Taboo:Complete First Seaso

I came across this show during my first semester of college, where one of my courses was Anthropology of Religion, where we studied religious traditions in various cultural contexts. I was very happy to see some of the topics we had covered in class featured in Taboo, as the footage brought a whole new level of understanding to the information presented in class. When I found the first season available, I snatched it up immediately.

What I like about the series so much is that it gives people a chance to understand the differences between cultures and people, but also the similarities; that we aren't that different from each other. I would warn that in order to get the most out of this show, it must be watched with an open mind. The first time I watched all the episodes, there were some things that shocked me. But I don't believe the acts shown on this collection are "sick" or "depraved". They are integral facets of various cultures around the world. And while many of the episodes focus on cultural practices in parts of the world other than the United States, there are several that take place in several states in the US.

The topic of the 13 episodes included are: Tattoo, Witchcraft, Healers, Drugs, Food, Bloodsports, Voodoo, Marriage, Death, Sexuality, Tests of Faith, Rites of Passage, and Evil Spirits.

This great series from National Geographic examines numerous practices that many people in the West would consider taboo, just because they're so radically different from our way of life. It forces the viewer to confront one's own taboos, and hopefully one will come away with a more open mind and more educated about and understanding of different cultures and customs. Disc one contains the episodes "Drugs," "Healers," "Food," and "Bloodsports"; disc two contains "Evil Spirits," "Voodoo," "Marriage," and "Witchcraft"; disc three contains "Sexuality," "Death," and "Rites of Passage"; and disc four contains "Tests of Faith" and "Tattoo." The series takes the viewer to such far-ranging locales as Malaysian Borneo, Benin, Togo, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mexico, Japan, India, Greece, Norway, Holland, Venezuela, Haiti, the Philippines, Thailand, and various places in the United States. Not for the easily-offended, moral absolutists who see the world only in black and white and feel that only their way is correct, or the squeamish, it presents these stories (three per episode) in the context of culture, religion, history, and geography and shows that what we consider taboo is not only perfectly normal but unthinkable to not do for a person in a place like Thailand, South Africa, or Mexico. As an animal-lover, some of these segments were rather hard to watch, but I had to take into consideration that this is normal behavior in other cultures, and that many things which Westerners do, such as sending the elderly into homes, putting small children into daycare, pampering and shielding children incessantly, and not showing a lot of reverence for elders and ancestral spirits, would be considered taboo and unacceptable to them.

Among the thought-provoking questions it raises are:

Would you let your underage child be married?

Would you drink your own urine?

Would you let your small child have his or her face ritually scarred?

Would you club to death and then eat your own beloved pet dog?

Would you have yourself crucified or walk across coals in the name of faith?

Would you be willing to revise your Western-centric notions of what the major world religions are to include Voodoo, animism, and witchcraft?

Would you engage in a bloody brawl with your neighbors to ensure a good harvest?

Would you rip apart a live guinea pig and burn a llama fetus as part of a healing ceremony?

Would you drink the blood of a cobra and eat its meat?

The fourth disc includes the bonus features of an exotic menu, a picture gallery, trailers for recommended programs, and commercials for National Geographic itself. All in all, it's a must-see series for those interested in world cultures and shattering the idea that there's only one moral and acceptable way to behave, the Western way, with anything else disturbing, wrong, and sinful. A series like this can only be for the good, what with building bridges of understanding, tolerance, and acceptance across cultural divides.

One of the best things about having access to satellite tv is that you are given the chance to see stuff that the local channels can't show.

The show Taboo on the National Geographic channel is one of them.

The Taboo series is a facinating one: in every episode, they go into a specific taboo topic, and the people who break them. For example, one episode, about extreme entertainers, we follow around a Canadian freak show troupe, a young woman who decided to become a geisha, and a man who calls himself "The Torture King"

This is not a series for the easily offended, those with small children, or a heart condition. For instance, a episode on body cutters includes following around people who are into suspention (hanging in the air, held by fishhooks, pierced in the back)

However, if you are not one of the above people, or are facinated with the bizzare like I am, then get this DVD.