Review on Nanook

The film Nanook of the North is known for being the first documentary. I found the film to be both entertaining, educational, and a way of escape; reason being that I learned things I did not know before and was also amazed by the way these Eskimos got through each day. Through the film I was able to see how they built Igloos, how they fished, and hunted for seals and walrus. We got to see how they traveled both on land and water. It was amazing to see dog sledding transportation in real life situations rather than a scripted movie. The dogs would fight with each other to prove dominance over another and end up slowing down needed traveling time. Seeing how the family traveled through sea impressed me as well; apparantley one Kayak boat can hold about 5 family members and a puppy. As being the first documentary film, I found similarities between Nanook and other reality TV shows shown today such as Jersey Shore. They are similiar in the way that both film the day to day lifestyle of a main character or family. The idea is for a cameraman to follow these main characters and watch how they live their life. The issue I have with reality TV today, is that most of their showings is scripted entertainment. To me reality TV should be real not written out before they appear on video.