Transcript Response to Multicultural Literature/ “Others”

Traditional documentary
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Defined perspective/attitude/agenda
Selected editing to promote point
Voice-over commentary
Use of interview quotes
Propaganda
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Triumph of the Will: Hitler as god-like
Cinema Verite Documentary
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Little intrusive commentary/music
Little editing/long takes
Events/world not staged
Ethnographic perspective on a culture
Seemingly non-ideological
Few interviews
Cinema Verite: Frederick
Wiseman
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Focuses on institutions
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High School II: East Central HS
Neiman Marcus
Panama
Welfare
Rhetorical impact: audience
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Placate/sooth audience: nostalgia
Challenge/implicate audiences
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Force audiences to rethink beliefs
Encourage audiences to act
Rock documentaries
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Gimmie Shelter, 1970, (Rolling Stones)
A Hard Day’s Night, 1968, (Beatles)
Don’t Look Back, 1967, (Bob Dylan)
Quadrophenia, 1979 (The Who)
Almost Famous, 2000 (rock star life)
Hedweig & the Angry Inch, 2001
The Last Waltz, 1978 (The Band)
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Use of 35mm cameras
Re-released DVD
Documentary
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Students create own documentaries
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Draw on image databases
Select an issue/theme
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Use of photos/video clips
Use of multi-genre writing
Present using hypermedia
Tour/promotion documentaries
Pollution/sprawl/testing
Interviews/analysis
Ethnography and documentary
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Study of events/celebrations/rituals
“Fiction”/“reality” vs. “truth”
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Problem with concepts
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Fiction = “not real”
Reality = “not fictional”
Alternative: “documentary truth”
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Explores tensions/complexity vs. propaganda:
“one truth”
Invites recognition of the complexity of a
problem/issue
Brainstorm: Criteria for
determining “truth”
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Groups: pick a topic
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Your school, an event (state fair,
celebrations),community history,etc.
Identify some of the “truths” in this topic
If you were to make a documentary,
how would you portray these “truths”?
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Interviews
Portrayal of event/old video footage