They're Just Like Us James Cameron's Secrets of the Whales reveals an Avatar-like realization - IMG Artists
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Culture
ECO-FRIENDLY INNOVATIONS
In honor of Earth Day, far-out and forward-
HIGH, LOW + EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN thinking sustainability innovations. » P.46
FILM
They’re
Just Like Us
LUIS LAMA R/NATIONAL GE O GR AP HIC FOR DISNE Y+; TO P R IGHT: COURTETSY OF PLENT Y
James Cameron’s Secrets of the Whales
reveals an Avatar-like realization
VISITING NOMADS
Sperm whales often travel
great distances, stopping along
the way to interact with local
whales. Whales are social
creatures, so if one “gets
stranded, the others go to help.”
40 NEWSWEEK.COM A pr i l 30, 2021 NEWSWEEK.COM 41
Culture FILM
They have singing competi- 12 countries and six continents, CAST AND CREW Clockwise from
left: James Cameron exits the Deepsea
tions, isolate themselves by dia- including both polar regions, to show Challenger after a dive; breaching
lects, stick to unique food preferences, us their complex lives that few have humpback whale calf off Vava’u, Tonga;
are led by generations of older, wiser witnessed so intimately until now. Brian Skerry prepares to freedive and
photograph sperm whales off the coast of
matriarchs, celebrate their tribe’s These close encounters are the Dominica; and a humpback whale shows
identity, choose different parenting work of underwater photographer, its fluke before a deep dive in Antarctica.
techniques, and gracefully mourn National Geographic Explorer at
their dead. Large Brian Skerry, as he tells the sto-
They’re just like us. ries of the creatures he’s been docu- in perfect coordination—almost like
As generations of fans eagerly await menting, and even been accepted by, a dance.”
a sequel to the biggest box-office hit for over 40 years. The biggest secret about whales?
in history, Avatar, its Hollywood Although he might be best known They have complex lives, families and
heavyweight director James Cam- for his Oscar-winning films such as culture, much like humans, says Skerry,
eron reveals some big secrets about Titanic and Avatar and science fiction adding he thinks of it like “the neigh-
another mysterious world he’s putting blockbusters such as Aliens and Ter- borhoods of New York City at the turn
on screen. This world is also inhabited minator, Cameron is also a National of the last century with many enclaves
by a highly cognitive, sentient species Geographic sea explorer and conser- of different cultures and languages.
with huge brains, intricate social vationist. In his documentary Deep- Orca have a preference for ‘interna-
structures and complex communica- sea Challenge, the film director made tional cuisine.’ The orca in New Zea-
tions skills. a record-breaking solo dive to the land prefer sting rays, while the orca
This is another threatened “Pan- Earth’s deepest point. in Norway like herring.”
dora” that needs to be understood Merging his passions for cut- “Moms teach their calves the skills
in order to be protected, ting-edge technology they will need to survive, but they’re
but this world isn’t from and ocean exploration, also teaching them their cultural
one of Cameron’s science BY Cameron teams up with traditions. Humpbacks have ‘singing
fiction blockbusters. It’s Skerry, who won an competitions.’ Beluga whales visit a
right here on Earth, and KATHLEEN RELLIHAN “Underwater Oscar” in ‘summer resort’ each year and play
@k_rellihan
the magical beings that 2019 from the Academy games. Whales celebrate their identity
roam and rule this world of Underwater Arts and and grieve for the dead. They are an
are cetaceans—or as they’re more Sciences, to uncover the secret world alien intelligence sharing this planet
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: HAYES BAXLEY/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FOR DISNEY+; MARK
THIESSEN/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION; BRIAN SKERRY; STEVE DE NEEF
commonly referred to, whales. of whales, with the help of advanced with us.”
Secrets of the Whales, National Geo- underwater technology. It gives us difficult hardship at sea, in very hard when a beluga pod adopts a narwhal.. They’re Just Like Us
graphic’s new Disney+ documentary insight into their way of life, and the diving conditions. A lot of stuff I “How do you get close to these big When a group of humpback whales The Harm of Humans
series premiering on April 22, is pro- extraordinary culture of five different wouldn’t know how to do, so I get to animals and document them in such that are not related to each other So while Cameron was filming the
duced by Cameron and narrated by whale species: orcas, humpbacks, belu- celebrate his [Skerry’s] artistry and his a dramatic and intimate way?” asks come together from various places Avatar sequel, Skerry was doing the
his longtime sci-fi film partner, Avatar gas, narwhals and sperm whales. craftsmanship,” says Cameron, who is Cameron. “[Skerry] got them to trust around the world, Cameron describes fieldwork and capturing intimate
and Avatar 2 award-winning actress also a free diver and a scuba diver. him. They allowed him to get close.” it as “a bit like an annual gathering of whale encounters on film—including
and conservationist Sigourney Weaver. Getting Close to the Whales Skerry tells Newsweek the chal- In the first episode, an orca even friends that get together to hang out some nail-biting ones, “You’re not out
“I’ve been fascinated for years by Cameron shares in the foreword to lenges of filming underwater offers to share his meal with Sher- and have a beer” but instead “do their there observing whales for very long
whales, and this was an opportunity Skerry’s Secrets of the Whales compan- included bad weather and finding ry—a bloody stingray that he politely bubble net feeding strategy together before you see the stress and injuries
for me to follow my curious nose into ion photobook (National Geographic, elusive whales on the open sea, “We declines. impacts of human civilization have on
an area that’s not my area of expertise April 6) that the two men share a sim- can go weeks or months with no “We have fantasies that they have them,” Cameron tells Newsweek, not-
but certainly an area of curiosity and
fascination, and bring a kind of story-
ilar drive to explore and create in the
ocean depths: “We both grew up in
sightings.”
“So while three years sounds like
these very complex, emotional lives
and intelligence, but now we’re see- “The great whales—the ing a rescue filmed when a National
Geographic diver intervened to assist
teller’s perspective to it,” Cameron tells landlocked, working-class towns, but a lot of time, in the world of filming ing the evidence of what we kind of other sentient beings an orca entangled in a fisherman’s
Newsweek via Zoom video. were drawn to the sea,” writes Cam- whales, it is barely enough.” SOTW hoped and instinctually believed to that have the misfortune rope and in danger of drowning.
Filmed over three years, this epic
four-part docuseries follows the mys-
eron, adding that they both got their
scuba certifications in YMCA pools.
filming captured many firsts though:
a sperm whale calf feeding, and even
be true about them,” says Cameron,
adding that Skerry now has the foot- of sharing this big As Weaver narrates this harrowing
moment, she adds that nearly a thou-
terious creatures across every ocean, “It was three years of painstakingly a cross-species adoption is recorded age to prove it. spaceship with us.” sand of these air-breathing mammals
42 NEWSWEEK.COM A pr i l 30, 2021 NEWSWEEK.COM 43
Culture FILM
die every day tied up in fishing lines. the war between the takers and the and that they pass on ancestral tradi-
“The big male orca could easily kill the caretakers,” Cameron continues.”The tions, we can begin to understand how
diver, but he seems to understand…” takers see nature is that which we very special the natural world is, and
says the Avatar actress in her iconic exploit, and that which we can make that we are not alone.”
otherworldly voice. a profit from.”
“Pretty much everything we’re doing “So ask yourself, are you a taker or a The Avatar Touch
as a civilization is injurious to them,” caretaker? Are you voting for a taker Cameron’s Avatar was referred to as
Cameron says, from toxic water pol- or a caretaker?” Cameron adds that “the most epic piece of environmental
lutants to sound pollution—from seis- answers aren’t always black and white, advocacy ever captured on celluloid.”
mic testing to military sonar—that’s and are perhaps a “bit gray.” And he uses the same power of sto-
highly toxic to whales who see their “If you use that sort of litmus test as rytelling to not hit us over the head
world by sound and use echolocation a way to guide yourself through deci- with advocacy in Secrets of the Whales.
to hunt their prey. sions, then you’re a responsible citizen Instead, he invites us into their world
This sound pollution is related to a of the planet and you’re taking care of to see how similar we are to these crea-
lot of whale stranding, says Cameron, the other citizens on the planet, which tures, in the hopes that if we can relate
explaining that when a whale’s hear- are the great whales—the other sen- to and also be awed by them, we will
ing is damaged, it can’t hunt or see tient beings that have the misfortune care about saving their homes and pre-
properly, so it gets stranded. “Because of sharing this big spaceship with us.” serving their cultures.
of their social bonds [if] one gets Skerry also hopes Secrets of the In a “science fiction action romp
stranded, the others go to help, and Whales will inspire people to care in a fantasy world” like Avatar, Cam-
they get caught. This can snowball more about protecting the oceans, “If eron says that he was able to raise con-
until you lose entire pods of hundred we know and can see that whales share sciousness about Indigenous rights
and hundred of whales.” love, playfulness, empathy, that they and the threats to their culture.
invest so much into their offspring By imagining a made-up culture on
First Awe, Then Advocacy another planet with giant blue myth-
“You’re not going to defend and pro- ical creatures, Cameron got us to care.
tect what you don’t love and what you
don’t care about. So getting people “Because of their “Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 is much more
emotion-focused. Again, it doesn’t
to care is the first step toward taking social bonds [if] one bang you over the head with a conser-
action,” says Cameron.
“There’s a fundamental battle at gets stranded, the vation message. It also doesn’t tell you
what to do. It’s entertainment with a
work in human civilization, which is others go to help.” conscience.”
Just as the Na’vi tribe greet others
with “I see you” in Avatar’s Pandora,
Secrets of the Whales gives a similar
acknowledgment: recognizing these
sentient souls in the depths of the sea,
KINA SC OL LAY/NATIONAL GE O GR AP HIC FOR DISNE Y+
with their profound existence and our
connection and responsibility to pro-
tect them.
And despite everything we have
done to their kind, they might even
trust us.
But now, what will we do next?
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL Skerry gets
close to an orca society off New Zealand
in order to capture them on film because
telephotos lenses don’t work underwater.
A pr i l 30, 2021
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