Imaginative Living
National Geographic Channel ORIGINS: The Journey of Humankind
Jason Silva, narrator
National Geographic/ Asylum Entertainment
Each episode is 50 minutes in length
8 Episodes in this series
Episode Six shown April 17, 2017
Shelter
Where, oh, where to live. From cave men to the present, where to place one’s head at night has been the search. Twelve thousand years ago, taking mammoth bones, piling them on top of each other in a circle and calling that an abode, to the present skyscrapers that can have a multitude of floors and remind one of the Biblical Tower of Babel, man seeks shelter. Living in a cave was something, but if the food supply ran low, what next? Tents were devised (Saint Paul was a tent maker) and from that, more permanent housing, and then growing crops and raising cattle to keep the home stable. Bit by bit, man went from living amid bones to brick, wood and steel.
Then, again, shelter could mean shelter from warfare, and hence came large cathedrals where sanctuary had two meanings. One for the inside place of worship and the other for freedom from fear. Man started to reshape his surroundings and when it became crowded, there was only one direction to go---up. So, came skyscrapers and to reach the higher floors above the crowding below, someone invented an elevator to raise and lower people and possessions. Oh, what the human mind can conceive.
The scenes used to depict various forms of shelter are interesting. The large mammoth bones (and if man were alive in the dinosaur age, would he have been able to lift those bones for use? Just thinking...) At the time of Christ, Romans were actually using glass for panes (only the wealthy, of course) The Church had power in the Middle Ages, and building a large cathedral (here, Durham Cathedral in England) was a show of strength for the Norman against the Saxon in that time period. The ribbed vault came into existence with plenty of ceiling space for energetic painters and mosaic workers to show their skills.
And you thought shelter was just going into a cave to get out of the rain? There is always someone in the group with a better idea and imagination has no boundaries. It’s part of being human. We seek, we find, we change and seek again. The curiosity gene is in all of us.
Direction, cinematography and music are excellent.
ORIGINS: The Journal of Humankind is produced by Asylum Entertainment for National Geographic. The series will run on television in 171 countries and 43 languages. The eight episodes are “Fire” (March 6, 2017), “Medicine” (March 13, 2017) “Money” (March 20, 2017, ) “Communication” (March 27, 2017), “War” (April 10, 2017), “Shelter” (April 17, 2017), “Exploration” (April 24, 2017) and “Transportation” (May 1, 2017.) Special effects are by John Boswell (also known as Melodysheep.) For more information see www.nationalgrographic.com or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, Linkedin and Pinterest.
Copyright 2017 Marie Asner
