Topic: Documentary Style

Documentaries: One of the Best Forms of Education

           One of my favorite types of film is the documentary. These films educate, inspire, and enlighten us to topics perhaps we never would have known about or have been as well-versed on. I have many favorite documentaries and I will tell you about a few of them in this blog. An interesting question is about the future of documentaries and what sort of topics will be covered. They have certainly changed over time, pertaining to the current issues facing society yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I have noticed that many of the early documentaries that I have seen consisted of human interest stories such as “Grey' Gardens” and “Harlan County USA.” These two documentaries both tell the story of the human condition and the struggles that go along with it. They also both touch on the subject of being trapped or stuck in certain conditions. If you watch “Grey Gardens” you can see how being trapped in that house with her mother would drive Little Edie insane. In “Harlan County USA,” you can understand the lack of options available to these people and how stuck they are in the line of work and socioeconomic situation they were born into. The more recent documentaries that I have seen, seem to consist of comments on political or world issues, these include, “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Shut Up and Sing,” “Capitalism: A Love Story,” and “Sicko,” just to name a few. 

            My favorite documentary of all time is “Grey Gardens.” This film by the Maysles brothers, tells the story of Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale who were relatives of Jackie Kennedy-Onasis, and their existence in their sprawling dilapidated estate in East Hampton. The other inhabitants of their home include, raccoons, squires, rats, and a plethora of cats all of which they feed, while barely being able to feed themselves. You watch the film with pity for Little Edie having been trapped by her selfish mother for so many years, giving her whole life to care for her. It's sad to see all the promise and beauty that both the house and Little Edie both used to hold. In many ways, the house is an extension or representation of what has happened to Little Edie both inside and out. There are many moments where she is clearly having psychotic episodes, but is unaware of her bizarre behavior, giving into it even more, attempting to vie for the cameras every attention. The documentary has a mood of sadness and disparity while letting you into a home and it's inhabitants world, where no one had been in so many years. 

              “The September Issue” is another classic example of a film that gives us a look into an environment most of us will never experience. In it, we meet Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue Magazine. The recent narrative film, “The Devil Wears Prada” was based on this cold (pun-intended) high-powered women who essentially runs the world of fashion. Wintour funded and produced the documentary in an attempt to disparage the insinuations made about her in “Devil.” We also get a look into the world of fashion and the daily life at Vogue, which is quite fascinating and surprisingly complex. Wintour is of course humanized and sympathized with by the films audience, by conveying her as a lonely and misunderstood hero of publishing.

             Most of the documentaries that I watch today have a political or social intent. One of my favorites has been “Sicko,” about America's health care system. After watching the film, you ask yourself how we let it get this way, how did we let health care become a 'for-profit' industry when it is one of the most basic human needs? Director Michael Moore, takes us around the U.S. and the world on a mission to educate us on how wrong and devious this system has become. The definition of a documentary according to Dictionary.com is as follows, “a factual film or television programme about an event, person, etc, presenting the facts with little or no fiction.” Michael Moore doesn't include fiction in his work, but he does present a slanted view point, often that I agree with, but that isn't consistent with the strictest definition of an unbiased documentary presenting all sides of an argument and letting you decide what you believe. Other documentaries I have seen recently that contain political or social messages are "Shut Up and Sing," about the controversy surrounding The Dixie Chicks after the comments they made about George W. Bush and " An Inconvenient Truth," about the global warming crisis. 

              What is the future of documentaries? Will they continue to go in a political, social, and educational direction as the trend recently has been? Or will we have more “Grey Gardens” type films, that give us a glimpse into a world most of us would never know? I think the answer is both. Documentaries will always be around and will continue to cover a large variety of topics that peek the human interest. Let's hope more and more keep being made so we can all vicariously experience and learn about as many topics as possible.