Documentaries are usually meant to shock people. They are
meant to make people say Holy shit this is real. I can’t believe this really
goes on. SHENANIGANS! BLASPHEMY! SHAME ON SOCIETY!
In a sense they share the
same qualities that a light night infomercial has- This is our deal. Buy it. Buy into it. Do both, and do it now.
Unless you take a historical documentary for example,
virtually every documentary ever produced is untruthful- it is always biased,
because no matter how much of the information that comprises of said
documentary, it is the information that the film maker has fed to you. They’re
the ones feeding the information to the uneducated audience, and while they are
allowing you to make up your own mind, it’s all under the guidance of their
steady hand- You make the decision based on the information they provide.
Take for example, the First
Person documentary about Sondra London. You take a woman who has ideals and
a view point that are debatably crazy. Then during production of the interview,
you choose obscure and dramatic camera angles, and couple this with harsh
lighting that casts odd shadows on her face, and then incorporate some sly
editing techniques that add to your cause and you have a subject that can by no
means be described as of a sound mind.
Sondra London- Batshit crazy. |
Personally, I think she was crazy, with or without
the biased production- to fall in love with a rapist and savage murderer is not
something a sane person could do.
Had the documentary have portrayed her in an unbiased manner,
she probably would not have come across as the way she did (I’d still think she
was crazy, just less crazy). But that’s just the issue I’m trying to point out.
The film maker has said these are the
facts I’m giving you, and it’s all true- make your own decision. But how
exactly is an audience supposed to gain a true understanding of the truth when it’s
delivered in such a way?
The truth is there is no truth, in any form of film. Every piece
of moving footage ever documented is taken from a particular viewpoint. When
any film is edited, reality and time are automatically dissected and reassembled.
The only thing you can be certain of, is that you will never have an unbiased
opinion, but hopefully you will have the intellectual capabilities of
understanding what is biased, and what is not.
No comments:
Post a Comment