Lesson 09:Lesson 09:DocumentaryDocumentary

Professor Aaron Baker

Nanook of the North Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922)(Robert Flaherty, 1922)

Previous LecturePrevious Lecture

• Art-Film Narration-Objectivity

-Subjectivity

-Authorial Commentary

• History of the Art Film

• Central Station (1998)

2

Today’s LectureToday’s Lecture

• Documentary-Form

-History

-Economic Context

• Born Into Brothels (2004)

3

Part I: Documentary FormPart I: Documentary Form

4

The River The River (Pare Lorentz, 1938)(Pare Lorentz, 1938)

ExpectationsExpectations

• Reality

• Voice Over

• Interviews

• Stock Images

• Animation

• Boring: Lack of Drama, Excitement

5

Not Commercial?Not Commercial?

• No Entertainment?

• Serious

• Teaches

• Communicates information about real life

6

All Films Have a POVAll Films Have a POV

• No Film Fully Objective

• Choices about Content, How to Interpret It

• Still Documentary makes “claims to truthfulness” – Aufderheide

7

When the Levees Broke When the Levees Broke (Spike Lee 2006)(Spike Lee 2006)

A Certain Kind of ViewerA Certain Kind of Viewer

• Already Knowledgeable

• Interested in Learning More

• Willingness to Act As Citizen Based on Information

8

Wal-Mart: The High Cost Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (of Low Price (2005)2005)

Part II: HistoryPart II: History

9

• Documentary Popular from Origins of Cinema

• 1890s Lumiere Brothers

• Actualities

• Travelogues/ “Scenics”

• Flaherty, Nanook of the North (1922)

• Cooper, Schoedsack Grass (1925)

10

From the BeginningFrom the Beginning

Flaherty: “Artistic Flaherty: “Artistic Representation of Actuality”Representation of Actuality”

• Artistic License

• Essential Truth

• “A definition that has proved durable because it is so flexible” --Aufderheide

11

Cinema VertiteCinema Vertite

• Direct Cinema

• Location, Handheld Camera, Synch Sound

• Observation

• Minimal Director Involvement

12

Frederick Wiseman’s Frederick Wiseman’s High School High School (1968)(1968)

Harlan County Harlan County (1976)(1976)

• Barbara Koppel

• Coal Miners’ Strike in Kentucy

• Their Own Words

• 1976 Academy Award

13

New DocumentaryNew Documentary

• Ross McElwee Sherman’s March (1986)

• Errol Morris The Thin Blue Line (1988)

• Reenactment• Stylized Form• Personal

14

The Thin Blue LineThe Thin Blue Line

• Argued Randall Adams wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas

• Initially avoided documentary label for better marketing

15

Case ReopenedCase Reopened• Adams served 11 years for

murder

• Chief witness, David Harris, confesses at end of Morris’s film

• Adams’ conviction overturned; Thin Blue Line used as evidence

• After acquittal film called “documentary” 16

Errol MorrisErrol Morris

17

• Has called himself a "detective director”• Spent 30 months investigating Adams case

for The Thin Blue Line.• "Adams told me he was innocent," Morris

remembered. . . , "but everybody in prison tells you they are innocent. It was only after I met David Harris that I began to suspect that the wrong man had been convicted of murder."

Stylization in Stylization in The Thin Blue LineThe Thin Blue Line

• “Stylistically embellished”• “Critique[s] the cinema vérité orthodoxies”

--John Conomos

• Dramatic Reenactments• Staged Shots• Slow Motion• http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/festivals/

00/8/sfferrol.html

18

Critic Linda WilliamsCritic Linda Williams• Sees The Thin Blue Line as upsetting

traditional opposition truth vs. fiction

• Morris’s film instead shows more important choice between which strategies of fiction to use to reach relative truths.- Linda Williams, “iMirrors without Memories," in Barry Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (eds), Documenting the Documentary, Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1998, pp.379-396.

19

Fahrenheit 9/11 Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)(2004)

• Negative Portrayal Pres. Bush

• Inept Handling 9/11 Attacks

• Ties to Saudi Royal Family

• Please pause to watch a clip that shows this perspective. 20

21

Angry, Controversial—Not Angry, Controversial—Not BoringBoring

• Fits New Documentary Style• Humor, Strong POV• Top Earner All Time for

Documentary

PropagandaPropaganda

• Eternal Jew (1940)– Anti Semitism

• Olympia (1938)– Nazi Superiority

• The River (1938)– Support for New

Deal

Oppositional ViewpointsOppositional Viewpoints

• Inform Public• Question

Authority• Instigate Reform

23

Emile de Antonio’s Emile de Antonio’s Point Point of Order of Order (1964)(1964)

24

Wal-Mart The High Cost of Wal-Mart The High Cost of Low Price Low Price (2005)(2005)

• Robert Greenwald• DVD Distribution• Impact on Small Business, Employees• Sought Legislative Pushback

25

Wal-Mart ReactionWal-Mart Reaction

• Attack Ads• Blogs• Mainstream Media

Coverage• Bill O’Reilly: “Greenwald . . . is

a ridiculous human being.”

26

Aufderheide: Public DiscourseAufderheide: Public Discourse

• An Inconvenient Truth

• 2006, Davis Guggenheim

• Al Gore• Global Warming• Definite POV• Also Information

Jim Hansen, NASA:Jim Hansen, NASA:

“Al Gore may have done for global warming what Silent Spring (1962 book) did for pesticides. He will be attacked, but the public will have information.”--Auferdeide, 8.

27

Part III: Economic ContextPart III: Economic Context

28

Since 1990s Popularity GrowsSince 1990s Popularity Grows

Revenue in Millions:Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) $106.8

Bowling for Columbine (2002) $21.8

Super-Size Me (2004) $11.4

Winged Migration (2003) $10.8

Hoop Dreams (1994) $7.8

Spellbound (2003) $6.7

29

Reality TVReality TV

• Unscripted

• Non Professionals (Usually)

• Artificial Situations

• Plots, Drama After Edited

• “Docusoaps”

30

TheThe Real World Real World MTV 1992MTV 1992

Less CostlyLess Costly• Fictional Films Avg. $100 million (MPAA)

• Docs Cheaper

• Still Require Business Model

• Must Reach Audience

• Broadcasters (PBS, HBO)

31

The Secret History of The Secret History of the Credit Cardthe Credit CardFrontline Documentary Frontline Documentary on PBSon PBS

Sensationalism SellsSensationalism Sells

Sex, violence, controversy sell.

Aufderheide:

• Truthful?

• Informative?

• Challenges viewers to know more?

32

Fahrenheit 9/11: Fahrenheit 9/11: Selling Selling Working Class Rage?Working Class Rage?

“He was encouraging viewers to look critically at the government’s words and actions. Potentially weakening this encouragement, however, was his calculated performance of working class rage, which can lead viewers to see themselves not as social actors but merely as disempowered victims.” - Aufderheide, 7

33

Part IV: Part IV: Born Into BrothelsBorn Into Brothels (2004)(2004)

34

Original Plan: Prostitutes Original Plan: Prostitutes

• Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman

• Calcutta Red Light District

• “An inherently abusive place”--Briski

35

KidsKids

• Cameras to Kids

• “See this world through their eyes”

36

Kids’ PerspectiveKids’ Perspective

• How do we get the kids point of view in this clip?

• Please pause to watch it this clip.

37

Voices/ViewpointsVoices/Viewpoints

• Briski’s Voice Over

• Kids speak also• Kids are each

introduced• Protagonists• We see them

taking pictures38

Filmmaker InvolvementFilmmaker Involvement

• Briski and Kauffman tried to help kids

• Avijit to Amsterdam

• Boarding School

• Still Documentary?

• Involvement Typical of “New Documentary”

• Academy Award39

CriticismCriticism

• Partha Banerjee

• Interpreter

• No Improvement for Children

• Social Context Too Complicated

40

Paolo FreirePaolo Freire

• Brazilian Scholar, Activist• Pedagogy of the

Opressed (1968)• Everyone can be a

human rights educator• Raise awareness through

cultural discourse.

41

42

Discussion QuestionDiscussion Question

• After viewing Born Into Brothels, post an answer on E Board to the questions:

• What do we learn and do the children become more empowered as a result of their interaction with the filmmakers (Briski and Kauffman), and their role as imagemakers?

43

End of Lecture 9End of Lecture 9

Next Lecture: American Next Lecture: American Independent CinemaIndependent Cinema