What to expect from #JacquesWeek 2017?
Classic Cousteau Films? Yes!
In depth ocean discussions? 100%
Hilarious tweets? Probably!
Exceptional photoshops? I hope so!
Even more classic Cousteau Films, Documentaries, and Clips? We. Are. On. It.
#JacquesWeek
#JacquesWeek returns July 23, 2017!
I am pleased to announce that Southern Fried Science will once again host Jacques Week, an ocean lovers’ alternative to Shark Week. Three years ago, on a bit of a whim, we launched Jacques Week, an effort to not only provide a respite from the blood-in-the-water, often fake documentaries of the premier basic cable ocean event, but to give us a chance to celebrate what makes ocean documentaries great–compelling stories, stunning visuals, a bit of human connection–with the greatest ocean filmmaker of them all: Captain Jacques Yves Cousteau.
We’ve selected a series of classic Cousteau films to watch together from July 23, 2017 to July 28, 2017. As always, we go to great efforts to find ones that are available online, but we have also selected several that are only available through purchase. Since it’s becoming harder and harder to find some of the classic collections, this year we’re giving you plenty of lead time to track them down. We have selected three films from the Jacques Cousteau Odyssey collection (The Nile Part I and II and Clipperton: The Island the Time Forgot). You can find these on Amazon, eBay, and other online retailers, as well as your local library.
Included this year will be a series of discussions on Twitter and Facebook, as well as Facebook live. The official schedule will be released the week before (though, if you follow me on Twitter, you already have some idea what we’re planning). Follow the #JacquesWeek hashtag for news, announcements, discussion, and Cousteau trivia.
We aren’t associated with any of the Cousteau organizations. This is a purely grassroots celebration of the man who brought ocean adventure, science, and conservation to the world.
#JacquesWeek 2016 Official Schedule
“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
Jacques Yves Cousteau
Summer is here, and with it comes the perennial ocean explosion that is Shark Week. Last year, in response to Shark Week burn out (heck, David and I even published a paper on it) and being tired of becoming the saltiest of wet blankets during a week where people are excited about the oceans, we launched #JacquesWeek! #JacquesWeek is an online alternative the Shark Week. We sourced and screened Jacques Cousteau documentaries from the early years all the way through his later works and provide context and discussion from an array of marine scientists and explorers.
From June 26 to July 1, we’ll feature classic Cousteau films, hold Twitter discussions, and host a few hangouts with experts to discuss these films and help put them into context. As with last year, we will try to provide as many free options as possible (due to some very complex issues surrounding copyright, the Cousteau estate, a production company that no longer exists, and some fascinating interpersonal politics, many of Cousteau’s earlier films are de facto public domain) but we will also be drawing from his later series: The Jacques Cousteau Odyssey, Jacques Cousteau Pacific Explorations and Jacques Cousteau River Explorations which you will have to track down on DVD (but don’t worry, alternate suggestions are also provided)
Are you ready for adventure?
Need a #SharkWeek Alternative? Watch classic Cousteau documentaries with us for #JacquesWeek
Last night, I was in the mood for some Cousteau. The classics from the Undersea World, Odyssey, River Expeditions, and host of other long running series, still hold up as some of the best ocean documentaries of all time. So I picked a few of my favorites, pulled some people together online, and called it #JacquesWeek, an alternative to Shark Week for those who either don’t get the Discovery Channel or just want something different.
“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
Jacques Yves Cousteau
I’ll be honest, I’m burned out on Shark Week. After several years of intense livetweeting, post-show debunking, and high-level critique (look for my and Shiffman’s paper on best practices for responding to fake mass media documentaries in Ocean and Coastal Management later this year), I find that I just don’t have much more to say. Some shows will be good. Some shows will be great. Some shows will be bad.
Jacques Cousteau has never let me down. Sure, sometimes the science is off (pretty much everything in Blind Prophets of Easter Island is incorrect, for example), but that’s because the Calypso crew was working at the boundaries of human knowledge, and their work comes off earnest, heartfelt, and compassionate. And so full of wonder. Much of what Cousteau’s team did was done for the very first time.