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videsthe final,distinguishing element of documentary. The exhibitor of attractions, the tellerof stories, and the poet of photog1nie condense in the figureof the documentary filmmaker as orator, speakingin a voiceall his own abouta worldwe all share. These elementsfirst came togetherin the soviet Unionthroughthe 1920sas the challenge of constructing a new societytook precedence in all the arts.This particular meldingof elements took rootin othercountries in the late 1920sand early1930sas governments, thanksto advocates like John Grierson, saw the value of usingfilm to promotea senseof participatorycitizenship and to supportthe rolein government in confronting the mostdifficult issuesof the day,such as inflation, poverty, and the Depression.Answersto these problems variedwidelyfrom democratic Britainto fascistGermanyand from a New Deal Unitedstatesto a communistRussia,butin eachcase,thevoiceof the documentarian contributed significantly to framinga national agendaand proposing coursesof action.

Nichols, Bill, Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.

Chapter6 WhatTypes of Documentary AreThere?

GROUPING THE MAN Y VOIC ES OF DOCUM ENTARY

I very documentary has its own distinct voice.Like everyspeaking voice, r)very cinematic voice has a style or "grain" all its own that acts like a sigrr;rture or f ingerprint. lt atteststo the individuality of the f ilmmaker or direcl()ror, sometimes, to the determining powerof a sponsor or controlling or,vrrnization. Television newshas a voiceof its ownjust as Fredwiseman or t;hris Marker,EstherShub or MarinaGoldovskaya does. lndividual voiceslendthemselves to an auteurtheory of cinema,while ,lrared voiceslend themselves to a genretheoryof cinema.Genrestudy , onsiders the qualities that characterize variousgroupings of filmmakers ' rndfilms.In documentary filmand video,we can identify six modesof repr('sentation that function something like sub-genres of the documentary lrlrn genre itself:poetic,expository, participatory, observational, reflexive, l,crformative. Thesesix modesestablish a looseframework of affiliation withinwhich rrrr lividuals may work;they set up conventions that a givenfilm may adopt; rrrl th! providespecificexpectations viewersanticipate havingfulfilled. I ,rr;h modepossesses examples thatwe can identify prototypes as or mod'III I I NT R O D U C T I O N TO DOCUM ENT ARY

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The order of presentation for thc..;r-. six rnodescorresponds roughry to the chronology of theirintroduction. rt may therefore seemto provide a history of documentary firm,but it does so onryimperfecily. A firm identified with a given mode need not be so entirery. A refrexive documentary can containsizabreportionsof observationar or participatory footage; an expositorydocumentary can incrudepoeticor performative segmients. The characteristics of a givenmodefunction as a dominantinagivenfirm:they grvestructure to the overall film,but they do not dictateor determrne every aspectof its organization. considerabre ratitude remainspossibre. A more recentfirmneed not havea morerecentmode as its dominant. It can revert to an earrier modewhirestiilincruding erements of ratermodes. A performative documentary can exhibitmanyquarities of a poeticdocu, mentary, for exampre. The modesdo not represent an evorutionary chain in which later modes demonstrate superiority over earrierones ano vanquishthem.once estabrished througha set of conventions and paradigmatic firms,a given mode remainsavairabre to ail. Expository documentary,for example,goes back to the 1920s but remains highryinfruential today. Mosttelevision newsand rearityTV showsdependheaviry on its quite datedconventions, as do armost ail scienceand naturedocumentaries, bi_ ographiessuch as rhe A&E Biography series,and the majorityof rargescalehistoricar documentaries such as The civirwar (19g0), Eyes on the Prize(1987,1990), TheAmericancinema(1994), or The peopte,s century

To some extent,each mode of documentary representation arisesin part througha growingsense of dissatisfaction among filmmakers with a previous mode.In this sensethe modesdo conveysome sense of a doc_ umentary history. The observationar modeof representation arose,in part, f romthe avairabirity of mobire 16mmcameras and magnetic tape recorders in the 1960s.Poeticdocumentary suddenry seemedtoo abstractand expository documentary toodidactic whenit nowproved possibre to firmevery_ oay eventswith minimalstagingor intervention. observationwas necessariry rimitedto the presentmoment as firmmakersrecordedwhat happenedbeforethem. But observation shareda trait,or convention, with poeticand expository modes of representation: it, too,camoufraged the actuar presence and shapinginfruence of the firmmaker. Participatory documentary tookshapewithrhe realization thatfilm_ maKersneed not disguisetheir crose rerationship with their sublectsby
1OO I INTROD UCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTARY

uSthatNanookandhisfamilyface lorcxlttttple,tell lrrlcrtitlcsirrN;rrrooA findfood,buttheydo not of the northcannot ,t.rrvalion lrrrrrLcr if this-qrcirl to t,'ll us what Flaherty himsellate or whetherhe made food available of aspect fictional in the our disbelief to suspend us I l,rrrook. Flaherty asks about to us reveals he in what r,r,, storyat the priceof a certaindishonesty likeJean Rouch(Chronfilmmakers trr,, to his subject.With relation actual r,lr: of a Summer,1960),Nick Broomfield(Ihe Aileen WourmosStory, t' t92), Kazuo Hara (The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On, 1987), and becauseof the filmwhat happens lrrrr on Strike,1989) Silver(Watsonvitte presence thathappensdespltehis as anything rrr;rker's as crucial becomes )sence. I 't( the worldconwaysof representing The desireto comeup withdifferent set of circumchanging tll)utesto the formation of each mode,as does a in deficiencies to perceived ,tirnces. New modesarise partlyin response comesaboutpartlyfrom a of deficiency prr:viorJs ones,but the perception per',,)nseof what it takesto represent worldf roma particular the historical "make of it and ',pective at a givenmomentin time.The seemingneutrality quiet cinemaaroseat the end of the wlratyou will"qualityof observational formsof soobservation-based lrllies and duringthe heydayof descriptive, "endof idepresumed of a , rolog!. part the embodiment in as lt flourished of necessarily not ,,logy" with the everydayworld, but and a fascination angerof thosewho occupythe marrlfinity withthe socialplightor political r;rns of society. of perexpressiveness intensity and subjective the emotional Similarly, took strongest 1 lt tookshapein the 1980sand 990s. l()rmative documentary had grownduring rootamongthose groupswhosesense of commonality authat affirmedthe relative tlrisperiodas a resultof an identitypolitics films regroups. These marginalized of tonomyand socialdistinctiveness it not because commentary such as the voice-of-God techniques rrrcted or way to an entireepistemology, lackedhumilitybut becauseit belonged the world,no longerdeemedacceptable. of seeingand knowing We do wellto take with a grainof salt any claimsthat a new mode advancesthe art of cinemaand capturesaspectsof the world neverbefore or ulnotthe quality Whatchangesis the modeof representation, lrossible. A new mode is not so muchbetteras it limatestatusof the representation. touted,esis frequently rsdifferent, eventhoughthe ideaof "improvement" A new mode mode. of a new and practitioners pecially amongchampions prove lt will eventually and implications. set of emphases carries a different that yet anothermode of repfor limitations vulnerable, in turn,to criticism
What Types of Documentary Are There? | 101

atjer TriniU (Jon photo Etse, 1980) !!u ,r* courtesy ofJon Else Post-'60s reconsiderations ol Cold War rhetoric invited arevision oflhe postwar record Filmmakers such asConnie Field in The Lie of Rosie yd_lines the Biveter andJohn Else i1 naltafter Trinity recircutate historicai lne tootage ina new context Inthrs case, Else re_ Roberr J 0ppenheimers hesirancies :liiirg: and doubts about the deveiopment otthe atomic as alost, or suppressed. vojce of reason ?omn period olnear_hysteria Oppenheimer :rlnq., nrmsell was accused ollreasorr

Drgr rarlessa betterway represent the historical to worldtnana new;;;""" ntnant ranl to Io organize ideology a film,a nevl to explainour r"rrti^" new rerefi^n r^ F^^,ir., l^ ;^:;::."-"i'rrl to realitv'and a new srre.s siresto ro preoccupv preoccupyan :l:,:t:"": ;J;; and deaudience. "J;; "" We can now say a bit moreabouteach of the modesin turn.

n a rIe i3i s :$:ffi,' sab e tt e rway ! lih',ij"l"-"Ji,iill; to T :: r:,:: sig

THE POE TIC MOD E

As we saw in chapter 4, poetic documentary shares a commonterrain

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1 02 I INTRO DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTAR Y

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tll tt l;tttlttltttr :;ltowtlt t:rc;ttt):; lvrttts llto lyil(;lntl)tr!:,,,t()tt ;rltprr-.ciitlr-. ltrt:;l; nlg ovorArrtsturrlirrrr of alup the possibility r; purticularly adeptat opening rnorkr The poetic information, transfer of to the straightforward tcrnative knowledge formsof or pointof view,or the presentaargument the prosecution of a particular mode propositions in needof solution'This aboutproblems tionof reasoned or of knowledge mood,tone,and affectmuchmorethan displays stresses remains underdeveloped. persuasion. The rhetorical element actsof Play of Light:Black, White,Grey (1930),for exLaszlo Moholy-Nagy's to emvariousviewsof one of his own kineticsculptures ample,presents phasize of lightpassingacrossthe film frameratherthan to the gradations The effectof this play itself. the material shapeof the sculpture document than the objectit refersto of lighton the viewertakeson more importance 231 (1944)is in part a Jean Mitry'sPacific world.Similarly, in the historical of the power homageto Abel Gance'sLa Roueandin parta poeticevocation gradually and hurbuilds up speed it as locomotive and speedof a steam rhythm and The editingstresses destination. tles towardits (unspecified) of a locomotive. form morethan it detailsthe actualworkings The documentarydimensionto the poetic mode of representation films relyon the historistemslargelyfrom the degreeto which modernist filmssuch as Oscar Some avant-garde cal worldfor theirsourcematerial. Fischinger'sCompositionin Blue (1935) use abstractpatternsof form or trato a documentary figuresand haveminimalrelation coloror animated the artist's world of rather than a world fhe historical ditionof representing world for though,draw on the historical Poeticdocumentaries, imagining. ways. Francis their raw materialbut transformthis materialin distinctive N.Y.,N.Y.(1957),for example,uses shots of NewYorkCity Thompson's but gives of how NewYorklookedin the mid-1950s that provideevidence to progreaterpriorityto how these shots can be selectedand arranged of the city as a massof volume,color,and moveducea poeticimpression film and of the citysymphony the tradition filmcontinues ment.Thompson's world anew. historical the poetic potential to see documentary of the affirms repreway of as a The poeticmode beganin tandemwith modernism inimpressions, subjective in termsof a seriesof fragments, sentingreality qualities wereoftenattributed acts,and looseassociations.These coherent generally of World and the effects of industrialization to the transformations make sense to eventno longerseemed The modernist War I in particular. up time and spaceinto multerms.Breaking realist narrative, in traditional vulnerable to erupto personalities denyingcoherence tiple perspectives, provide insurto solutions to refusing and tions from the unconscious, it created aboutit evenas problems hadthe senseof an honesty mountable
WhatTypes of Documentary AreThere? | 103

lly t;ottltir: ;1, worlr lrl,l ll,r',rl Wrrr;lrl':; rtl()t:yhtrr (11):14), .'irrrrrT orrllrc un (.cylorr(lirrllrrrkir) Iottcltcdllcitulyol rjcspitcllrr:rnroirrl:; ol r;orrrrrrcrr;c;rrrrl (i/irss r;olonialisrn, []cr| | l;r;rrr;lrir'r; (1958), to tho skillol trirditionlrl a tribute r;lass blowers irrr<l llrc Ircauty of theirwork,or Les Blank's Always for Plcu:;ure(1978),a celebration of MardiGrasfestivities in New Orleans,return lo a moreclassicsenseof unityand beautyand discover tracesof them in lhe historical world. The poeticmodehas manyfacets,but they all emphasizethe ways in whichthe filmmaker's voicegivesfragments of the historicalworld a formal,aesthetic peculiar integrity to the film itself. P6terForgdcs's remarkable reworkings of amateurmoviesinto historical documents qualities stressespoetic,associative over transferring information pointof view.FreeFall(1998), or winningus overto a particular for example, chronicles the fate of European Jews in the 1930sand 40s through the homemovies of a successfulJewish businessman, GyorgyPeto, and DanubeExodus(1999)followsthe journeysof a Danubecruiseship as it takesJews from Hungaryto the BlackSea on theirflightto Palestine and then takes Germansfrom Bessarabia (the northernpart of Romania at the time) as they are drivenout by the Russians and evacuated to Germany, onlyto be relocated in Poland. The historical footage, treezeframes, slowmotion, tintedimages, selective moments of color,occasional titlesto identify time and place,voicesthat recitediary entries,and hauntingmusic builda tone and mood far more than they explainthe war or describe its courseof action. worksof art that were or ambiguous in theireffect. Arthough ,puzznng some filmsexprored more crassicar conc"ptiJnsof the poeticas a sourceof or_ der' whoreness, and unity,this stresson fragmentation and ambiguity re_ loeticdocumentaries.

THE EXPOSIT OR Y M OD E
This mode assembles fragments of the historical world intoa more rhetoricalor argumentative f ramethan an aesthetic or poeticone.The expository modeaddresses the viewerdirectly, withtitlesor voicesthat propose a perspective, advancean argument, or recounthistory. Expository films adopt eithera voice-of-God (the speakeris heardbut neverseen), commentary such as we find in lhe Why We Fight series, Victoryaf Sea (1952-53), The City (1939),Blood of the Beasts(1949), and Dead Birds (1963),or utilize a voice-of-authority (thespeaker commentary is heardand alsoseen),such as we find in televisionnewscasts, America'sMost Wanted,The Sellingof the Pentagon(1971), 16 in WebsterGroves(1966),Robert Hughes'sIhe Shock of the New (1980), Kenneth Clark's Civilization, or John Berger's Ways of Seeing (1974). The voice-of-God tradition fostered the cultivation of the professionally trained,richlytoned male voice of commentary that proveda hallmarkof the expository modeeventhoughsomeof the mostimpressive filmschose
WhatTypes of Documentary AreThere? | 105

continued aspectsof thispoeticmode

1O4 I

INTRO DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTAR Y

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Yosenite photo The Fate ofHeaven (Jon EIse, 19gg) courtesy ofJon Else The tension public between access and conservation isthe focus ofthis filmRobert Redford,s commentary falls into the category ofvojce-of-God address inasmuch as we never see lVrRedford To the extent that MrRedford's long{ime advocacy for envjronmental issues makes nrm a more informed speaker than an anonymous commentator would be, he also fullills the function 0f avoice ofauthority

lesspolished voicesprecisery forthe credibirity gainedby avoiding too much polish. Joris lvens'sgreatfilm urgingsupportfor the Republican-defenders of spanish democracy,The spanish Earth (1937),for exampre, existsin at leastthreeversions. None has a professionar commentator. Attthreenave identical imagetracks, but the French versionusesan ad-ribbed commentary by the famousFrench film director Jean Renoirwhilethe Engrish ver_ sionsrelyon orson weilesand ErnestHemingway. rvens choseweilesfirst, but his deliveryproveda bit too eregant; it bestoweda humanistic com_ passionon the eventswhere lvens hopedfor a toughersenseof visceral engagement. Hemingway, who had writtenthe commentary, provedthe moreeffective voice.He brought a matter-of-fact butclearly committed tone to a film that wantedto garvanize supportmore than compassion. (some

I lcrrrirtg;wiry':; ) logiccarried by on an informing relyheavily rkrr:rrrttcttlitries Expositclry images in film, emphasis of the traditional tlresookenword.ln a reversal or act in counevoke, illuminate, They illustrate, r;erve role. a supporting presented as distinct is typically turpoint to what is said.The commentary it. lt servesto orworld that accompany lromthe imagesof the historical ryanize these imagesand make sense of them just as a writtencaption and insomeof the manymeanings ryuides and emphasizes our attention presumed to be is therefore The commentary tcrpretations of a stillimage. lt comesf romsomeplace images. of a higherorderthanthe accompanying or omniscience. with objectivity but associated lhat remainsunspecified or argumentof the the perspective in fact, represents fhe commentary, the images and understand lrlm. We take our cue from the commentary news descripfor what is said.Television irs evidence or demonstration seemedprovedby for example, as "biblical," lionsof faminein Ethiopia wide-angle shots of great massesof starvingpeopleclusteredtogether on an open plain. Editingin the expositorymode generallyserves less to establisha the as it does in the poeticmode,thanto maintain rhythm or formalpattern, We can call this evidenr;ontinuity or perspective. of the spokenargument to spatialand temporalcontinuity lraryediting. Such editingmay sacrifice placesif theyhelpadvance the argument.The ropein images fromfar-flung cxpositoryfilmmaker often has greater freedom in the selection and ln The Plow ThatBroke ;rrrangement of imagesthan the fictionfilmmaker. came from all overthe the Ptains(1936)shots of arid prairielandscapes damageto the widespread of the claim to support for example, Midwest, tano. andwellof objectivity the impression modeemphasizes The expository "above" seems literally commentary The votce-over supported argument. worldwithout to judge actionsin the historical thefray;it has the capacity tone,like official commentator's lreingcaughtup in them.The professional strivesto builda lhe authoritative mannerof news anchorsand reporters, disinterestneutrality, such as distance, from qualities senseof credibiiity point to an irontc can be adapted Thesequalities edness, or omniscience. 16 in Webster for commentary of view such as we find in CharlesKuralt's in a film such as Land without even morethoroughly or subverted Groves attackon the very notionof objectivity. Bread,with its implicit argugeneralization and large-scale facilitates Expository documentary general argument of a The imagescan supportthe basicclaims mentation.

10 6

INTRO DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTAR Y

WhatTypes of Documentary AreThere?

1O7

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Tr iunph oftheWi Il (Leni Riefenstahl, 1935) physical gap The and hierarchical distinction between leader and followers again c0mes across clearly inthis scene ofHiiler's parade through thestreets of Nuremberg

The (Joris Spanish Earth lvens 193/) lvens's supportforthe Republican cause against theNazi-backed rebellion ofGeneral Franco followed political from his commitment todemocratic and socialist ideals His de-emphasis onhierarchy inthis shot ofanofficer and a soldier contrasts sharply with Riefenstahl's shooting styte

ir Irittttc withitr Support or mobilizing tltlormation rvr:yttt(J r,lealmodc krrt ;{,r of our stockpile to the film.In this case,a film will add workthat pre-exists by whichsuchknowlthe categories or subvert knowledge butnotchallenge pedect basisfor thistypeof a makes sense common getsorganized. Odge is less like rhetoric, sense, aboutthe world Sincecommon reoresentation to logicthan to belief. subject for why youngAmermuchof his argument Frankcapra couldorganize ll in lhe why we war join world during the battle willingly icanmen should patriotism, the native mix of to a Fighfseries,for example,by appealing and machine, of the Axis war the atrocities democracy, rdeals of American ln the blackand white and Hirohito. evil of Hitler,Mussolini, the malignant wouldnot choose who "slave world," "free a versus world" of a alternatives simple-to the answer the made to defenda free world?common sense pot" be"melting imbuedwith a thoroughly predominantly white audience values. lief in American naive and years later,capra's appeal seems remarkably some fifty Comideals. patriotic democratic virtueand of in its treatment overblown values set of conditioned than a historically mon senseis lessan enduring filmsthat seem classic For this reasonsome expository and perspectives. quitedated willSeem persUasiveness at one moment of oratorical examples as comwhat counts but maystillhavemerit, basicargument at another.The mon sensemay changeconsiderably.

THE OBSE R VAT ION AL M OD E

Triunph af theWill The soldier's parallels salute, above, this low-angle view of theGerman eagle and Nazi swastjka Like Hitler the eagle serves asa symbol power of German lt presides over thestream ol marching troops that pass below it,galvanizing their movement into a tribute tonational unity The Spanish Earth In contrast to thepageantry of Rlefenparades stahl's endless and speeches, lvens captures quality themodest of everyday rural life in1930s Spain This image ofthe town, Fuenteduena, situated near the shifting battlefront, suggests how ordinary lives jeopardized, are galvanized, not bythe fasci st rebel l i on

the specific oftensacrificed modesof documentary Poeticand expository persuasive arguments. patterns or formal people construct to filming act of fashioned then and materials raw necessary gathered the The filmmaker filmmaker if the what perspective, or argumentfrom them. a meditation, were simplyto observewhat happensin front of the camerawithoutovert form of documentation? Wouldthis not be a new,compelling intervention? states in the years the United and Europe, in canada, Developments such 16mm cameras around1960in various WorldWar ll culminated after suchas the Nagrathat could and Auriconand tape recorders as the Arriflex with now be synchronized could person. Speech one by handled be easily recorders tethered that or cables equipment the useof bulky without images couldmovefreelyabout cameraand tape recorder and cameratogether.The as it happened. a sceneand recordwhat happened
What Types of Documentary Are There? I 109

1 08

INTRO DUCTI O N TO DO CUM EN T A R Y

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itt 19ti5, tour of England , t,r,Don'lL<tolt (11)(i/), aboutBob Dylan's ll,rr:/r Janis Otis Redding, featuring Att)nterey Pop (1968),abouta musicfestival or Jane (1962)' and others, Airplane, r,r1rlin, the Jefferson Jimi Hendrix, play. Broadway prepares in a for a role she Fonda as Jane 1'rrfiling neo-realists. ltalian of the the work footageoftenrecalled The resulting igWc look in on life as it is lived.Socialactorsengagewith one another, deare caughtup in pressing ,rorirgthe filmmakers. Oftenthe characters anddrawsit away theirattention requires rrurnds of theirown.This or a crisis to reveal asThe scenestend,likef iction, lromthe oresence of filmmakers. to and come conWe makeinferences and individuality. l,cctsof character The filmmaker's , llisionson the basisof behavior we observeor overhear. callson the viewerto takea moreacof observer rctirement to the position of whatis saidand done. the significance trve rolein determining that mode posesa seriesof ethicalconsiderations The observational ls such an act in othersgo abouttheir affairs. rrrvolve the act of observing lesscomDoesit placethe vieweris a necessarily rrrd of itselfvoyeuristic? Victory atSea(Henry for us contrived are Solomon In fictron, scenes and lsaac Kleinerman, Irrtableposition than in a fictionfilm? i952_53) Like Night and Fog, Victory atSea returns past scenesrepresent tothe recent whereasdocumentary l()oversee entirely, totellthe and overhear story ofWorld War ll MadeasatelevisionseriesforCBs,itadoptsacommemorativestance This poltrecallsbattlesandstrate- tlrelivedexperience of actualpeoplethat we happento witness. gies,setbacksandvictoriesfromtheperspectiveolthesurvivororve ran.ltcelebratesnavalpower ition, in looking seems if a pleasure "atthe keyholei'can feeluncomfortable anditscontribution,givingscantattentiontothegroundwarorthe vilianconsequencesthatareIo take priorityoverthe chanceto acknowledge with the one and interact atthe heart ofNight and Fog Both Iilms however, rely oncompilation offootage shot contemr;een.This can be even more acutewhen the personis not an discomfort poraneously with the events towhich the Iilms now return. Compilation films invariably alter the playing a part in a fiction. ,rctor agreedto be observed who has willingly meaning ofthe lootage they incorporate Here, both films use purpgses footage for posthat are of the behavior on not intrudrng is the filmmaker that The impression sible only tothose who reflect on the meaning past ofthe rather than report the occurrences ofthe Do intrusion. question or indirect of unacknowledged the others also raises moment of them, in waysthat will colorour perception lieopleconductthemselves who does not say what lor betteror worse,in orderto satisfya filmmaker All of the forms of controlthat a poeticor expository because to represent others out seek the filmmaker rl Does filmmaker is he wants? might exercise overthe staging, arrangement, reasons? wrong for the or composition viewers that may fascinate of a sceneDecame theypossessqualities sacrificed to observing livedexperience in other filmsthatobserve, spontaneously. Honoring this question oftencomesup with ethnographic thisspirit of observation in post-production seem exediting contextualization, as wellas duringshooting that may,withoutadequate cultures, behavior resulted in filmswith no voice-over commentary, Has the than science. no supplementary morepart of a "cinemaof attractions" musicor sound oticor bizarre, effects, no intertitles, possino historical partrcipants made it reenactments, and of consent no behavior filmmaker soughtthe informed repeated for the camera, and notevenany interviews. given? To what extent and what we sawwas whattherewas, consentto be understood blefor such informed or so it seemedin Primary(1960),High School(196g),Les Racquetteurs to behavior of allowing consequences the possible explain can a filmmaker (Michel Brault and GillesGroulx, 195g), abouta groupof Montrearers to others? represented he and observed enjoyingvariousgamesin the snow,portions when he shoots verbally of chronicleof a summe4which requests consent for example, FredWiseman, profiles paris the livesof several public individuals in the he has a rightto institutions of 1960,Thechafu(1962), but assumesthat when he shoots in
11 0 I INTR O DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTAR Y What Types of Documentary Are There? | 111

( lt ; 1t l: ip; t tl l r ; t 1 l l r 1 t : ; ; 1 t V rl t r l r r r l g v l r l l r l l r r t ; r l ro srrll I vo ll 1; o, lllillly [ ) it r lt ot l) ir r ls n t lr y l t S c l t o t t l l o r r r r l l l r r 'l r l r 1 l;rrr rtnd rep rescn tativ e ev en t hough m os l c r it ic s h a v e c o n s i d e r c t l r l ; r l r r r r s h indictment of school regimentation and discipline. A radically different approach

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occursin TwoLaws(l9B.t),aboutAboriginal land rights, wherethe film_ makersdid not film anything withoutboththe consentand collaboration of the participants. Everything fromcontent to cameralenses was opento discussionand mutualagreement. since the observational filmmaker adoptsa peculiar modeof presence "on the scene"in which he or she appearsto be invisible and non-participatory,the questionalso arises of when does the filmmakerhave a responsibility to intervene? what if something happensthat may jeopardize or injureone of the socialactors?should a cameraman film the immolation of a Vietnamese monk who, knowingthat there are cameraspresenr to recordthe event,sets himselfon fire to protestthe Vietnamese war, or shouldthe cameraman refuseor try to dissuade the monk?should a filmmakeraccepta knifeas a gift from a participant in the courseof filminga murdertrial,and then turn that gift overto the policewhen bloodis found on it (as Joe Berlinger and Bruce sinofskydo in their tilm paradise Lost This last example movesus towardan unexpected [1996])? or inadvertent form of participation ratherthan observation as it also raisesbroadissues aboutthe filmmaker's relationship with his or her subjects. observational films exhibitparticular strengthin givinga senseof the duration of actualevents. Theybreakwiththe dramatic paceof marnstream fictionfilms and the sometimes hurriedassemblyof imagesthat support expository or poeticdocumentaries. when Fredwiseman,for example, observes the makingof a thirty-second television commercial forsometwentyfive minutesof screentime in Modet(1ggo), he conveys the senseof having observed everything worth notingaboutthe shooting. similarly, when DavidMacDougallfilms extended discussions between his principal character, Lorang,and one of his peersaboutthe brideprice for Lorang'sdaughterin wedding camets (19g0),he shiftsour attention fromwhatthe finalagreement is or whatnewnarrative issuearisesbecause of it to the feel and textureof the discussion itself: the body language and eye contact, the intonation and tone of the voices, the pausesand ,,empty,' time that give the encounter the senseof concrete, livedreality. MacDougall himselfdescribesthe fascination of lived experience as something that is mostvividlyexperienced as a difference between rushes (the uneditedfootageas it was originally shot) and an editedsequence. The rushesseem to havea densityand vitality that the editedfilm tacks. A rossoccursevenas structure and perspective are added:
11 2 I INTR O DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTA R Y

aresometilms lormaking veryreasons ttrc ll t ,,r" llrottt;lt ltlrrr cornt)lol{)(l f rom a {ilm of editing processes ofthemThe rl(lr I lryilr0rrrirking rr lrt corrlr; how shots most cutting and overall length the reducing both irrvr.rlvo the rushes particular center progressively Boththeseprocesses lengths. to shorter meanings.SometimesfiImmakersappeartorecognizethiswhentheytryto tnose or reintroduce films, intheir oftherushes preserue ofthequalities some cinema, Iranscultural ls Less," ("when Less qualities othermeans. through p.215) in the to its presence of the camera"on the scene"testifies fhe presence with or engagement lristorical world.This affirmsa sense of commitment a sense affirms also occurs.This personal it as and intimate, theimmediate, to us as if theysimplyhapto whatoccursthatcan passon events of fidelity to have that very appened when they have, in fact, been constructed ln this casethe One modestexampleis the "maskedinterview." Dearance. to establish subjects his with way participatory works in a more filmmaker manobservational the generalsubjectof a scene and then films it in an An films. in several has done this quite effectively ner.David MacDougall exampleisthesceneinKenyaBoranwhere,withoutpayingheedtothe beforeshootestablished camerabut in accordwiththe generalguidelines government's the of discusstheirviews tribesmen rngbegan,two Kenyan measures. control birth of introduction is the eventstagedto becomepartof the hisexample A morecomplex may be filmedin a purely for example, toricalrecord.Pressconferences, style,but such eventswould not existat all if it were not for observational This is the reverseof the basic premisebethe presenceof the camera. were thatwhatwe see is whatwouldhaveoccurred films, hindobservational the cameranot thereto observeit. in one of the first "obproportions took on monumental This reversal of the will. After an Triumph Leni Riefenstahl's documentaries, servational" Socialset of titlesthat set the stagefor the GermanNational rntroductory with events observes Riefenstahl rally, ist (Nazi)Party's1934 Nuremberg troops, of parades, reviews Events-predominantly no f urthercommentary. and speeches-occur as if the camera of Hitler, images massassemblies, At two hoursrunntng anyway. happened have what would simplyrecorded events historical recorded having of time,the film can givethe impression and unthinkingly. all too faithfully as it did were it not for the exyet, littlewouldhavehappened very And had press intentof the Nazi Partyto make a film of this rally.Riefenstahl carefully were events and enormousresourcesplaced at her drsposal, of of portions filming the repeat including planned theirfilming, to facilitate
What Types of Documentary Are There? | 113

l rl rrrrrr. rk r: t i l l l l l (l l l l l l (. ' t l l

t t l l l t l : l l l l ' l l { ): ; lttt:'tltvtl vltltlC:' lttttt:tltvtltl l t l t l t t t t r. ; l rt l l t t t t ' t r: l l t r: V c rl t t l l l t t l

RoyCohn/lack Snith(JtilGodmilow, 1994) Photo courtesy ofJillGodmilow Godmilows Iilm, like many documentarjes of music concerts, observes performance; apublic inthis case she records two plays one-man by Ron Vawter Given that such events are under_ stood performances tobe inthe place, first they allow the filmmaker toavoid some ofthe accu_ sati0ns presence that the ofthe camera altered what would have happened had the camera not been there

(JillGo(lrr l{)w1l')l) Roy Cohn/Jack Sm[h ofJillGodmilow Photo courtesy lt ltt : r t r 'ttli' m akes use ofedilit lr G odm ilow ;r 1r per specton ive Vit wlt t r : t lir t Ron dist inct l r ,r Ir lilt t t t t t ; t,l'r m ance as gayunder gr ound .t 'l r r, ttttt t( tt ant Cot i Sm it h andt lght - wing, ttll rtrl gay) lawyer Roy Cohtll3yittltrtr closeted perlormanccs tltrtw'l slttr thetwoseparate w,tV l to thecontraslitttl creased attention ,lrrr rlrly scxtt, withtheir which the twomen dealt 1950s ing the

somespeeches at another timeand placewhenthe original footage proved unusable. (The repeated portionsare reenacted so that they brendin with the original speeches, hidingthe coilaboration that went intotheirmaking.) Triumphof the wittdemonstratesthe power of the image to represent the historical worrdat the same momentas it participates in the construc_ tionof aspectsof the historicar worrditserf. such participation, especiaily in the contextof Nazi Germany, carriesan aura of dupricity. This was the rast thingobservationalfilmmakers likeRobertDrew D.A. pennebaker, Richard Leacock, and Fredwisemanwantedin theirown work.The integrity of their observational stancesuccessfuily avoided it, for the mostpart,-and yet the underlying act of beingpresentat an eventbut firmingit as if absent, as if the filmmaker weresimpry a "fryon the wail,', invites debateas to how much of what we see wourdbe the same if the camerawere not there or how
11 4 I INTRO DUCTI O N TO DO CUM E N T A R Y

presence were more readilyacknowlmuchwoulddifferif the filmmaker's to f uel continues nature undecidable is by its very That suchdebate edged. cinema. aboutobservational or disquiet, a certainsenseof mystery,

THE PART IC IPAT OR Y M OD E

The social scienceshave long promotedthe study of socialgroups.Anof f ieldwork, heavily definedby the practice remains forexample, thropology, livesamong a peoplefor an extendedperiodof where an anthropologist calls usually Such research time and then writesup what she has learned. goes field, into the researcher for someformof participant-observation.The feelfor what gainsa corporeal or visceral participates in the livesof others, usingthe on this experience, lifein a givencontextis like,and then reflects
WhatTypesof DocumentaryAreThere? | 115

lor partrcipirtiorr;"bcing hcre"ailows forobservatiorr ilrlrrr:;ro :;; ry,lrrcrierd workerdoes not alow herserf to "go native," undernorrrrirr <;rrcurnstances, but retains a degreeof detachment that differentiates her fromthoseabout whom she writes. Anthroporogy has,in fact,consistenfly depended on this complexact of engagement and separation between two cuitures to define itself. Documentary firmmakers arso go into the fierd;they,too, riveamong othersand speakaboutor represent whatthey experience. The practice of participant-observation, however, hasnotbecome a paradigm. Themethods and practices of socialscienceresearch haveremained subordinate to the moreprevalent rhetorical practice of movingand persuading an audience. observationar documentary de-emphasizes persuasion to giveus a sense of what it is liketo be in a givensituation but withouta senseof what it is likefor the firmmaker to be there,too. participatory documentary givesus a senseof what it is likefor the filmmaker to be in a givensituation and how that situation artersas a resurt. The types and degreesof arteration herp definevariations withinthe participatory mode of documentarv. when we view participatory documentaries we expectto witnessthe historical worrdas represented by someonewho activery engageswith, ratherthan unobtrusivery observes, poeticaily reconfigur"", o,.lrgumentativelyassembles thatworld. The filmmaker stepsout from behindthe cloak of voice-over commentary, stepsawayfrom poeticmeditation, stepsdown from a fly-on-the-wail perch,and becomesa sociaractor (armost) rikeany other. (Almost rikeanyotherbecause thefirmmaker retains the camera, and with it, a certaindegreeof potentiar powerand contror overevents.) Participatory documentaries rikechronicreof a summer, portraitof Jason,or word rs ouf invorve the ethicsand poritics of encounter. This is the encounter between one who wierds a movre cameraand one who ooesnot. How do filmmaker and sociaractor respondto each other?How do they negotiate controland share responsibility? How much can the filmmaker insiston testimony when it is painfurto provide it?what responsibirity does the filmmaker havefor the emotionar aftermath of appearing on camera? what tiesjoin firmmaker and subjectand what needsdividelhem? The sense of bodilypresence,ratherthan absence, locatesthe film_ maker"on the scene-" we expectthat what we rearnwiil hingeon the natureand quality of the encounter between firmmaker and subject rather than on generalizations supportedby imagesiiluminating a givenperspective. we may see as weilas hearthe firmmaker act and respond on the spot,in the same historicar arenaas the firm's subjects. The possibirities of serving as mentor, critic,interrogator, collaborator, or provocateur arise.
1 16 I INTR O DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTA R Y

loo ll;;ttttl tt t t : llt t t t ll; ol lr t t llt r opolo( ly ( ) r r ; ( x ) r ( ) l r l r ; y l o r k r : , . , ', 1 l . 'r r r r ; l l r ( ) r o , '( ; i l l l s

fakeover(Dauid and Judith MacDougall, 1981) Photo courtesy ofDavid MacDougall The MacDougalls have evolved a collaborative style ofIilmmaking with the subjects oltheir ethnographic films Inaseries offilms made onAboriginal issues, ofwhich Takeoverisaplma example, they have often served as witnesses tothe testimonial statements oftraditions and bc people liefs government that Aboriginal offer intheir disputes with the over land rights and other participatory, matters The interaction ishighly result although the can seem, atfirst, unobtrusive prior orobservational much since ofthe collaboratl0n 0ccurs tolhe act offilminq

Participatory documentary can stressthe actual,livedencounterbetweenfilmmaker and subjectin the spiritof DzigaVertov'sTheMan witha MovieCamera,Jean Rouchand EdgarMorin'sChronicle of a Summer,Jon Alpert's Hard Metals Disease (1987), Jon Silver's Watsonville on Strike (1989),or Ross McElwhee'sSherman'sMarch (1985).The filmmaker's presence takeson heightened importance, fromthe physical act of "getting the shot"that figuresso prominenlly inThe Man witha MovieCameralothe political act of joiningforceswith one'ssubjectsas Jon Silverdoes at the start of Watsonville on Strikewhen he asks the farm workersif he can film in the unionhallor as Jon Alpertdoeswhenhe translates intoSpanish what theworkers he accompanies to Mexico try to sayto theircounterparts about the dangersof HMD (hardmetalsdisease). Thisstyleof filmmaking is what Rouchand Morintermedcin6mav6rite,
WhatTypes of Documentary AreThere? | 117

It;ttr:;llrltttr ; Ircrrr;lrL)zrt;irVcr trrlo lov'l; ltllclor lrl; ncw:irr.r,l., ol l;()vrol :;(x)i"lilrrt oly,ktttoptitvr*t. As Irutlt," tlrc idoaernphasizes tlr;rl llrr:r r; lltg lruthof an encounter ratherthan the absolute or untampered truth, we see how the filmmaker and subjectnegotiate a relationship, howtheyacttowardone another, what forms of powerand controlcome into play,and what levels of revelation or rapportstem from this specific form of encounter. lf there is a truth here it is the truth of a form of interaction that would not existwere it not for the camera. In thissenseit is the opposite of the obpremisethat what we see is what we wouldhaveseen had we servational beentherein lieuof the camera. In participatory documentary, whatwe see is what we can see only when a camera,or filmmaker, is there insteadof ourselves. Jean-Luc Godardonce claimed that cinemais truthtwenty-four timesa second: participatory documentary makesgoodon Godard's claim. Chronicle of a Summe[ for example,involves scenesthat resultfrom the collaborative interactions of filmmakers and theirsubjects, an eclectic groupof individuals livingin Parisin the summerof1960.In one instance Marcelline Loridan, a youngwomanwho latermarried the Dutchfilmmaker Joris lvens, speaks about her experienceas a Jewish deporteefrom Francewho is sent to a Germanconcentration camp duringworld war ll. The camerafollowsher as she walks throughthe place de la concorde and thenthroughthe formerParisian market, Les Halles. she offersa quite moving monologue on herexperiences, butonlybecause Rouch andMorin had plannedthe scenewith her and givenher the tape recorder to carry.lf they had waitedfor the eventto occuron its own so they couldobserveit, it neverwouldhaveoccurred. They pursued this notionof collaboration still furtherby screening partsof the film to the participants and filming the ensuingdiscussion. Rouch andMorinalsoappear on camera, discussing their aim to study"thisstrangetribelivingin Paris" and assessing, at the end of the film,what they havelearned. Similarly, in Nof a LoveStory(1981), Bonnie Ktein, the filmmaker, and LindaLee Tracy, an ex-stripper, discusstheir reactions to variousformsof pornography participants as theyinterview in the sexindustry. ln one scene, Linda Lee posesfor a nude photograph and then discusses how the experience made her feel. The two womenembarkon a journeythat is partly exploratory in a spirit similarto Rouch and Morin'sand partly confessional/redemptive in an entirely different sense. The act of makingthe film playsa cathartic, redemptive role in their own lives;it is less the world of theirsubjects that changesthan theirown. ln somecases,suchas MarcelOphuls'sTheSorrowand the pity (1g70), on French collaboration with Germanyduringworld war ll, the filmmaker's voiceemergesprimarily as a perspective on the subjectmatterof the film.
11 8 I INTRO DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTAR Y

(Ierry 1994) Zwigofl Crunb R Crumb lVany participatory artist tothe cartoon strip relationship adopts ahighly Terry Zwigofl not had Zwigoff as they do have occurred would not interactions clearly and ofthe conversations probmore himsell and a toward rellective attitude takes amore with hiscamera. Crumb there been the complextoexamine Zwigoff s desire with ashe collaborates toward his brothers ing attitude life ofhis ities and contradictions

In other reporter. or investigative The filmmakerserves as a researcher in involvement voiceemergesfrom direct,personal cases,the filmmaker's This can remainwithinthe orbitof the investigative the eventsthat unfold. to its in the storycentral involvement reporter who makeshis own personal Rubbo, Michael filmmaker is the work of Canadian An example unfolding. such as his Sad Song of YellowSkin (1970), where he exploresthe population of Vietnam. War amongthe civilian ramifications of the Vietnam more who adoptsa brasher, Anotheris the work of NicholasBroomfield, (1998):his Kurt Courtney and not arrogant-style inhis confrontational-if susunsubstantiated despite Love's elusiveness withCourtney exasperation to film picions deathcompelsBroomfield in Kurt Cobain's of her complicity dinof her at a ceremonial denunciation spontaneous his own, apparently Union. CivilLiberties ner sponsored by the American stanceto take up In othercases,we moveawayfrom the investigative eventsthat into unfolding relationship and reflective a more responsive the diary and perus toward moves This latter choice filmmaker. volvethe prominent in the overall voicebecomes The first-person sonaltestimonial.
What Types of Documentary Are There? | 119

r
I

LasMadresdelaPlazadeMayo(SusanaMuflozandLourdesPortillo, 1985) Photocourtesyof Lourdes Portillo These participatory two women Iilmmakers adopt a highly relationship with the mothers who "dirty " The public risked their livesto stage demonstrations during Argentina's war sons and daugh"disappeared" ters government ofthese women were among the whom the abducted, and olten proceedings killed without any notice public orlegal Mufloz and Portillo not could shape the personal events, but they could draw out the stories ofthe mothers whose couraqe led them to defy a brutally repressive regime

Duernel Nunca Diablo SleepslEl Devit Never The olLourcourtesy Photos (Lourdes Portillo,1995) Portillo des priasahard-boiled Portlllo Lourdes Director journey Mexico to her lilmrecounts vate eyeThe uncle olher death suspicious the toinvestigate n0netheless P0rtill0 ironic attimes, and Re{lexive with met her uncle question ofwhether the leaves open a relative, of play, possibly hands atthe Ioul

participatory structure of the film.lt is the filmmaker's engagement with unfoldingeventsthat holdsour attention. NicholasNecroponte's involvement with a woman whom he meets in NewYork's Central Park, who seemsto havea complex butnotentirely crediblehistory, becomes centralto the overall structure ol Jupiter'sWife(1995). Similarly, it is EmikoOmori's efforts to retrace the suppressed history of her own family'sexperience in the Japanese-American relocation camps of WorldWar ll that givesformto Rabbitin the Moon(1999). MariluMalletoffers an even more explicitly diary-like structure to her portraitof life as a Chileanexile livingin Montreal marriedto Canadian filmmaker Michael Rubboin Unfinished Diary(1983),as does KazuoHarato his chronicle of the complex, emotionally volatile relationship he revives withhisformerwife as he and his currentpartnerfollowher overa periodof time in Extremely Personal Eros:LoveSong(1974). Thesefilmsmakethe filmmaker as vivid
12 O I INTRODUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTAR Y

they and confession, a personaas any other in their films.As testimonial power that is revelatory. often exude a exopen-ended stressthe ongoing, documentaries Notall participatory suband betweenfilmmaker or the interaction oerienceof the filmmaker oftenone perspective, a broader introduce to wish jects.The may filmmaker ancommon most The done? be this can in nature.How that is historical address to filmmaker the allows The interview the intervrew. swer involves peoplewho appearin the film formallyratherthan addressthe audience standsas one of the most The interview commentary. throughvoice-over and subjectin participafilmmaker between commonforms of encounter tory documentarY. They differfrom ordiform of socialencounter. are a distinct lnterviews by dint and the more coerciveprocessof interrogation nary conversation protocols specific the and occur they which in framework of the institutional or sooccurin anthropological them.lnterviews that structure or guidelines medicine "case in history" work;theygo by the name of the cioiogicalfield
WhatTypes of Documentary AreThere? | 121

The Devil Never Sleeps Thefilmmaker,inthecourseof aninterview,insearchof clues,and,ideally theconfessionthat will solve the mystery Although she never obtains aconlesslon, the sense that she mrghldo so lends an air ofnarrative, Iilm noir-like suspense tothe film

and socialwelfare; in psychoanalysis, they take the form of the therapeutic session;in law the interview becomesthe pre{rial processof "discovery"and,duringtrials, testimony; on television, it formsthe backbone of talk shows;in journalism, it takesthe form of both the interview and the press conference;and in education, it appearsas Socratic dialogue. MichelFoucaultarguesthat theseformsall involve regulated formsof exchange, with an uneven distribution of powerbetween practitioner, clientand institutional and that they havetheir root in the religious tradition of the confessional. Filmmakers make use of the interview to bring different accountstogetherin a singlestory.The voiceof the filmmaker emerges fromthe weave of contributing voicesand the material broughtin to supportwhatthey say. This compilation of interviews and supporting materialhas given us numerousf ilm histories,lrom ln the Year of the Pig (1969),on the war in Vietnam, to Eyes on the Prize,on the historyof the civil rightsmovement,and lrom The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter,on women at work during WorldWar ll, to Shoah,on the aftermath of the Holocaust for those wno experienced it. Compilation filmssuch as EstherShub'sThe Fallof the RomanovDv1 22 I INTRO DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENT A R Y

r:rllr.lyorr,rrr;lrtvr ljltttll;tttrltctttltltltl rl loolltr;c lotttttllly u,t:;lV,wllr lrr,,1r,,.. tlot;tttttt:tt <tlttxptlsttoty rl,rlr,lr; rcklo tho bt-'qittttttttls lo lcll lr r;or lrr,.trrry, r,rl ol thc tilttr rkrt;rrtttotttaries add the activecngagcmcrll l;rry. Pittlrt:rp;rlory voice-over exanonymous andavoid rnaker witlrlru r;rrlljcr;ts or informants anddistinct position. in a givenmoment thef ilmmoresquarely Thissituates voices. perspective; it enrichescommentarywith the grain of individual HarlanCounty,U.S.A.(1977),on a coal Some,such as BarbaraKopple's or MichaelMoore'sRogerand Me (1989),dwell miner's strikein Kentucky, while is a participant, on eventsin the presentto which the filmmmaker Some,suchas ErrolMorris'sThe Thin background. addingsome historical Blue Line, Leon Gasts's When We Were Kings (1996),on the 1974 fight The Wonor Ray Mueller's Ali and GeorgeForeman, between Muhammad career, on her controversial derful,HorribleLife of Leni Riefenstahl(1993), of it now recountit. centeron the past and how thosewith knowledge for in the days beforeStonewall, of gays and lesbians The experience with a voice-over as a generalsocialhistory, couldbe recounted example, the spokenpoints.lt couldalso be and imagesthat illustrate commentary recounted in the wordsof thosewho livedthroughthesetimes by means of interviews. Jon Adair'sWord ls Out (1977)opts for the secondchoice. screened scoresof possible Adair,like ConnieFieldfor Rosiethe Riveter, subjectsbeforesettlingon the dozenor so who appearin the film. Unlike material to a bare Adairoptsto keepsupporting Fieldor Emilede Antonio, "talking primarily heads" from the of those history he his minimum; compiles who can put this chapterof Americansocialhtstoryinto their own words. and writtenup to serveas one type of Likeoral histories that are recorded from in primarysourcematerial, but also differs whichthisform resembles material, the articulateof interview and arrangement the carefulselection of thosewho speakgivesfilmsof testimony nessand emotional directness quality. a compelling withtheir theirown directencounter Filmmakers who seekto represent issues and social who to represent broad worldandthose seek surrounding perspectives footageconstiand compilation throughinterviews historical mode.As viewerswe have of the participatory tute two largecomponents the sense that we are witnessto a form of dialoguebetweenfilmmaker interaction, and negotiated situated engagement, thatstresses and subject mode of These qualitiesgive the participatory encounter. emotion-laden appealas it roamsa wide variety filmmaking considerable documentary Often, in fact, of subjectsfrom the most personalto the most historical. yield of to representations how the two intertwine this modedemonstrates perspectives and that are bothcontingent worldf rom specific the historical committed.
What Types of Documentary Are There? | 123

T HE RE F LE X I V T

MODE

pholos Cadillac (Jon Desert Else, 1992) courtesy ofJon Else

placetor lhc procttsst):i ttl tttr ll the hislorrr;;rl worklprovrrlos the meeting modc, tho r;otiation and subjectin the participatory bctwt:crr lilrrrrnaker filmmaker and viewerbecomethe focus between of negotiation [)rocesses in the filmmaker of attention mode.Ratherthan following for the reflexive we now attendto the filmmaker's her engagement with othersocialactors, worldbut about not onlyaboutthe historical engagement with us, speaking it as well. the problems and issuesof representing that she will "speak nearby"ratherthan Trinh Minh-ha'sdeclaration "speakabout"Africa,in Reassemblage (1982),symbolizes the shift that world produces: the historical reflexivity we nowattendlo howwe represent Insteadof seeingthroughdocumenas well aslo whatgets represented. ask us to see docthem,reflexive documentartes tariesto the worldbeyond Godardand or representation. Jean-Luc umentarylor whatit is:a construct Jean-Pierre Gorincarrythis to an extremein Letterto Jane (197), a a5photoin greatdetaila journalistic minute"letter" in which they scrutinize graphof Jane Fondaduringher visit to NorthVietnam.No aspectof this apparently factualphotogoes unexamined. dependson the filmmode of documentary Just as the observational in the eventsrecorded, from or non-intervention maker's apparent absence the documentary in generaldependson the viewer'sneglectof his or her a film, in favorof in front of a moviescreen,interpreting actualsituation, imaginary accessto the eventsshownon the screenas if it is only these not the film.The mottothat a documeneventsthat requireinterpretation, is what the reflexive tary film is only as good as its contentis compelling calls into question. mode of documentary is the documentaries One of the issuesbroughtto the fore in reflexive to do with people? Somefilms, one with whichwe beganthis book:what or Farfrom DaughterRite(1978),BontocEulogy(1995), likeReassemblage, by callingthe usualmeansof this question directly Poland(1984), address breakswith the realistconrepresentation into question:Reassemblage gazeto repthe powerof the camera's to question ventions of ethnography on soothers;DaughterFife subvertsreliance resent,and misrepresent, cial actors by using two actressesto play sisters who reflecton their gathered with a from interviews relationship to their mother, usinginsights themthe voicesof the interviewees wide rangeof womenbut withholding own selves;BontocEulogyrecountsthe familyhistoryof the filmmaker's grandfather, to appearas partof an exwho wastakenfromthe Philippines lifeat the St. LouisWorldFairin 1904throughstagedreenhibitof Filipino rulesof evidence memories that call conventional and imagined actments
WhatTypes of Documentary AreThere? | 125

surname photos viet Given Name (Trinh Nan T.Minh-ha, 19g9) courtesy ofTrinh T Minh_ha These three successive shots, each an extreme close-up portions that omits 0lthe interviewees face, correspond pre-production tothe storyboard designed bythe filmmaker Their violation of lhe normal conventions for filming interviews both calls our attention tothe formality and conventionality ofinterviews and signals that this isnot a(normal) interview.

into question; Far from poland'sdirector, Jill Godmilow, addresses us directlyto ponderthe problems of representing the solidaritymovement in Poland when she has only partialaccessto the actualevents. Thesefilms set out to heighten our awareness of the problems of representing others as much as they set out to convinceus of the authenticity or truthfulness of representation itself. Reflexive documentaries also addressissuesof realism. This is a style that seemsto provideunproblematic accessto the world;it takesform as physical, psychological, and emotional realismthroughtechniques of evidentiaryor continuity editing, character development, and narrative structure.Reflexive documentaries challenge thesetechniques and conventions. surname viet Given Name Nam (19g9),for example,relieson interviews with womenin vietnamwho describe the oppressive conditions they have faced since the end of the war, but then halfwaythroughthe film we discover(ifvariousstylistic hintshaven't tippedus off) thatthe interviews were stagedin morewaysthanone:thewomenwho playvietnamese womenIn Vietnamare actuallyimmigrants to the Unitedstates reciting, on a stage set,accounts transcribed and editedby Trinhfrom interviews conducted in Vietnamby someoneelse with otherwomenl similarly,in TheMan witha Movie camera, DzigaVertovdemonstrates how the impression of reality comesto be constructed by beginning with a sceneof the cameraman, Mikhail Kaufman, filming peopleridingin a norsedrawncarriage froma carthat runsalongside the carriage. Vertov thencuts to an editingroom,where the editor,Elizaveta svilova,Vertov's wife, assemblesstripsof filmthat represent this eventintothe sequence we have,
1 26 I INTR O DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTA R Y

T.Minh-ha ofTrinh (Trinh Photos courtesy 1989) T.Minh-ha Nan Nane Viet Given Surname we than filmmakers Ior documentary consideration more frequent are a and costume Make-up prepares Bich Yen for a scene Tran Thi actress T. Minh-ha Trinh Here filmmaker might assume Theinterviewappearstobeset playanintervieweedescribingherlifeinVietnam whereshewill likeFarfronPoland,IhislilmexploresthequesinVietnambutwasactuallyshotinCalifornia {ilmmaker tothe available not directly situations ofhow torepresent tion

of the impression just seen.The overallresultdeconstructs presumably, process by which on the us to reflect to reality and invites access unimpeded throughediting. is itselfconstructed this impression and No Lies(1973), Diary(1968), Otherf ilms,suchas DavidHotzman's ficas disguised ultimately, themselves, Daughter Rite(1978),represent we initially tions.They rely on trainedactorsto deliverthe performances life.Our of peopleengagedin everyday to be the self-presentatron believe the during hints and clues through sometimes this deception, of realization perof the nature fabricated the film.or at the end.when the creditsreveal of the authenticity promptsus to question we havewitnessed, formances reveal aboutthe self "truth" do documentaries ; in general:what documentary performance;what conventions or scripted staged from a how is it different performance; and of documentary promptus to believein the authenticity subverted? how can this beliefbe productively mode and self-questioning modeis the mostself-conscious The reflexive
WhatTypes of Documentary AreThere? | 127

I l( . , r lr : , 1, r r : t . r , : ; :lo , llt c wot k l , l l r r . , r l r r l r l y l o I r r ) \ / t r t ( ) l ) {) l r,u ;t:,tv{'r'vrrlcrr r ; c ,llr c ol t t t t ll; 1lt t l; t l l l c l r t o o l , l l r r , , rr l r . r r r r rn l) ( ) : ; : ; t l) t lt ly , tqoxl r ;;rl lro nrl lrclwcc r r ; r l in( . lox ic illir r x t gc anc l wh a t i t r c p r c : ; c r r l : , ;rll llese norro nr;o orn o u nd c r s us pic ion. That s uc h not ion s c a n c o m p c l fetishistic belief

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the reflexive documentary l)rornpts to examine the natureof such belief rirther thanattestto the validity of what is believed. At its best,reflexive doc_ umentaryprodsthe viewerto a heightened form of consciousness about her relation to a documentary and what it represents. Vertovdoes this in TheMan witha Moviecameraro demonstrate how we constructour Knowredge of the world;Bufrueldoes this in Land withoutBreadto satirize the presumptions that accompanysuch knowledge; Trinh does this in Reassemblage to questionthe assumptions that underrie a given body of knowledge or modeof inquiry(ethnography), as chris Markerdoesin sans soleilloquestion the assumptions that underlie the act of making filmsof the livesof othersin a worlddividedby racialand political boundaries. Achieving a heightened form of consciousness involves a shiftin levels of awareness. Reflexive documentary setsout to readjust the assumptrons and expectations of its audience, not add new knowledge to existing cate_ gories.For this reason,documentaries can be reflexive from both formal and political perspectives. From a formal perspective, reflexivity draws our attentionto our as-

s' ""' W.

ationeffects," or what the Russianformalists termed ostranenie, or,,mak_ ing strange."This is similar to the surrealist effortto see the everyday world rn unexpected ways.As a formalstrategy, makingthe familiarstrangeremindsus how documentary worksas a film genrewhoseclaimsaboutthe worldwe can receive too unthinkingly; as a political strategy, it remindsus how society worksin accordwithconventions and codeswe mav too readily take for granted. The riseof feminist documentaries in the 1970s provides a vividexample of the worksthat call socialconventions into question. Filmssuch as rhe woman'sFilm (1971),JoyceatThirty-four(1972),and GrowinglJp Femate (1970)followed most of the conventions of participatory documentary, but they also soughtto producea heightened conscrousness aboutdiscrimination against womenin thecontemporary world. Theycounter the prevailing (stereotypical) images of womenwithradically different representations and displace the hopesand desires fueledandgratified by advertising and melo-

MacDougall ofDavid Photo courtesy 1980) MacDougall, Judith and wedding canels(Dauid adopt MacDougall and Judith David Kenya, Turkana olnorthern onthe o{films Inthis trilogy tne insnaping involvement {ilmmakers'active the aware o{ us tomake strategies reflexive several prompts some discussion, put thal lilmmakers the by ttlsaquestion 14re see Sometimes scenes 0tanotner process members olrepresentlng complex remind us olthe that titles itiswritten times acts reflexive Such can understand culture members o{anEnglish-speaking lna form culture Nanaok impression the want togive {ilms such lilmMany inethnographlc time rare atthe were "naturally" ot as a result nol occur, they as gave: and behavior customs we witness Narth of the and subject {ilmmaker between interaction

and demandsof womenwho have rejected dramaswith the experiences enones.Such films challenge different these notionsin favorof radically had what and also serveto give nameto trenchednotionsof the feminine that can now be and hierarchy devalorization, oppresston, laininvisible:the perceptions: common into combine experiences Individual calledsexism. emerges. order, the social on a new way of seeing,a distinctperspective may havea formalor cinematic prevailing "Alienation"from assumptions than Rather in its impact. socialor political but it is also heavily component, documenpolitically reflexive primarily form, of provoking our awareness and the assumptions of socialorganization tariesprovokeour awareness

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, , 1 ; r r r r l r t t t l 0lll r l ! w o rIl '1 .,l \i l r ]w l r ) ( l ( l o l r tl l ;l r l tl l ;t;ti l l o tl ;r :;;tIr l ;tti l cl ;ttl tl tl t:;cttl <l fWtl l ;l cttt l r o t l i O t l , l l l t l ; r t r l ( ) tt ( l r 'tt{'t;tl tz,tl l o tl l ; i tr td th e typ i ca l , i r l tl tc" l r i r d i l i tl tl e m b o d i cd ' a n d co n cr e tc a s d e scr i b e d l r l r r l o s o p h y '/ o r r : t kr r o w kXk;tl b ctte r

of poetry' in the tradition experience, of personal lrrsed on the spccitit;itics the latterpoendorses documentary Performative lrtoralure, and rhetoric? provides enknowledge .,rtion how embodied and sets out to demonstrate in society. work at processes of the moregeneral rry intoan understanding Meaningisclearlyasubjective,affect-ladenphenomenon'Acarorgun' people. Experifor different meanings ol.p"r.on will bear different lrospital belief, and value of questions involvement, {)nceanctmemory,emotional aspects those of all enterintoour understanding ()ommitment and principle frameinstitutional by documentary:the addressed often most 0f the world work(governmentsandchUrches,familiesandmarriages)andspecificsor;ia|practices(|oveandWar,competitionandcooperation)thatmaKeupa underscores documentary in chapter 4). Performative (as discussed :;ociety its of the worldby emphasizing subjective of our knowledge thecomplexity dimensions. ;rndaffective lhe Ngozionwurah,s lJntied(1989), Tongues Riggs,s WorksIikeMar|on (1995) stress Eulogy Bontoc (1991), and MarlonFuentes's BodyBeautiful of the filmthe perspective from experience of complexity tne emotional noteentersintothesefilmsthat An autobiographical makerhim-orherself. Perforfilmmaking. participatory of to the diaristicmode bears similarity qualities of experience to the subjective filmsgiveaddedemphasis mative MarlonRiggs'for examrecounting' factual from depart that and memory ple,makesuse of recitedpoemsand enactedscenesthat addressthe inonwurah'sfilm builds in black,gay identity; stakesinvolved tensepersonal uptoastagedsexua|encounterbetweenherownmotherandahandsome escape enactsa fantasyabouthis grandfather's youngman;and Fuentes at the 1904St. LouisWorld'sFair'Acas an objectof display f rom captivrty by amplified imaginedones.The free combinaDecome tual occurrences performation of the actualand the imaginedis a commonfeatureof the tive documentarY. What thesefilms and otherssuch as lsaacJulien'sLookingfor Langston or Julien'sFrantzFanon:Black Hughes, (1988),aboutthe lifeof Langston skin/white Mask (1996),about the life of Frantz Fanon;Larry Andrews's video Black and sitver Horses(1992), about issues of race and identity; in Benares, practices (1985),aboutfuneral of Blis.s RobertGardner'sForest india;ChrisChoyandReneeTajima,sWhoKittedVincentChin?(1988), autoworkers aboutthe murderof a chinese Americanby two out-of-work who reportedlymistookhim for Japanese;ReaTajiri'sHistoryand Memory in deinternment (1991),abouther effortsto learnthe storyof her family's
What Types of Documentary Are There? | 131

(Lourdes Carpus A Home Movie forSelena Portillo, 1999) Photo courtesy of Lourdes Portillo Director Lourdes Portillo lnvestigates the repercussions that followed from the murder of popular the Tex-lVlex singer Selena Was she a positive role model foryoung women who learn tochannel lheir popuenergies into becoming larsingers, orwas she herself ayoung woman encouraged to recycle stereotypical images of female sexual ity? Porti Ilodoes noI answer such queslions somuch aspose inanengagthem ing way She does sopartly byshooting invideo portrait tocreate a family ofSelena and her legacy

that supportit.They tend, therefore, to inducean "aha!"effect,where we graspa principle or structure at workthat helpsaccount for whatwouldotherwisebe a representation of more localized experience. Instead we take a deeper look. Politically reflexive documentaries acknowledge the way thingsare butalso invoke the waytheymightbecome. Our heightened conscrousness opensup a gap between knowledge and desire,between what is and whatmightbe.Politically pointto us as viewreflexive documentaries ers and socialactors,not lo films,as the agentswho can bridgethis gap between what existsand the new formswe can makefrom it.

T H E P E R F OR MA T IV E MOD E
Likethe poeticmodeof documentary representation, the performative mode raisesquestions aboutwhat is knowledge. What countsas understanding or comprehension? What besides factualinformation goes intoour under1 30 I INTRO DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTA R Y

(iilllll)i; ftlttlttrtl tlttttttt; wotlt.l ':, llttt:;lt wi rt ll; irrtrll,titltllltir l,ilrrr,rr (lIx)l), ilboutbcillgAsiarl-tsritislt trndgay, sttare is a deflectiorr ol tkrr;rrrrr6rrtarry emphasisawayfroma realistrepresentation of the historical worldand toward poeticliberties, more unconventionar narrative structures, and more suD_ jectiveformsof representation. The referentiar qualityof documentary rhat atteststo its functionas a windowonto the worrdyierds to an expressrve quality that affirmsthe highry situated, embodied, uiuioty personar per_ spective "no of specific subjects, including the filmmaker. Ever since at reastrurksib(192g), sattfor svanetia(1g30), and, in a satiricvein,Land withoutBread(1932),documentary has exhibited many pedormative quarities, buttheyseldomhaveservedto organize entirefilms. Theywere presentbut not dominant. Someparticipatory documentaries of the .1980s, such as LasMadres de ra ptaza de Mayo (r9g5) and Roses in December(1982),incrudeperformative momentsthat draw us into sub_ jective,"as if" renderings of traumatic past events(the,,disappearance,,of the son of one of the mothers who protested government repression in Argentinaand the rape of Jean Donovan and three otherwomenby Er sarvadoran military men respectivery), butthe organizing dominant to the firms revorves arounda linearhistorythat includes these events.performative documentaries primariry addressus, emotionaily and expressivery, rather than pointingus to the factualworldwe hold in common. These firmsengageus resswith rhetoricar commandsor imperatives than with a sense of their own vivid responsiveness. The firmmaker,s re_ sponsrveness seeksto animateour own.we engagewith their represen_ tationof the historical worrdbutdo so obliquely, via the affective chargethey applyto it and seek to maxeour own Tongues untied,for exampre, beginswith a voice-over cailthat ricochets from left and right,in stereo,"Brother to Brother,,',,Brother to Brother. . . ,,, and endswitha decraration, "Brack menroving brack menis the revorutionary act." The courseof the firmovera seriesof decrarations, reenactments, po_ etic recitations, and stagedperformances that ail attestto the comprexities of racialand sexuar relations withingay subcurture strives to animateus to adoptthe position of "brother" for ourserves, at reastfor the duration of the film.we are invitedto experience what it is riketo occupythe subjective, socialposition of a brack, gay mare,such as MarronRiggshimserf. Just as a feminist aesthetic may striveto moveaudience members, re_ gardlessof their actuargenderand sexuar orientation, into the subjective positionof a feminist character's perspective on the world,per{ormative doc_ umentary seeksto move its audienceinto subjective arignment or affinity with its specific perspective on the worrd. Likeearrier workssuch as Listen to Britain(1941),on resistance to Germanbombingby the Britishpeopre
1 32 I INTR O DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTA R Y

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An$ela J6ndsll, from the House of Jendell walking as fuluristic l0nrm queen

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1991) lsBurning(Jenny Livingston Paris young gay men into inwhich cluster sub-culture enters into adistinct, black, Paris lsBurning " "houses," drag at"balls ofmimicry and other invarious categories which compete against each partly immerses us Pails ls Burningalso tononparticipants, toexplain this sub-culture 0rganized performatively thal16in Webster Grovesor ol thisworld to a degree in thequality and texture noI Dead Birds does

duringWorldWar ll, or ThreeSongs of Lenin(1934),on the mourningof try documentaries Lenin's deathby the Sovietpeople,recentperformative joins general to the that the give representation to a social subjectivity to particular, to the personal. and the political to the collective, the individual individuals, but it to particular may be anchored The expressive dimension response. extendsto embracea social,or shared,form of subjective is often that of the underrepreIn recentwork this social subjectivity gays and lesof womenand ethnicminorities, sentedor misrepresented, to thosefilmswhere can act as a corrective bians.Performative documentary proclaim, "Wespeakaboutthemto usJ'They instead, that"Wespeakabout
WhatTypes of Documentary AreThere? | 133

olll:i()lvoi;

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tltttottlitry sll;trt:s it tcbttlitttcittg and corrective terrrlcrrr;y wrllrlrrrtorethnography(ethnographically inlormed work madeby members of the communitieswho are the traditionar subjects of westernethnography, suchas the numerous tapesmadeby the Kayapo peopre of the Amazonriverbasinand by the Aboriginal peopleof Australia). lt does not, however, countererror withfact,misinformation withinformation, butadoptsa distinct modeof reo_ resentation thatsuggests knowredge and understanding require an entirery different form of engagement. Likeearlydocumentary, beforethe observationar mode praced priority on the directfirming of sociarencounter, performative documentary freery mixes the expressive techniques that give textureand densityto fiction (point-of-view shots,musicalscores,renderings of subjective statesof mind, flashbacks and freezeframes,etc.)withoratorical techniques for addressing the socialissuesthat neithersciencenor reasoncan resorve. Pedormative documentary approaches the domainof experimentar or avant-garde cinemabut gives,finaily, ressemphasis to the serf-contained quality of the film or video than to its expressive dimensionin retationto representations that referus back to the historical world for their ultimate meaning. we continue to recognize the historical worldby meansof famil_ iar peopleand praces (Langston Hughes, Detroit cityscapes, the san Francisco Bay Bridge,and so on), the testimonyof others (participants in Tonguesuntied who describethe experiences of brack,gay men; the personalvoice-over confidences of Ngozionwurah about her relationshio to her motherin The Body Beautiful); and scenesbuirtaroundparticipatory or observationar modesof representation (interviews with variouspeopre in Khush and lh British but. . .; observedmomentsof dairy ritein Forest of Bliss). The world as represented by performative documentaries becomes, however, suffusedby evocative tones and expressive shadingsthat constantly remindus thatthe worldis morethanthe sum of the visiole evidence we derivefrom it.Anotherearry, partiar exampre of the performative mooe, AlainResnais's Nightand Fog(1955), aboutthe Horocaust, makesthispoint vividly. The film'svoice-over commentary and imagesof iilustration nomi_ nateNightand Fogtor the expository mode,butthe haunting, personar quarity of the commentary movesit towardthe pedormative. Theiilm is ressabout history thanmemory, ressabouthistory fromabove-what happened when and why-and moreabouthistory from berow-what one personmightexpeflenceand what it mightfeel like to undergo that experience. Through the elliptic,evocative tone of the commentary by Jean cayror,a survivor of Auschwitz,Night and Fog sets out to represent the unrepresentabre:
13 4 I INTRO DUCTI O N TO DO CUM ENTA R Y

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l ,rrrl ()',i l l tvo

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(Alain 1955) Resnais etbrouillardl FoglNuit Night and then officers, camp byconcentration presente was shot Fog and dinNight footage ofthe Much AlainResnaiscompilesthisfootageintoasearingtestim discoveredalterthewarbytheAllies Iturges HislilmofferslarmorethanvisualevidenceofNaziatrocities tothehorrorsofinhumanity past tothe ltlinks the inthese camps long ago what happened forget, never and us toremember, conscience amoral gives ofsustaining present the burden tomemory and

orof acts that defy all reasonand all narrative the sheer inconceivability and victims of bodies, and abounds-of belongings evidence der.Visible survivors-but the voiceof Nightand Fogextendsbeyondwhat evidence f romus thatacknowledges responsiveness it callsforan emotional confirms: pre-established frameof reference within any this event how understanding judgment of the heinous at a (evenas we mayarrive is an utterimpossibility of such genocide). monstrosity has described P6terForgdcs filmmaker spirit,Hungarian In a similar judge, so much or not to argue to explain, polemicize, not hisgoalas notto lived who those like for past were experiences as to evokea senseof what are made from home moviesredocumentaries them. His extraordinary of the socialturmoilcaused representations organizedinto performative Jewish life of a successful the recounts Fall(1998), by world war ll: Free up in caught who is eventually in the 1930s,GyorgyPeto, businessman
What Types of Documentary Are There? | 135

( i c t r t l t t t y ': ; r l l r t , , r rr r l ,r l . r r r l l tc w i tt, l o ;r l l p l y l l ttl tt "l ttt;tl l ;o l ttl to tt" l o Il tl tt ( l i l r l i l t , f g w : , , , t r l l It,r ttr tl tr , l xo tl L ts( 1 9 9 9 ) te l l s t- r l th e l o r co d ttttq r l tl to tts o I . k t w s d o w t t l l t c l ) ; rttttl r c tttt r o u te to Pa l e sti n e , i n th e fa C e o f Br i ti sh r e si su p r i ve r l i l n c e t o t h c i r r r r v i r l o l a n y m o r e r e fu g e e s, a n d o f Ge r m a n sw h o fl e e

lrom Romaniaback to Germanywhen the Sovietarmy drivesthem from on home moviestakenby the captainof theirland.The film reliesprimarily both of thesegroups. in transporting ;r Danubecruiseship involved Danube Exodus makes no attempt to tell the overall hrstoryof world of a events,seen from the viewpoint war ll. By focusingon these specific however, something, participant Forgdcs suggests ratherthan a historian, tone of the war: he suggestshow,for some participants, aboutthe overall an enormousflux of peoples,in and out of various the war was primarily Loss occurs,alongwith dislocafor a wide varietyof reasons. countries, tion.The war takes its toll not from bombsalone but from these cases of the face of Europe. exodusthat transformed civilian to us but alsoto postand judgment leave evaluation wants to ForgScs subjective directly a more ponethis kind of reflection we experience while emoeffect, affectover He invokes events. with these historical encounter and judgmentbut to placethem on tionover reason,not to rejectanalysis beforehim, and like Vertov, and Kalatozov Resnais, Like basis. a different positions ready-made sidesteps Forgdcs so many of his contemporaries, great documentarians He invitesus, as all categories. and prefabricated do, to see the world afreshand to rethinkour relationto it. Pedormative and emto the local,spectfic, restores a senseof magnitude documentary port of entryto our personal may become that it so the lt animates bodied. the political. this generalsketchof the six modesof documenWe can summarize likethe avant-garde, Documentary, table. the following in taryrepresentation when a mode signify in this table (The dates to fiction. beginsin response and each each mode has predecessors a commonalternative; Oecomes to this day.) continues

photos Free (P1ter Fall Forg6cs, 1998) courtesy ofpeter Forgacs P6ter Forgilcs relies entirely onfound footage, inthis case, home movies from the ig30s and 1940s suchfootagerevealslifeasitwasseenandexperiencedatagiventime Forg6csreworks the footage, cropping images, slowing down motion, adding titles and music, tocombine asense perspecttve ofhistorical with aform ofemotional engagement The result poetic, isquite radicarry different intone from the classic world warll documentaries inanexpository mode such asthe Why We Fight series

WhatTypes of Documentary AreThere?

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(i I l r r l r hr Docurnentary Modes ClriefCharacteristics -Deficiencres Hollywoodfiction [1910s]: fictional narratives of imaginary worlds -absence of ',reality,' Poetic documentary llg2osl: reassembre fragmentsof the worldpoetically -lack of specificity, too abstract Expo s itory documentary [192Os]:d irecilyaddressissu es in the historical world -overlydidactic ObservationaI documentary l1960sl : eschew com_ mentaryand reenactment; observethingsas theyhappen -lack of history, context Parti cipatory doc umentary [196Os] : interview or Interact with subjects; use archival film to retrieve history -excessive faithin witnesses, naive history, too intrusive Reflexive documentary [1980s]:ques_ tiondocumentary form,defamilrarrze the othermodes -too abstract, losesightof ac_ tualrssues Pertormativedocumentary[1g8Os]:stress subjective aspectsof a classically objective discourse -toss of emphasis on objectivity may relegate suchfilms to the avant-garde;',excessive', use of style.

ll

Chapter 7 HowHaveDocumentaries Addressed lssues? Social and Political

PEOPLE AS VIC T IM S OR AGEN T S

Whenwe first asked"Whatto do with people?" in Chapter1, our discusr;ion fell primarily withinan ethicalframe.What consequences followfrom rlifferent formsof response to and engagement with others?How may we represent or speak about others without reducingthem to stereotypes, or victims? Thesequestions allowfew easyanswers, but they also lrawns, suggest that the issuesare not ethicalalone. To act unethically or to misrepresent politics othersinvolves and ideology as well. In a harsh critiqueof the documentary tradition, especially as reprejournalism, sentedby television Brian Winstonarguesthat 1930s documentary filmmakers in GreatBritaintook a romantic view of theirworkingclasssubjects;they failedto see the workeras an active,self-determining agentof change.Instead, the workersuffered from a "plight" that others, namelygovernment agencies, shoulddo something about. gaveslum dwellers (1935),for example, HousingProblems the opportunity to speakfor themselves, in a synchronous soundinterview formatset withintheir own homes. The words of actualworkersappearedon British screensfor the firsttime, a sensational achievement in the days long beforetelevision or reality TV.But they appearedas if they came with hat in
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