The Journey of Man: a Genetic Odyssey

Analysis of the Documentary

Spencer's purpose

Spencer's purpose in making the documentary is to retrace author's own personal 'journey of man' and to meet people from around the world-to see how they live and to discuss the scientific results. The film presents an (almost) first-hand experience, conveying the excitement and adventure of the journey in a way that only moving images can. The primary of this documentary is to share the author's profound and wonderful experiences during the journey.

Significant information in the documentary

Most of us can name our grandparents, many our great-grandparents, and some our great-great-grandparents. Beyond that, we enter a dark and mysterious realm known as history, through which we can only navigate with hesitant steps, feeling our way with whispered guidance. Who were the people that came before? Where did they live? What were their lives like?

This documentary has provided the answers to these questions, as these can be found in our genetic code, which makes us uniquely humans, but also makes us unique individuals. Our DNA carries, hidden in its string of four simple letters, a historical document stretching back to the origin of life and the first self-replicating molecules, through our amoebic ancestors, and down to the present day. We are the end result of over a billion years of evolutionary tinkering, and our genes carry the seams that reveal the story.

The basic concepts and theories contained in the documentary

The basic concept used in this documentary is the evolution of human being. Genetics, at least the branch of it that informs the subject of human origins and migrations, is necessarily less visually compelling than archaeology, despite the fascinating stories it tells. The journey traced is primarily one made by men, because it is the Y-chromosome, inherited from Adam down the male line, which gives keenest tool for deciphering the journey (Wolpoff, pp. 12-19). The Y helps to place the stones, bones and languages in context better than any other part of our genetic code, and ultimately gives the genetic answers Spencer is looking for. Of course, in order to leave descendants, these early human groups must have included women: while the journey Spencer follow may leave out some female-specific details, the resolution Spencer could achieve only by following the male lineage is worth the omission. This concept and related theories were evident in the documentary.

The fundamental assumptions underlying the documentary

It is not the code itself that delivers the message, but rather the differences we see when we compare DNA from two or more individual. These differences are the historical language of the genes. In the same way that you wouldn't include 'water-dwelling' in a classification of fish, because all fish live in water, the identical bits of our genetic code tell us nothing about our history. The story is in the differences, and this is the fundamental assumptions underlying the documentary.

Spencer's point of view

In this documentary, Spencer talks about the journey he has taken as a species, from birthplace in ...