Educational Shows is really a sweeping statement in this household, coined by myself. Most people that watch Educational Shows watch what society would deem as actually, and factually educational. Shows produced by NOVA, The BBC, National Geographic, PBS, etc. Shows on a variety of topics from space and history to oceans and wildlife of planet Earth. I've watched my fair share of educationally sanctioned telly. All the "real stuff" basically. Anything from Nazis to the holocaust to Ancient Egypt to historical buildings and events around the world to oceanic nature documentaries. I steer clear of the ones on land, because they're bound to show some animal eating another. I know it happens in nature, but I don't want to see it. But, I have seen a couple of these shows. While these types of programs are watched, they are intermingled with other shows that most would not consider among the ranks of Educational Shows. Shows like Unsolved Mysteries, Top Ten Conspiracy Theories, Ancient Aliens, The Great British Baking Show, Destination Truth/Expedition Unknown, Monster Quest, etc. No one, who holds any sanctity of sciences or history would call any one of these shows educational. But, if you know how to read between the lines, then they most certainly are. Let me explain. So, Ancient Aliens, since everyone is at least familiar with that show. On the surface it is a show that tells you that either we, in the future, learned time travel and traveled back in time and are the "Gods" or ancient aliens of which ancient cultures spoke. Or simply that the "Gods" of which these cultures spoke are space travelers from other planets. That's the premise of the show and the Ancient Alien theorists will show you all sorts of "evidence" in ancient writings or ancient archaeological sites that prove their theory. You're probably thinking, "Yeah, and it's total BS!". I like to think there are possibilities in this world, because it makes life fun for me. I'm all about the science and history, but I still like to play along with the thought that there might be aliens, or faeries, or yeti's, or what-have-you. So, the show is fun entertainment for me. Sometimes I'm thinking, "Well, that's a bit of a stretch." or I'm thinking, "That's something worth pondering..." But at the root of it all, no matter what "crazy" theory they put out there, they are showing you real places. It doesn't matter how its interpreted. Take Pacal's tomb covering in the ancient Mayan city of Palenque for one; it's completely real. Just look up Palenque Astronaut or Mayan Astronaut to see better photos of the tomb lid. It doesn't matter what is said about it, you can side with the Ancient Alien theorists, or not. But without this show, I wouldn't have even learned of the ancient Mayan city of Palenque or that there was a king named Pacal who had a stunning tomb lid. Perhaps you would have learned about this somewhere else, but I watch a lot of shows and I studied history all through my primary school years and at university. The topic never came up. So why is this exactly an Educational Show? Because learning is education and if I'm going to learn something during the program then I dub it an Educational Show. I'm not saying that I'm learning about Ancient Aliens or their theories. No, I'm learning about ancient historical sites and basic facts like names and places of these sites. Period. Because I can't concede that I'm learning much on the cultures of ancient peoples, but the sites and where they are in the world is factual. It's a jumping off point for me and I can research on these ancient sites further. However, without the initial information it isn't so easy to research these things. Oh they'll also tell you about real scrolls, texts, books, and tablets. Again, the information they glean from them is rather dubious at times, but the items are real and it's a starting place to research further. Here's an example of the last thing I learned from watching Ancient Aliens sometime last year. Did you know that the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, had China recreated in miniature, inside his tomb? You probably did. I learned that in school. But did you know that the waterways of miniature China were filled with liquid mercury? I had no idea, until it was mentioned on Ancient Aliens. I heard that, thought it was fascinating, researched it and it's more than likely true. Sure, Sima Qian wrote about the rivers of mercury more than a century after the tomb was built and sealed. However, scientist have found extremely high levels of mercury in soil samples in the area where miniature China is said to reside inside that tomb. Which is why they have been hesitant to excavate, because it's dangerous to human health, those levels. So, there is actually a lot for one to learn, merely from a show like Ancient Aliens, if you know what to actually pick up on. How about The Great British Baking Show? How can that be educational, it's just a reality show. This is true. But if you take the surface layer off, it's more than that. On the surface it is a show designed to raise high tension. The bakers are never given enough time, they are in imperfect conditions, and the show footage is pieced together in such a way as to raise the tension even further; by having the bakers finish at the very last conceivable second or that some bakers hate other bakers, etc. But if you look below all of that, it's a show about baking techniques and baked goods. Things that for me, not being British or European, are a treasure trove of learning opportunities. I'm not saying that the editing and time constraints don't make for entertaining viewing, but it's more than that. So, here in the US, where I'm from, we'll look at Pralines. Pralines stem from Praline, but I didn't know that until after watching the show. On the show, praline is caramelized suger with almond or hazelnuts, which turns hard upon cooling, is sort of transparent, and breaks, so like a hard candy. Here, one can see how it has it's basis in Praline, but Pralines are not the same thing at all. It's browned butter, not caramelized sugar, with cream added in and pecans, forming a cookie shape of a crumbly and overly sweet confection, instead of something more akin to a hardy candy. Here, let me show you. Though the roots of these treats are the same, they are not the same thing anymore. It makes sense. The French didn't have the usual nuts, with only pecans were found in abundance here, the cream made the entire thing most substantial, and more sugar goes into Pralines than Praline, which makes sense since sugar cane was in abundance here as well. It went from a candy to a confection here in the states.
If I'd been on The Great British Baking Show and they'd asked for Praline, I would have produced the bottom picture, because before that show, I didn't know about the top picture. There were things I knew, like biscuits here are savoury miniature breads, but that there they are cookies. Found out from the show that they are also what we call crackers. There are things I'd heard of before too like spun sugar. The show was the first time I saw how to make it or that you don't want your boiled sugar to be stirred around in the pot. Nor did I know the tricks to doing a mirror glaze. Or just about meringues. Here in the states, or at least in my area, French meringue is what people make. Some older cookbooks might use the techniques of Italian meringue, but it's just called boiled frosting. So, I've learned what my predecessors were doing with "boiled frosting". I also now know that there are other meringues instead of just what we call meringue which is the French version. Then there were the things I didn't know. All the French Patisserie. Sure everyone knows what a macaron is, but having been nowhere France-French, as Montreal and New Orleans don't count, because as in the case of Praline, things have changed in the last three hundred years, I'd never heard of nor seen things like Choux Buns Religieuse or Mille Feuille. Hell, I'd never even heard of the very British things like Victoria Sponge, Raised Pies, or Wagon Wheels, not to mention the other European sweets they have them make on the show like Spanische Windtorte of the Princess Cake. There's actually a lot to learn on a reality baking show, at least The Great British one. Monster Quest or similar paranormal type shows. Bet you think I can't make this educational? You'd be wrong. Sure if you're on the side of science, then monsters and the paranormal are flights of fancy. But, these shows can be educational as well. Besides showing you other countries and places, in other words you're learning geography and actually seeing a place in video as opposed to a poor colour or grainy black and white photograph, you're also learning the folklore of a place, which in essence translates to learning the culture of a place. You're learning the things they believe are real, or at least believed were real at some point in their history. Or how about a show that talks about the Catholic religion. There's a lot of non science-y things in those shows, but there is truth, even if it is their own truth. You'll have saintly relics and uncorrupted bodies. Perhaps the items or body parts in question never even belonged to the person that the church so long ago deemed to be a saint. Perhaps that uncorrupted body isn't as old as they say or isn't the correct person or is the bones of a person covered in wax. You'd think it's all hokum. However, you will learn that factually, the Catholic Church does believe in these things and is not above having dismembered body parts of long dead people shoved up inside of columns in Vatican City or long dead people on display for people to pray too. You may think it's BS or even macabre, but you'll learn a bit about how some religion works, which is educational whether you believe in saints or not. Or we'll go back to Ancient Aliens. A hot topic for them is always Ancient Egypt. I've watched a slew of shows on Ancient Egypt. The one's that are basically mainstream science and Egyptologist approved. Nothing hokey or fantastical about them. Not once had I heard any of those shows mention the Apis Bulls unless it was "blahblah ancient statuary of the Apis Bull blahblahblah." I've, of course seen this same mentioned statuary and scant mention in all of the books on Ancient Egypt that I've read over the years. But what about The Serapeum of Saqqara? Nope, not once. Except on Ancient Aliens. So, The Serapeum of Saqqara is a real place. A Serapeum is a temple and Saqqara is an ancient necropolis or burial ground near Memphis. This is the final resting place of Apis Bulls, who were considered the sacred embodiement of the god Ptah. Regardless of whether you want to believe the Ancient Alien theories that the Apis Bulls were evil monsters from a different planet and that their large sarcophagi were teleportation devices to send them home, or not is up to you. I mused on the idea, but still found it strange. Never-the-less, The Serapeum of Saqqara is indeed a real place and why wasn't anyone but the guys on Ancient Aliens ever talking about it? How am I supposed to learn if shows about Ancient Egypt withhold information, that what... they don't deem important enough? Enough talk about the Great Pyramids already y'all, that topic has been run into the ground. How about talking about all the other things about Ancient Egypt, like the Apis Bull burial ground and whatever else I don't know yet, but you do.
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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