Painstakingly photographed natural vistas, deep-voiced actors intoning over scenes of lions devouring their prey...are apparently not what we'll see tonight on MTV's new nature series, "Trippin'". Instead, Cameron Diaz brings young celeb friends on eco-tours to places as diverse as Yellowstone, Nepal and Costa Rica, exploring and explaining ecological problems in a "surfer-girl patois" to appeal to today's teenagers. Ned Martel writes in today's New York Times:
Asked what specific events led her to eco-commitment, she said: "Nothing, dude. Life! Life! Breathing the air and drinking the water and seeing people be apathetic."
...[Diaz] asserts that only outside the big cities can she dramatize the larger concepts that unite all cultures and all creatures. In every episode, she dwells on excrement, both for laughs and for edification. She notes, in her Nepal trek, how the copious manure of rhinoceroses restores nutrients to grasslands, how birds disperse seeds through their droppings and how cow dung is used as plaster in village huts.
If young viewers' appetite for scientific knowledge is limited, Ms. Diaz is betting that their interest in celebrities will draw them to the show and help them a world beyond the exurbs and X-Boxes. Her handpicked posse includes rockers, rappers, actors and athletes.
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Asked what specific events led her to eco-commitment, she said: "Nothing, dude. Life! Life! Breathing the air and drinking the water and seeing people be apathetic."
That's fantastic - the perfect attitude!
Posted by: Joseph Willemssen on 28 Mar 05
