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Charles Darwin’s picnic in Creation: Jon Amiel (2009)
Published on: Mar 30 2015 by admin

Charles Darwin’s struggle to complete and publish On the Origin of the Species (1859) is the narrative of Jon Amiel’s Creation. Darwin’s personal troubles centered on his wife, Emma’s, intractable belief in scripture and the death of his daughter Annie.

Jon Amiel. Creation (2009). Screenplay by Jon Amiel and John Collee based on Randal Keynes” Annie’s Box:Charles Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution (2001). Recorded Picture Company/BBC Films. Charles Darwin (Paul Bettany) reclining, Emma Darwin (Jennifer Connelly) in white, Joseph Hooker (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Rev. John Brodie Innes (Jeremy Northam) in the broad-brimmed hat.

Taking the liberty that in real life Darwin and family must have picnicked, Amiel and his collaborators statute Darwin with family and colleagues who urge him to complete and publish his essay on evolution. The jolly picnic on the grounds of the Darwins’ home at Down House provides the opportunity to bring together friend’s various views of Darwin’s studies: Rev. John Brodie Innes urges him not to blaspheme, but Joseph Hooker and Thomas Huxley argue for science.

Ironically, contemporary visitors to Down House are not permitted to picnic.

In contrast to the larger issues of science and religion, food at this picnic is inconsequential.

See: Randal Keynes. Annie’s Box: Charles Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution. London: Fourth Estate, 2001