I would agree with the idea of documentaries being the textbooks of film. The premise behind documentaries is to present not only the facts, but certain opinions, in a clear and concise fashion, while giving the audience the preconception that the information they shall receive is both factual and important. Textbooks, in my mind, fit the same format. Some textbooks focus more on listing facts, some focus on numbers and analysis, and some could even follow a topic on a more "interesting" route, such as a biography. I suppose that the main connection in my mind is that I take both sources to have factual basis, at the least. That is not to say that other movies or other books must be resolved to be entirely fiction, just that documentaries or textbooks are of greater merit. As Auderheide points out, documentarians often manipulate and distort reality to fit their works. Textbooks are much more subtle with this, however, each textbook is inherently biased by the author. Everyone who puts out information, be it film or writing, has opinions that come out in the presentation (Even if for the simple fact that they are putting out the information and highlighting it as especially interesting or important).
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It seems like you're still trying to work out the relationship between documentaries and objective truth (or fact or reality) -telling, Ethan... which is more than reasonable, given that it's a main theme of the course! To raise one question regarding your post: do all documentaries present facts, or even claim to... or opinions? Someone in class has already mentioned the series of films that includes 'Koyaanisqatsi' and 'Baraka', and I think of something like them: they are series of images of the world with accompanying music. Does this include opinion? Does it claim to be indicating facts? I think you could say 'yes' to both of these, but it requires some more thought... as does the idea that a film could both be stating facts and be stating an opinion (or, moreso, have a bias, as many in class have been saying) -- how can both be occurring at the same time?
ReplyDeleteI think that you are correct in identifying SOME similarities and/or evidence between how documentaries could be the textbooks of film. However, this is one of those arguments that almost cannot be argued strongly one way or the other. I suggest trying to take on a "qualifying" point of view of the issue. There are too many complications when trying to make too direct a connection. A few examples: the term "documentary" would have to be defined and argued in itself since it is a debatable topic in itself; textbooks and documentaries are both created for monetary purposes on a primitive level, so keep in mind that textbooks are successful if they are educational whereas documentaries are successful largely if they are entertaining; different influences and shaping of language is vastly different than film, as more elements and variables are involved in motion pictures. I guess I'm taking kind of a skeptics point of view, but I just feel like this argument can't be fought within 300 words.
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