Clips from The Big Year movie

Over the last week several new clips of the birding comedy The Big Year, starring Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black as three super-competitive birders tacking an ABA-area big year havce been making the rounds both movie and bird websites. 

Lynn Barber already included the trailer in a post a couple weeks ago, but here are a couple additional clips birders may, or may not, want to take a look at.

In the first, an abbreviated history of big years by none other than John Cleese:

ABA members may have noted the placement of a certain well-known magazine in there.

In the second, Jack Black's character, loosely based on Ohio birder Greg Miller, requests a day off...

 

Birders may well be justified in being a little apprehensive about the way our avocation is portrayed on the big screen. There will no doubt be inaccuracies and moments where the slapstick will make us cringe, but I'm struck by the generally good-natured way in which our idiosyncrasies - and big year birding is nothing if not idiosyncratic - are depicted. 

If I may editorialize for a second, I don't have any illusions about 100% accuracy or completely realistic birding scenes, but I at least hope that birders end up coming across as friendly people going fantastic places and seeing cool things.  Of all the things I love about birding, the one that seems to resonate the most with non-birders is that fact that we seem to be aware of the world on a level that they miss.  And the truth is that every one of us gets to experience amazing things nearly every single day simply because we're tuned into birds.  That's no small thing.  If this movie can even hint at that, then I think many birders and bird clubs - local and continental - may well be in a position to take advantage of that.  The Big Year doesn't need to sell birding, it can plant the seed and we can take it from there.

It's a small hope, but it's possible that The Big Year could do for birding, as Birdchick Sharon Stiteler mentioned in a recent podcast, what A River Runs Through It did for fly-fishing, or what Rounders did for poker; to encourage those people who may be pre-disposed to give it a try that impetus to get to it. Or not.  Who knows?  I'll certainly still be birding even if non-birding friends and family, from this point on, insist on constantly asking if I'm doing one of those Big Years. 

You can find more scenes from The Big Year at North American Birding Blog and Birdchick.

Comments

[Mike Patterson]

I suspect it's the "competitive" part that attracts movie producers these days. Unlike _River Runs Through It_ which developed its conflict through relationship outside the act of fly fishing (the fishing is pastoral and zen-ish), competitive listing (at least in the context of the movie) is acquisitive and the conflict is in beating the other guy.

There have been "bird watcher" movies (and television programs) that have a reasonable attitude toward the more pastoral and zen-ish aspects of birding: _The Mating Season_ (1980 Laurence Luckinbill and Lucy Arnaz). It was a TV movie and played like something you'd see on the Hallmark Channel, but the birding was serious. There was (believe it or not) an episode of _Murder She Wrote_ with a respectful treatment of birders and _Northern Exposure_ had several episode revolving around birdwatching.

My hope is not so much that this movie will create a new batch of list crazed birders, but that it will open up possibilities to explore other story lines that revolve around what most of us do when we go bird watching (but with car crashes and explosions).

[BirdTrainerRobert]

Interestingly enough, while the trailer was a flaming pile of crap, the clips haven't been so terrible, with some on the interactions between Martin and Black almost having an indie vibe to them. While I'm nowhere near pumped for the movie, I'm at least optimistic now.

[Ted Floyd]

I agree with all of that. Well, except for the "indie vibe" part, which I don't understand. But the rest captures perfectly my feelings now:

* Trailer a flaming pile of crap.
* But later clips not so terrible. (Which isn't to say they're in any way *good*, of course! They're just not so terrible.)
* And I'm nowhere near pumped for the movie.
* But we shall see...

(A point of context. The last time I watched a movie was 5 years ago. And it was at the nudging of my in-laws.)

On a broader note, I agree with Nate Swick's editorializing in his blog post on The Big Year. Especially this:

"If I may editorialize for a second, I don't have any illusions about 100% accuracy or completely realistic birding scenes, but I at least hope that birders end up coming across as friendly people going fantastic places and seeing cool things. Of all the things I love about birding, the one that seems to resonate the most with non-birders is that fact that we seem to be aware of the world on a level that they miss. And the truth is that every one of us gets to experience amazing things nearly every single day simply because we're tuned into birds. That's no small thing. If this movie can even hint at that, then I think many birders and bird clubs - local and continental - may well be in a position to take advantage of that. The Big Year doesn't need to sell birding, it can plant the seed and we can take it from there."

Good stuff, Nate.

[Forestbirder]

Thanks for the reminder about Northern Exposure. The program reflected my interest in two pass times – cooking and bird watching – with the reclusive ex-football player turned perfectionist French chef and the masteroftheuniverse ex-astronaut turned developer and competitive birder. I think the program accurately depicted the quirky but intelligent and humanistic qualities of both interests.
As for the movie The Big Year, I have high hopes based on the clips. But I think it may be somewhat dated before it even debuts. Unfortunately these are serious times and the age of easy prosperity and optional leisure is waning. The thought of taking a year off to tour the country seems like an indulgence from another time.
Hopefully the DVD will include some extra features such as a brief history of bird watching, the back stories of the real characters and a birding complementary version of “the making of the movie”. They are probably our best hope for a positive portrayal.