Exam Question

Exam question

'When watching documentaries, we are just as involved in narrative and character as we are when watching fictional films'. Discuss how far this is true in relation to your own studies of documentary spectatorship.

In relation to my studies, I believe this statement to be true as documentary is a part of film and therefore has the same affect as fictional films. We are introduced to characters in the same way and documentaries often form the same narrative structure commonly seen in in fictional films (Todorov's equilibrium). This is significant because this indicates that even though an audience is watching a documentary it still uses the same conventions within fictional films.

Because documentaries depict a true story the characters are more personal which in this case should makes it easier for the audience to be involved with the characters. The people shown in documentaries are also given back stories in order to make them more relatable and to make the audience sympathise with them more. For example in the documentary 'Undefeated' directed by Daniel Lindsay in 2011 shows the audience the life of a young american football team in Manassas. The importance of this is that the audience is shown the background of the majority of the key players in the team including Money, O.C Brown and Chavis. We see the struggle that the players face including absent fathers and poverty and because of this, the audience becomes involved in the film through the characters. They are able to relate and root for the characters just like they can in fiction films.

However, although the documentaries go along way to present the same conventions seen in fictional films in terms of characters and narrative, the way in which the story is presented is a lot differently. Documentary are shown in many different ways, expository, observational, poetic, participatory, reflexive and performative. Most use observational techniques. In the documentary The Imposter directed by Bart Layton in 2012 the film displays  a story of a family who was tricked by an older man pretending to be their lost young teen son. The film is shown through interviews and re-enactments which still allows the a story to be told like in fictional films even though it is told in a different way. This still means that the viewer is involved in the narrative and the characters within it. However, because the audience is viewing the film from an un-natural angel, one which they are not used to in fictional films, the audience may feel distant from the film. This is different from fictional films as rather the audience being able to experience the event taking place, they are now being told it through another persons opinions or ideas.

In conclusion I would still argue that documentaries still go along way in following the statement as they achieve just the same as fictional films. They still present the ideas of characters and still hold a strong conventional storylines that show a disruption in the state of equilibrium which is what the audience would get from a fictional film. The audience can still be involved in the same way, but documentaries tend to to depict an event in a more factual way.