Documentary Film
Page 1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aufderheide, Patricia.
Documentary film: a very short introduction
/ Patricia Aufderheide.
p. cm.—(Very short introductions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-518270-5 (pbk.)
1. Documentary films—History and criticism.
I. Title.
PN1995.9.D6A94 2007
070.1′8—dc22
2007018114
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Very Short Introductions available now:
ADVERTISING • Winston Fletcher AFRICAN HISTORY • John Parker and Richard Rathbone AGNOSTICISM • Robin Le Poidevin AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS • L. Sandy Maisel THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY • Charles O. Jones ANARCHISM • Colin Ward
ANCIENT EGYPT • Ian Shaw
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY • Julia Annas ANCIENT WARFARE • Harry Sidebottom ANGLICANISM • Mark Chapman
THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE • John Blair ANIMAL RIGHTS • David DeGrazia ANTISEMITISM • Steven Beller
THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS • Paul Foster ARCHAEOLOGY • Paul Bahn
ARCHITECTURE • Andrew Ballantyne ARISTOCRACY • William Doyle
ARISTOTLE • Jonathan Barnes
ART HISTORY • Dana Arnold
ART THEORY • Cynthia Freeland ATHEISM • Julian Baggini
AUGUSTINE • Henry Chadwick
AUTISM • Uta Frith
BARTHES • Jonathan Culler
BESTSELLERS • John Sutherland THE BIBLE • John Riches
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY • Eric H. Cline BIOGRAPHY • Hermione Lee
THE BOOK OF MORMON • Terryl Givens THE BRAIN • Michael O’Shea
BRITISH POLITICS • Anthony Wright BUDDHA • Michael Carrithers
BUDDHISM • Damien Keown
BUDDHIST ETHICS • Damien Keown CAPITALISM • James Fulcher
CATHOLICISM • Gerald O’Collins THE CELTS • Barry Cunliffe
CHAOS • Leonard Smith
CHOICE THEORY • Michael Allingham CHRISTIAN ART • Beth Williamson CHRISTIAN ETHICS • D. Stephen Long CHRISTIANITY • Linda Woodhead CITIZENSHIP • Richard Bellamy CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY • Helen Morales CLASSICS • Mary Beard and John Henderson CLAUSEWITZ • Michael Howard
THE COLD WAR • Robert McMahon COMMUNISM • Leslie Holmes
CONSCIOUSNESS • Susan Blackmore CONTEMPORARY ART • Julian Stallabrass CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY • Simon Critchley COSMOLOGY • Peter Coles
THE CRUSADES • Christopher Tyerman CRYPTOGRAPHY • Fred Piper and Sean Murphy DADA AND SURREALISM • David Hopkins DARWIN • Jonathan Howard
THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS • Timothy Lim DEMOCRACY • Bernard Crick
DESCARTES • Tom Sorell
DESERTS • Nick Middleton
DESIGN • John Heskett
DINOSAURS • David Norman
DIPLOMACY • Joseph M. Siracusa DOCUMENTARY FILM • Patricia Aufderheide DREAMING • J. Allan Hobson
DRUGS • Leslie Iversen
DRUIDS • Barry Cunliffe
THE EARTH • Martin Redfern
ECONOMICS • Partha Dasgupta
EGYPTIAN MYTH • Geraldine Pinch EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN • Paul Langford THE ELEMENTS • Philip Ball
EMOTION • Dylan Evans
EMPIRE • Stephen Howe
ENGELS • Terrell Carver
ENGLISH LITERATURE • Jonathan Bate EPIDEMIOLOGY • Roldolfo Saracci ETHICS • Simon Blackburn
THE EUROPEAN UNION • John Pinder and Simon Usherwood EVOLUTION • Brian and Deborah Charlesworth EXISTENTIALISM • Thomas Flynn FASCISM • Kevin Passmore
FASHION • Rebecca Arnold
FEMINISM • Margaret Walters
FILM MUSIC • Kathryn Kalinak
THE FIRST WORLD WAR • Michael Howard FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY • David Canter FORENSIC SCIENCE • Jim Fraser FOSSILS • Keith Thomson
FOUCAULT • Gary Gutting
FREE SPEECH • Nigel Warburton FREE WILL • Thomas Pink
FRENCH LITERATURE • John D. Lyons THE FRENCH REVOLUTION • William Doyle FREUD • Anthony Storr
FUNDAMENTALISM • Malise Ruthven GALAXIES • John Gribbin
GALILEO • Stillman Drake
GAME THEORY • Ken Binmore
GANDHI • Bhikhu Parekh
GEOGRAPHY • John Matthews and David Herbert GEOPOLITICS • Klaus Dodds
GERMAN LITERATURE • Nicholas Boyle GERMAN PHILOSOPHY • Andrew Bowie GLOBAL CATASTROPHES • Bill McGuire GLOBAL WARMING • Mark Maslin
GLOBALIZATION • Manfred Steger THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL • Eric Rauchway HABERMAS • James Gordon Finlayson HEGEL • Peter Singer
HEIDEGGER • Michael Inwood
HIEROGLYPHS • Penelope Wilson HINDUISM • Kim Knott
HISTORY • John H. Arnold
THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY • Michael Hoskin THE HISTORY OF LIFE • Michael Benton THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE • William Bynum THE HISTORY OF TIME • Leofranc Holford-Strevens HIV/AIDS • Alan Whiteside
HOBBES • Richard Tuck
HUMAN EVOLUTION • Bernard Wood HUMAN RIGHTS • Andrew Clapham HUME • A. J. Ayer
IDEOLOGY • Michael Freeden
INDIAN PHILOSOPHY • Sue Hamilton INFORMATION • Luciano Floridi INNOVATION • Mark Dodgson and David Gann INTELLIGENCE • Ian J. Deary
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION • Khalid Koser INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS • Paul Wilkinson ISLAM • Malise Ruthven
ISLAMIC HISTORY • Adam Silverstein JOURNALISM • Ian Hargreaves
JUDAISM • Norman Solomon
JUNG • Anthony Stevens
KABBALAH • Joseph Dan
KAFKA • Ritchie Robertson
KANT • Roger Scruton
KEYNES • Robert Skidelsky
KIERKEGAARD • Patrick Gardiner THE KORAN • Michael Cook
LANDSCAPES AND CEOMORPHOLOGY • Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles LAW • Raymond Wacks
THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS • Peter Atkins LEADERSHIP • Keth Grint LINCOLN • Allen C. Guelzo
LINGUISTICS • Peter Matthews
LITERARY THEORY • Jonathan Culler LOCKE • John Dunn
LOGIC • Graham Priest
MACHIAVELLI • Quentin Skinner MARTIN LUTHER • Scott H. Hendrix THE MARQUIS DE SADE • John Phillips MARX • Peter Singer
MATHEMATICS • Timothy Gowers
THE MEANING OF LIFE • Terry Eagleton MEDICAL ETHICS • Tony Hope
MEDIEVAL BRITAIN • John Gillingham and Ralph A
. Griffiths MEMORY • Jonathan K. Foster
MICHAEL FARADAY • Frank A. J. L. James MODERN ART • David Cottington MODERN CHINA • Rana Mitter
MODERN IRELAND • Senia Paseta MODERN JAPAN • Christopher Goto-Jones MODERNISM • Christopher Butler MOLECULES • Philip Ball
MORMONISM • Richard Lyman Bushman MUSIC • Nicholas Cook
MYTH • Robert A. Segal
NATIONALISM • Steven Grosby
NELSON MANDELA • Elleke Boehmer NEOLIBERALISM • Manfred Steger and Ravi Roy THE NEW TESTAMENT • Luke Timothy Johnson THE NEW TESTAMENT AS LITERATURE • Kyle Keefer NEWTON • Robert Iliffe
NIETZSCHE • Michael Tanner
NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN • Christopher Harvie and H. C. G. Matthew THE NORMAN CONQUEST • George Garnett NORTHERN IRELAND • Marc Mulholland NOTHING • Frank Close
NUCLEAR WEAPONS • Joseph M. Siracusa THE OLD TESTAMENT • Michael D. Coogan PARTICLE PHYSICS • Frank Close PAUL • E. P. Sanders
PENTECOSTALISM • William K. Kay PHILOSOPHY • Edward Craig
PHILOSOPHY OF LAW • Raymond Wacks PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE • Samir Okasha PHOTOGRAPHY • Steve Edwards
PLANETS • David A. Rothery
PLATO • Julia Annas
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY • David Miller POLITICS • Kenneth Minogue
POSTCOLONIALISM • Robert Young POSTMODERNISM • Christopher Butler POSTSTRUCTURALISM • Catherine Belsey PREHISTORY • Chris Gosden
PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY • Catherine Osborne PRIVACY • Raymond Wacks
PROGRESSIVISM • Walter Nugent PSYCHIATRY • Tom Burns
PSYCHOLOGY • Gillian Butler and Freda McManus PURITANISM • Francis J. Bremer THE QUAKERS • Pink Dandelion
QUANTUM THEORY • John Polkinghorne RACISM • Ali Rattansi
THE REAGAN REVOLUTION • Gil Troy THE REFORMATION • Peter Marshall RELATIVITY • Russell Stannard RELIGION IN AMERICA • Timothy Beal THE RENAISSANCE • Jerry Brotton RENAISSANCE ART • Geraldine A. Johnson ROMAN BRITAIN • Peter Salway
THE ROMAN EMPIRE • Christopher Kelly ROMANTICISM • Michael Ferber
ROUSSEAU • Robert Wokler
RUSSELL • A. C. Grayling
RUSSIAN LITERATURE • Catriona Kelly THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION • S. A. Smith SCHIZOPHRENIA • Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone SCHOPENHAUER • Christopher Janaway SCIENCE AND RELIGION • Thomas Dixon SCOTLAND • Rab Houston
SEXUALITY • Véronique Mottier SHAKESPEARE • Germaine Greer
SIKHISM • Eleanor Nesbitt
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY • John Monaghan and Peter Just SOCIALISM • Michael Newman
SOCIOLOGY • Steve Bruce
SOCRATES • C. C. W. Taylor
THE SOVIET UNION • Stephen Lovell THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR • Helen Graham SPANISH LITERATURE • Jo Labanyi SPINOZA • Roger Scruton
STATISTICS • David J. Hand
STUART BRITAIN • John Morrill SUPERCONDUCTIVITY • Stephen Blundell TERRORISM • Charles Townshend THEOLOGY • David F. Ford
THOMAS AQUINAS • Fergus Kerr
TOCQUEVILLE • Harvey C. Mansfield TRAGEDY • Adrian Poole
THE TUDORS • John Guy
TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITAIN • Kenneth O. Morgan THE UNITED NATIONS • Jussi M. Hanhimäki THE U.S. CONCRESS • Donald A. Ritchie UTOPIANISM • Lyman Tower Sargent THE VIKINGS • Julian Richards WITCHCRAFT • Malcolm Gaskill
WITTGENSTEIN • A. C. Grayling WORLD MUSIC • Philip Bohlman
THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION • Amrita Narlikar WRITING AND SCRIPT • Andrew Robinson AVAILABLE SOON: LATE ANTIQUITY • Gillian Clark MUHAMMAD • Jonathan A. Brown
GENIUS • Andrew Robinson
NUMBERS • Peter M. Higgins
ORGANIZATIONS • Mary Jo Hatch VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS
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Patricia Aufderheide
Documentary Film
A Very Short Introduction
Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction
Contents
List of Illustrations
Introduction
1 Defining the documentary
Naming
Form
Founders
Cinema verité
2 Subgenres
Public affairs
Government propaganda
Advocacy
Historical
Ethnographic
Nature
3 Conclusion
A note on history and scholarship
One Hundred Great Documentaries
Further Reading and Viewing
Index
List of Illustrations
1 Toxic effects of vinyl production explored in Blue Vinyl.
© Chris Pilaro
2 Moth wings and scraps of twigs and flowers in Mothlight.
Estate of Stan Brakhage and www.fredcamper.com
3 Traditional Inuit customs in Nanook of the North.
Library of Congress
4 British mailtrain in Night Mail.
Museum of Modern Art Film Stills Archive
5 Camera lens in Man with a Movie Camera.
© Photofest
6 Seller of Bibles in Salesman.
© Photofest
7 African American basketball player in Hoop Dreams.
© Kartemquin Films 1994
8 Crowd scene from Triumph of the Will.
© Photofest
9 Transatlantic phone call in The New Americans.
© Kartemquin Films 2004
10 Armored tanks as shown in The Battle of Chile.
First Run/Icarus Films
11 Bodyguards of Salvador Allende, in Chile, Obstinate memory.
First Run/Icarus Films
12 Amazonian Indians in The Smell of the Pequi Fruit.
Video in the Villages
13 Al Gore presents An Inconvenient Truth.
© 2006 by Paramount Classics, a division of Paramount Pictures
Introduction
This introduction to documentary film is directed to people who like watching documentaries and want to know more about the form; to people who hope to make documentaries and want to know the field and its expectations; and to students and teachers who hope to learn more and tell others what they have learned.
Documentary Film is organized to present an overview of central issues and then to discuss different subgenres. I particularly wanted to use categories that could address concerns about objectivity, advocacy, and bias that have always swirled around documentary but with renewed vigor since the breakthrough popularity of Fahrenheit 9/11. One could easily select or add other categories, such as music, sports, labor, diary, and food; I selected the ones used in this book because they are common categories in the documentary marketplace, and because they raise important issues about truth and representing reality.
This thematic organization allows you to enter the subject matter easily through the kind of film that first attracted you to it, and it allows me to make connections between historical eras and to demonstrate the ongoing nature of core controversies in documentary. Those who prefer a more straightforward chronology may note that each of the subgenre chapters is organized chronologically (with the exception of the propaganda chapter, which focuses largely on World War II). So after reading the first four chapters, which establish the core issues and early documentary history, one can read the first se
ctions of the various subgenre chapters and then return to the next section of each of the chapters.
Since the material is drawn not only from scholarship but from my four-decade experience as a film critic, it reflects my interests and limitations. Most of the scholarship I refer to is written in English, and I have a bias toward long-form documentary and the work of independent filmmakers.
I was originally attracted to documentary by the promise that has drawn so many makers to the form—one that the noted editor and critic Dai Vaughan, in an essay concerned with the threat to documentary by digital manipulation, described as the “gut feeling that if people were allowed to see freely they would see truly, perceiving their world as open to scrutiny and evaluation, as being malleable in the way film is malleable.” I have found the work of filmmakers such as Les Blank, Henry Hampton, Pirjo Honkasalo, Barbara Kopple, Kim Longinotto, Marcel Ophuls, Gordon Quinn, and Agnès Varda to be inspiring.
I am grateful to Elda Rotor of the Oxford University Press for approaching me with the idea of writing this book, and to Cybele Tom for shouldering the editing upon her departure, and to my copy editor, Mary Sutherland. Many colleagues in communication, literature, film, and film studies programs generously provided insights that I attempt to share here. I greatly appreciate the support of American University’s library staff, especially Chris Lewis. I am indebted to Ron Sutton, my mentor at American University; to Dean Larry Kirkman at the American University School of Communication, who also did me the inestimable honor of introducing me to Erik Barnouw; and to New York University’s Barbara Abrash, who opened many doors to insight and opportunity. Projects with the Council on Foundations (especially with Evelyn Gibson) and the Ford Foundation (especially with Orlando Bagwell) deepened my knowledge of the field. I am grateful as well to Gordon Quinn, Nina Seavey, Stephan Schwartzman, George Stoney, and anonymous reviewers for comments in production.
Chapter 1
Defining the Documentary
Naming
Documentary film begins in the last years of the nineteenth century with the first films ever projected, and it has many faces. It can be a trip to exotic lands and lifestyles, as was Nanook of the North (1922). It can be a visual poem, such as Joris Ivens’s Rain (1929)—a story about a rainy day, set to a piece of classical music, in which the storm echoes the structure of the music. It can be an artful piece of propaganda. Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov, who ardently proclaimed that fiction cinema was poisonous and dying and that documentary was the future, made Man with a Movie Camera (1929) as propaganda both for a political regime and for a film style.