Project Nim Summary

Project Nim is a documentary that explains an experiment that took place in the 1970s in an attempt to teach a chimp who was named Nim Chimpsky American Sign Language (ASL). This project set out to analyze whether chimpanzees like Nim had the ability to use language in such a way that indicated that they understood it at a similar level of humans (Terrace book pg 31). Although the researcher, Herbert Terrace, who initiated this experimental investigation concluded that Nim's use of sign language was not consistent with human language and he was unable to form sentences in complex ways (Terrace 2014). Therefore, Nim was able to repeat the signs that he had learned from his teachers, but this could not be classified as a form of language in the

opinion of Herbert Terrace (Terrace 2014). However, the film brings forth another question of whether humans are performing these particular experiments to understand animals at a strictly human level and only for the benefit of humans. Project Nim is a film that illustrates the ability for chimpanzees to learn sign language and communicate with humans. However, the film reinforces the notion that humans have a strong desire to know and communicate with animals.
Project Nim was presented through a documentary, it allowed viewers to step in to Nim's world. The film showed Nim and his family in his own world through real life footage as well as more recent commentary from people who were part of the experiment originally. Therefore, rather than a retelling of the story or a fictional representation of the experiment with Nim, the documentary allowed the viewer to witness some truth to the experiment as well as view the footage that came with it and the experiences of those involved (Wilson). Documentaries have the ability to focus on specific problems that may occur around the world (Wilson). The film seemed to represent Nim in an honest way, it showed the times when Nim behaved badly and when he behaved well. Too, the film portrayed Terrace, the researcher as a selfish man who did not treat Nim as an ape should be treated but rather he only paid attention to Nim for the sake of his research (Cole 2011). Therefore, the documentary was important for providing the viewer with a lot of truth to the situation and documentaries can make a large impact if a large audience is obtained (Wilson).
Erica Fudge describes a paradox in which humans have a desire to know and communicate with animals because humans are curious about the similarities and differences between humans and animals.

This film illustrates this paradox proposed by Erica Fudge in a large way, not only because Nim is part of a language study but because Nim is removed from his mother at birth and placed with a human family in which he is raised by his "foster mother", Stephanie Lafarge ( Terrace book pg 30). Stephanie had children of her own and raised Nim as if he were a human baby. Stephanie breastfed Nim, placed him in a diaper and clothing and allowed him to roam free around the house (Kappala-Ramsamy 2011). This reinforces that humans have a strong desire to connect with animals and we anthropomorphize an animal like Nim by having him interact with only humans and placing him in clothes in anticipation that Nim will become like a human even though he is very clearly not human (Kappala-Ramsamy 2011). Chimpanzees are biologically similar to humans and this makes it easier for humans to identify with the abilities and behaviours of a chimp. However, humans try to disconnect negative traits that chimpanzees portray from that of humans. For example, as Nim became older, he began to bite and scratch. The individuals in the documentary described this as his chimp behaviour coming out (Marsh 2011). Therefore, when Nim was sweet, playful and communicative, he portrayed human traits, according to the documentary (Marsh 2011). In contrast, when he displayed wild and aggressive behaviour, this was caused by him being a chimpanzee and this was no longer tolerated so Nim was sent away and locked in a cage with other chimpanzees where he later became a product of research in a lab (Cole

2011).