areas of study.
