Film Review: Project Wild Thing

The film is essentially a 2013 visual version of Richard Louv's The Last Chid in the Woods. He has two children who (likely) suffer from NDD. He goes around speaking with children/young adults about their adversity to nature, and he speaks with nature "experts" on how to "sell" nature. His end goal is to "Sell" nature as if it is a product.

If we're talking "intended audiences," I would suggest that there are two main ones: Parents of small children and any adolescent person with autonomy. They’re really the ones who decide whether or not children get to go outside. In terms of social positions and locations, I think this is one of the few times that they’re irrelevant. Bond never discloses his job – he only calls himself “The Marketing Director for Nature.” (I mean, we know he’s a filmmaker, but that’s as deep as it goes.) He meets with people of different societal standings, races, ages, and backgrounds to get their viewpoints on the subject. Nature is universal.

I was really struggling with finding a resource that I found related to our action learning group project, that I found to be relevant, and that I connected with. Just through a little bit of googling, I was able to find this documentary. It’s almost as though our project was a Canadian version of Bond’s idea. He shared the same facts that we were looking up, and as I mentioned before, it seems as though he pulled most of his inspiration from Louv’s text – much like we did. I thought Bond’s idea of “Marketing” nature as if it was some kind of product was really interesting. It really added some “flair” to the documentary. There is a point during the film that he makes note of putting too much “effort” into this marketing scheme, and that he is beginning to lose a connection with his kids. (This part seems quite contrived, but the idea is there.) He seems to understand that we are not going to get rid of screens – they’re a constant in our lives, now, and he has embraced it. He’s created a free Android and iOS app called WildTime that offers loads of kid-friendly activities that are super easy to take part in. As a person who has done nature programming for children between the ages of 5-13, I love this.

Overall, it really does solidify what I already know – I have a disconnect with nature that I really ought to fix.

In terms of further reading to better understand this documentary, why not use the book that (I imagine) it was based off of:

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin of Chapel Hill, 2005. Print.