GBH Openvault
Mystery of the Senses; Taste
12/20/1994
Stereo (mono mix on 3) Not captioned. Stunt version
License Clip
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- Series
- Mystery of the Senses
- Program
- Taste
- Program Number
103W
- Series Description
Broadcast in 1995, this series, based on the book "A Natural History of the Senses" by Diane Ackerman, celebrates and explores the five senses: hearing, smell, taste, touch and vision. Hearing: takes viewers to the Greenland ice cap, the most silent place on earth, and to the loudest chanters among the New Zealand Maori. It reveals the tricks of the sound trade that pleasurably fool people in movies like "Jurassic Park" and captures the science and wonder as a blind and deaf woman comes to hear for the first time. Smell: This episode probes the mysteries of sexual attraction, from the perverse excitement of body odor to the magnetism of bottled fragrance, beginning with ancient frankincense in Arab Oman and culminating in the modern secrets of the Manhattan launch of a new perfume. Taste: The delights of taste are discovered in the secrets of a master French chef, at a festive dinner at home and in a graveyard meal shared with long-dead ancestors in Mexico. Touch: The most suppressed sense, touch is bound by strict cultural rules. The program uncovers what these restrictions might deny humans in comfort, assurance and arousal. Other subjects examined are the fingertips of a cliff climber, the kneading hands of a potter and the subtle communications of love expressed and love repressed. Vision: shows how the brain sorts out images the eye captures and how visual memory and imagination almost instantly recolor reality. Through the diversity of painting, the meaning of individual "inner vision" is explored.
Series release date: 2/19/1995
- Program Description
This series, based on the book "A Natural History of the Senses" by Diane Ackerman, celebrates and explores the five senses: hearing, smell, taste, touch and vision. Hearing: takes viewers to the Greenland ice cap, the most silent place on earth, and to the loudest chanters among the New Zealand Maori. It reveals the tricks of the sound trade that pleasurably fool people in movies like "Jurassic Park" and captures the science and wonder as a blind and deaf woman comes to hear for the first time. Smell: This episode probes the mysteries of sexual attraction, from the perverse excitement of body odor to the magnetism of bottled fragrance, beginning with ancient frankincense in Arab Oman and culminating in the modern secrets of the Manhattan launch of a new perfume. Taste: The delights of taste are discovered in the secrets of a master French chef, at a festive dinner at home and in a graveyard meal shared with long-dead ancestors in Mexico. Touch: The most suppressed sense, touch is bound by strict cultural rules. The program uncovers what these restrictions might deny humans in comfort, assurance and arousal. Other subjects examined are the fingertips of a cliff climber, the kneading hands of a potter and the subtle communications of love expressed and love repressed. Vision: shows how the brain sorts out images the eye captures and how visual memory and imagination almost instantly recolor reality. Through the diversity of painting, the meaning of individual "inner vision" is explored.
- Duration
00:52:46
- Asset Type
Broadcast program
- Media Type
Video
- Genres
- Documentary
- Creators
- Klein, Larry (Series Producer)
- Jones, Peter (Series Producer)
- Citation
- Chicago: “Mystery of the Senses; Taste,” 12/20/1994, GBH Archives, accessed October 4, 2023, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4F1BA67ADE19452F8F990FCB581FD398.
- MLA: “Mystery of the Senses; Taste.” 12/20/1994. GBH Archives. Web. October 4, 2023. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4F1BA67ADE19452F8F990FCB581FD398>.
- APA: Mystery of the Senses; Taste. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4F1BA67ADE19452F8F990FCB581FD398