The Gist 34: Green Tigers, Oh My
The Eye of the Beholder
I’ve been withholding this one. I want the next announcement to be the one we’re all waiting for (the release/sale of Self-Scare) but patience as always demands to be observed. Instead, I’m going to ask a question and explore something that gets to the center of why we’re doing this project and have stuck with it for over a year now.
Why are tigers orange?
Spoiler: They’re not. Tigers aren’t orange. Not really. They’re not yellow, red, tan or burnt sienna. The Bengal genus specifically are the most incongrously colored species on the planet. How can an ambush predator possibly succeed in a monochromatic environment wearing the most flamboyant shade of fur this side of Drag Race? It depends on who you ask.
If you can ask a human, the orange and black stripes are a striking example of the beauty in nature that defies logic. If you ask a tiger, they are the peak of camoflauge. A marvel of nature…or they’ll eat you. Tigers a dichromatic. Practically this means they are red green color blind. More essentially, the prey of the jungle cat, deer, boar and other small mammals are also…dichromatic. To a deer, the tiger is green. A nearly invisible predator. Practically as transparent as the cinematic Predator.
Who are we?
I like to think on this fact because it shows that evolution, contrary to some temptation is not a universal fact. We like to think of adaptation as some kind of foregone conclusion, the ‘way’ of things. This can extend from physical features such as skin or fur pigment, on to civilizations, social structures and tradition. It is helpful to remember that the original members of the Felis tigris species were likely a brown or yellow shade. Typical earth tones of early mammalian species. Since, green is a genetically difficult color to mimic and - as far as the tiger was concerned - orange is just as good, a nearly identical hue. The most succesful hunters, and the ones that influenced future generations were the ones who were brightly orange in color.
It illustrates that we evolve and adapt to our environments not because they are the most universally correct but because from our perspective they are the most advantagous. When we think about why tell stories, the basis of Self-Scare, we think about a method that serves us because it fits with our current perspective. It makes sense to us. When we think about our systems, our governments, our economic models, our concepts of value and labor…these are all concepts that worked from our perspective at the time. Someone from outside of that POV, might scratch their heads at our choices. And if that environment were ever to change, these adaptations might find us in a perilous position after all.
All in Perspective
Not to sound like a stoner here, but I think it’s interesting that we don’t actually know what color a tiger is. We call them orange because humans are trichromatic. We see red/orange shades so we see the tiger in that light. But we only percieve roughly 0.0035% of the electromagnetic field. To some species we see a enormous range of color, to others, we’re basically blind.
However, the tiger is on the verge of extinction because another predator, one not limited by the same narrow perception, exploited its weakness. Like these great animals, we see our world within our own context. We need only change our perspective and our vulnerabilities become obvious.
Invasion of the Monochromes
These were shared recently but for those who haven’t seen them, here are some of the set photos (unprocessed) from the Invasion of the Body Snatchers shoot we did that will open episode 2 of Self-Scare. Enjoy!
The Gist
We have evolved to behave and percieve our world based on our position with in it. This can always change.
Self-Scare progresses.
"To be visionary we must have the courage to imagine a new horizon, but we must also have the humility to look inward at our own blind spots. True critical thinking begins when we turn our gaze onto ourselves, willing to see how our own perceptions limit our capacity to grow."
- bell hooks