Why a documentary on the national parks system?
I think we’ve always been curious about who we are as a people and what it means to be an American. I think the land and our identity with it, the mythology that surrounds it, the kind of hopes and dreams that we invest in it, get to the heart of that identity. Too often we assume in history that the approach should take a national perspective, and I think what’s amazing about the parks story is that it’s so intimate. Part of this story is about who we are individually as we experience the parks – they help us get to know ourselves and we can also relate to previous generations through these magnificent places.
