This might be a contentious statement but bear with us. With practically every terrestrial and extra-terrestrial environment in entertainment already being explored for all that it's worth, some stand out more than others. Cityscapes, space stations, farmlands, and under the sea, all of these places reflect opportunities for great media, but looking back, we can't help but place jungles above them all. Of course, personal taste plays the most important part in whether you agree, but overall, jungles have a lot going for them that other settings don't.
Illustrations in Media
For a quick rundown of jungles in different forms of media, let's start with online casino titles. Games like the online slots at Paddy Power exist in the hundreds, yet its routinely jungle-based titles like Grand Junction Enchanted Inca and Amazon Rayne that pull in the most players. These offer the same types of gameplay as other slots, yet their performance places them at the top of the pack.
In video games, it's rare for titles to revolve entirely around one type of biome, but it does happen. Crysis was a revolutionary example in 2008, where the physics of the jungle made for a type of destructible playground never seen before. Similarly, Firewatch, Until Dawn, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater all leveraged the jungle for a level of fame and success that is legendary to this day.
The same broad scope of themes seen in video games is just as visible in the movies. Jurassic Park, Predator, Apocalypto, and even classics like King Kong as explored at Medium all place their stories within jungles. Each takes a very different tack, but each has established itself as a perfect example of what the environment can add to filmmaking.
Why Jungles?
There are a few main aspects that make jungles such a great fit for media, the first of which is their flexibility. Depending on the individual aspects like lighting, depth, and animal life, the forest can be as welcoming or as alienating as we like. It could be a nice place for a picnic, or it could be a treacherous maze from which you'll never escape.
Building on this concept is the mystery that jungles still hold, and how easy it is to appreciate that mystery. When looking at deep space, or the depths of the ocean, there's a far grander sense of the unknown, but that's difficult to connect to. Most of us will never go into space, or the deep ocean, so we can only relate to such places in a hypothetical sense.
Jungles are not just real places we can visit; they're also ingrained in our DNA. As noted by CNN, we literally evolved to meet the challenge of the jungle, but that doesn't mean we ever mastered it. The depths of the jungle contain some of the planet's last untapped secrets and long-lost treasures. With so much potential, it's no surprise that the setting has lent itself to so much great media.
"stocks-3808" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Artem Beliaikin
With more efforts than ever aiming to protect and rebuild our jungles, the setting should remain a mainstay in entertainment for a long time to come. As long as we look after it, jungles are always going to present opportunities that no other environment on earth ever could. Whether you're a gamer or a movie buff, we hope you can see where we're coming