Today’s documentary review is of Proteus (dir. David Lebrun), a 2004 documentary studying the combination of religion, natural history, and literature in the 19th century through a close study of the life of Ernst Haeckel, excerpts from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and 19th century oceanography. The documentary primarily features paintings, woodcuts, and “animated” segments derived from Haeckel’s art of radiolarians, with very little film footage. The beginnings of the perceived modern divide between religion and science are emphasized in the biographical content on Haeckel’s life, though Lebrun concludes with a unification of the literary and Romantic interpretation of the sea, the naturalist’s more “scientific” interpretation of the sea, and the Romantic aspects of religion.
We watched this documentary some time ago, but it took me a while to put together this blog post. At several points in our seminar we’ve encountered scientists struggling with the interplay of science and religion to a much greater extent than it seems they did in earlier historical periods– in Darwin and the Barnacle, a book featured early in the semester, a story that stood out among the portrayals of early naturalists was that of John Coldstream, whose journal entries are plagued with intense religious guilt and is portrayed in the book as something of a victim of the conflicts between religion and the developing field of naturalism. Our seminar discussion frequently returns to specifically American Christianity as a potential source of pushback against science, though the actual locations of contention between religion and science are rarely clear and, in my opinion, are often more perceived by the public and media than immediately obvious.
As a bit of anecdotal discussion, I find that scientists who have strong religious beliefs are fascinating to talk with and often show a lot of creative passion. A notable example is when I attended a lecture and spoke to Dr. Vladimir Chaloupka, a particle physicist, musician, and acoustician whose lecture dealt largely with his own relationship with God, music, and humanity.
Math and music could be considered another example of a publicly perceived dichotomy that, for some people, actually function together very well– the complimentary and contrasting elements of science and art again discussed in Proteus.
Overall, I’d recommend Proteus for anyone interested in 19th century art and science, though the repeating visuals and lack of filmed footage became a little tiring for me. I might have liked it more if I were listening to the excellent narration in an audio-only format.
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