Project Nim
Kyla Brooks
Project Nim - Trailer
Thesis
The documentary Project Nim illustrates how taking animals out of their natural habitat and placing them into human society can be both indisputable and unsatisfactory.
Example #1
One of the biggest accomplishments for this project is teaching Nim how to communicate through sign language. Nim learned over 125 ASL signs. He learned how to communicate his hunger, when he needed to use the bathroom, etc.
Example #2
Nim had a hard time adapting to his new surroundings. He had a few violent incidents due to his lack of knowledge on how to behave. It was reported that he bit the children of the caretaker multiple times, and also attacked his assigned "mother." Nim was soon shuffled caretaker to caretaker making it hard for him to create real meaningful relationships.
Example #3
One of the biggest lows of this project was when it was abandoned. Dr. Herbert S. Terrence decided to end the whole experiment because he and his colleagues believed that Nim wasn't showing the meaningful progress that they could document. Nim was dropped off at a medical research facility and caged.
Purpose
The purpose of this documentary is to uncover the truth behind how some animals react towards being taken away from their families and homes at an earlier age. Sometimes experiments much like these are falsely advertised making it hard for people to realize the negative impact they're leaving on the animal kingdom.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the purpose of this documentary was to reveal the truth behind social experiments on animals by documenting the positive outcomes and also the negatives. Showing the true colors ensured the audience's understanding of why it's important to leave nature alone. Nim's entire life was an experiment and it wasn't until he lashed out and couldn't take it anymore that they released him back into his natural habitat.