CARBON: THE UNAUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY
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Directors: Daniella Ortega and Niobe Thompson
Screenwriter: Daniella Ortega
Principal cast:
Sarah Snook (narration)
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson
Prof. Tamara Davis
Emeritus Prof. Will Steffen
Prof. David Christian
Dr. Phil De Luna
Country: Canada/Australia
Classification: G
Runtime: 89 mins.
Australian release date: 31 March 2022.
Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography, an Australian/Canadian co-production made by ABC TV and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, is the first in a planned series of co-pros by the two national broadcasters. ABC Managing Director David Anderson explains that, “This collaboration between the ABC and CBC will drive our limited resources further, leveraging our strengths to create and share distinctive content that connects with audiences at home and overseas.” A feature-length documentary, it’s a thorough examination of the element carbon, one of the most abundant elements in the universe. In fact, carbon is so profuse that it makes up one-fifth of the human body, yet, as it’s described in the film, it is “the most talked about but least understood element on Earth”. The co-directors, Daniella Ortega from Australia and Niobe Thompson from Canada, set out to change that with their information-packed film.
Using a narration script written by Ortega and voiced by Aussie thespian Sarah Snook over a combination of computer-generated animation, archival and contemporary footage and current-day interviews with an array of experts, Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography begins with the origin of carbon (in fact, it is forged in the cores of stars – who knew? We really are stardust) and then investigates all the incredibly wide-ranging combinations it forms as it passes through the cosmos before arriving on Earth. Here, it undergoes even more dramatic processes, such as photosynthesis, one of the most important live-giving processes for life on our planet. Two of the most engaging scientists explaining all these things to us are the American astrophysicist, cosmologist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson and the Australian astrophysicist and dark matter expert Tamara Davis, who manage to make pretty complex information easily digestible. They are joined by many others, including Emeritus Professor Will Steffen of the Australian National University and a councillor with the Climate Council of Australia, solar energy entrepreneur Andy McCarthy and Canadian Indigenous language activist and Tribal Parks Guardian Gisele Martin.
So far, so good. Where Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography trips up is in the filmmakers’ decision to anthropomorphise the element: throughout the documentary carbon is referred to as having a gender, and Ortega and Thompson have decided that ‘she’ is female. Why? Isn’t carbon sexless? Why not use the pronoun ‘it’? This unusual choice sounds quite odd and is occasionally jarring, especially when ‘she’ is referred to as “the life of the party” and “promiscuous”. Huh? To maintain this female-gendered theme, Snook’s narration is a little coquettish and the script has her, as carbon, referring to herself in the first person and saying things like, “My journey will go on, with or without you”. Even the expert talking heads buy into this conceit and it’s strange to hear people like Tyson using such terminology.
While it is disconcerting, don’t be put off by this stylistic judgement because Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography needs to be seen and considered in light of the important information it conveys. It doesn’t pick political sides, relying on the science to speak for itself, although it does stress the significance of using the ballot box to effect change if one wants things to improve. One of the terrifying facts it relays is that, in the 1800s, the world’s atmosphere contained 270 to 280 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide; today it is around 420 ppm and increasing annually, the highest it’s been for 15 million years. I’ll say that again, 15 million years! The safe level of CO2 in the atmosphere is less than 350 ppm. As Ms. Carbon says, “I’m indestructible. You’re not”. Yikes!
Screenwriter: Daniella Ortega
Principal cast:
Sarah Snook (narration)
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson
Prof. Tamara Davis
Emeritus Prof. Will Steffen
Prof. David Christian
Dr. Phil De Luna
Country: Canada/Australia
Classification: G
Runtime: 89 mins.
Australian release date: 31 March 2022.
Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography, an Australian/Canadian co-production made by ABC TV and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, is the first in a planned series of co-pros by the two national broadcasters. ABC Managing Director David Anderson explains that, “This collaboration between the ABC and CBC will drive our limited resources further, leveraging our strengths to create and share distinctive content that connects with audiences at home and overseas.” A feature-length documentary, it’s a thorough examination of the element carbon, one of the most abundant elements in the universe. In fact, carbon is so profuse that it makes up one-fifth of the human body, yet, as it’s described in the film, it is “the most talked about but least understood element on Earth”. The co-directors, Daniella Ortega from Australia and Niobe Thompson from Canada, set out to change that with their information-packed film.
Using a narration script written by Ortega and voiced by Aussie thespian Sarah Snook over a combination of computer-generated animation, archival and contemporary footage and current-day interviews with an array of experts, Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography begins with the origin of carbon (in fact, it is forged in the cores of stars – who knew? We really are stardust) and then investigates all the incredibly wide-ranging combinations it forms as it passes through the cosmos before arriving on Earth. Here, it undergoes even more dramatic processes, such as photosynthesis, one of the most important live-giving processes for life on our planet. Two of the most engaging scientists explaining all these things to us are the American astrophysicist, cosmologist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson and the Australian astrophysicist and dark matter expert Tamara Davis, who manage to make pretty complex information easily digestible. They are joined by many others, including Emeritus Professor Will Steffen of the Australian National University and a councillor with the Climate Council of Australia, solar energy entrepreneur Andy McCarthy and Canadian Indigenous language activist and Tribal Parks Guardian Gisele Martin.
So far, so good. Where Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography trips up is in the filmmakers’ decision to anthropomorphise the element: throughout the documentary carbon is referred to as having a gender, and Ortega and Thompson have decided that ‘she’ is female. Why? Isn’t carbon sexless? Why not use the pronoun ‘it’? This unusual choice sounds quite odd and is occasionally jarring, especially when ‘she’ is referred to as “the life of the party” and “promiscuous”. Huh? To maintain this female-gendered theme, Snook’s narration is a little coquettish and the script has her, as carbon, referring to herself in the first person and saying things like, “My journey will go on, with or without you”. Even the expert talking heads buy into this conceit and it’s strange to hear people like Tyson using such terminology.
While it is disconcerting, don’t be put off by this stylistic judgement because Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography needs to be seen and considered in light of the important information it conveys. It doesn’t pick political sides, relying on the science to speak for itself, although it does stress the significance of using the ballot box to effect change if one wants things to improve. One of the terrifying facts it relays is that, in the 1800s, the world’s atmosphere contained 270 to 280 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide; today it is around 420 ppm and increasing annually, the highest it’s been for 15 million years. I’ll say that again, 15 million years! The safe level of CO2 in the atmosphere is less than 350 ppm. As Ms. Carbon says, “I’m indestructible. You’re not”. Yikes!