Shambhavi Rai 

Professor Mitul Baruah 

FC -0102-1

18 December 2022

My Octopus Teacher: And Our Unspoken Conversations 

The hydro social identity of water is highlighted in the wildlife documentary, My

Octopus Teacher. Through the course of the film, we follow filmmaker Craig Foster, as he builds

up an unusual but nonetheless beautiful friendship with an octopus, in the Kelp Forest of South

Africa, through the course of a year. We dive into the deep waters and unravel the role of water

as it brings two companion species closer to each other, while establishing a physical and

metaphysical boundary between them simultaneously. 

Foster’s childhood is marked by his experience of living in Cape Town, accompanied by

the angry Atlantic Ocean and diving in the shallow Kelp Forest. Growing up though, he

eventually got disconnected from nature and the waters. This did not bother him until his visit to

the Central Kalahari, where he filmed a group of tribal people. He observed how attuned the

trackers were well attuned with nature. Unable to reflect the same level of relationship with the

ecosystem, Foster felt like an Outsider. This reminded me of how the monkeys were considered

outsiders because they failed to mimic the behavior of the tamed monkeys who inhabited the

pahars initially (Govindrajan 91). This disconnection with nature brought him so much distress

that it worsened his intrapersonal relationship with himself and his family, his health and his
work life. It is evident that this notion of outsider-insider brings forth some sort of conflict, in

some cases purely because of the politically controlled coexistence of two species. 

The only way Foster knew he could heal this was by going back to his childhood, back

into the ocean. It is then, he comes across this ‘alien-like’ species. What started off as mere

fascination and curiosity ended up reconstructing his beliefs. By visiting the octopus daily,

Foster was able to make her trust him. I believe that it is by personifying the octopus and

considering her as an equal, that Foster was able to build a real and meaningful connection with

her. This connection goes onto to reflect his healed relationship with nature.

Although his interactions with the octopus made him feel like an insider, Craig decides to

remain in the shoes of an outsider. While the shark hunts and attacks the octopus, he makes no

effort to help her out. He believes that his interference would break the balance of nature. I

believe that his decision to be a silent observer is fruitless. As his mere existence in the ocean is

an interference with the histories and subjectivities of the water itself (Linton and Budds 2).

Although, this inaction might still be a good way to dissolve conflicts between two species for

them to harmonically coexist within the ecosystem. As the octopus was able to complete her life

cycle ideally.

The documentary poses the question of how we navigate our way through nature, without

creating tension within the ecosystem, while sustaining a healthy relationship with it. Water here

maintains her role as the hydrosocial entity and works out a solution all by herself. Man’s

limitations as a terrestrial animal render him a bystander instead of an active participant. No

matter how much Foster wishes to be an amphibious animal he cannot defeat the laws of nature,

he must go out to breathe, he cannot be in the ocean for more than necessary. Perhaps, his

decision to remain an outsider was incited by unconscious force of water to drive away man and
his greed. Water and its biological characteristics create a space to bring together nature and its

components closer to each other, but not enough to do any harm.

Water shapes and is shaped by humans and their encounters throughout history (Linton

and Budds 5). It is through the agency of water that Foster is able to rebuild his detachment with

nature. It is also his early association with water, which shaped his intrapersonal relationship

with himself and with the world around him. This process of constructing and reconstructing

individual identity assigns water an identity of its own.

Works cited

Bibliography -

Govindrajan, Radhika. "4. Outsider Monkey, Insider Monkey: On the Politics of Exclusion

and Belonging." Animal Intimacies. University of Chicago Press, 2018. 90-118.

Linton, Jamie, and Jessica Budds. "The hydrosocial cycle: Defining and mobilizing a

relational-dialectical approach to water." Geoforum 57 (2014): 170-180.

My Octopus Teacher. Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, Craig Foster, Netflix, 2020.