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Film Studies – Authenticity
The fundamental aspect of any documentary film is to accurately portray the truth. The truth as in reality and not the way it is perceived by the documentary maker. This is a very powerful statement. Time and again we tend to see things the way that we want to see them and also portray them the way we understand – the normal human behaviour.
The moot question is how authentic is what we are portraying in the documentary made? The term “creative treatment of actuality” coined by John Grierson, in 1926 are aligned with the argument that the documentaries are the filmmaker’s construction of reality and this is exactly what it is.
The question that lingers along in the book is “What is the treatment meted to actuality in a documentary’s claims representation of the truth?” The documentary is finally the representation of the truth of the filmmaker and this is a choice of the choices available to the filmmaker and how he is influenced in making those choices. This is a very complex question that needs to be answered. “A reflexive documentary lets us know how it was made and what was involved in its making, turning the process by which the documentary produces meaning into part of the film “
Spence and Navarro keep reiterating the fact that the same set of events when viewed by different sets of people they keep seeing different things. This is primarily the perception differences that each one of us and the carry. What is an attempt by a documentary maker to portray may actually be seen as a different thing by the audience. A classic case in example is perception differences we have when two countries are at war.
The warring countries will look at the war differently – each of the respective nationalities believe that the other party is the aggressor. Now that creates two view points and interestingly more viewpoints emerge from the non-warring nations, depending on who their thoughts are aligned with and their strategic necessities! Different strokes for different folks! A substantiation of the above argument can be seen in the documentary The Gatekeepers (of DrorMoreh, 2013.)
Another important aspect in the making of the documentary films and the what is projected in is also influenced by the sources of funding for making a movie! For instance in the documentary mentioned above – The Gatekeepers has been funded by a French Television channel that is not exactly in favour of the Israelis.
So, does this imply that the sources of funding for the documentary movies be revealed and be transparent. Will this reveal more about the truth being portrayed? JehaneNoujiam’s movie Control Room made in 2004 depicts the conflict between Al Jazeera and US Central Command. She acknowledges that she may not actually saying the truth, however, it is her truth! Raymond Williams says in the book that “not for the components of a product but for the conditions of a practice”
Movies are acknowledged to be a powerful media that influences the masses is the belief expressed. Cinema has been viewed with suspicion and fear because it is seen as a projected fantasy again this is the direct inference from what Gunning says in the work in the “Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon”. There is an important relation that has been established to the working class, unlike the other works of art, cinema is possibly the true representation of the reality in the street.The ability of a movie is its ability to capture the most intricate details is what was believed. Is this the reality when viewed from the Spence and Navarro point of view?
While in the initial stages of the cinema, it was believed that it always represented the truth with the highest form of authenticity. Maxim Gorky also believed so and it is portrayed in the article he writes as quoted in another essay. In a newspaper article printed in NizhgorodskiListok, in an article by I M Pacatus refers to cinema as the “Kingdom of Shadows” this itself is a reflection of the fear psychosis that was created by the advent of the cinema.
What is seen today and perceived today in terms of what is authentic seems to have transformed over the years of the cinema. Initially it was perceived that the cinema is the true medium and has the capability to project reality with the highest fidelity. Even today it captures the real imagery in the finest details, there is absolutely no question about it. But does the cinema portray reality and that comes to the question of authenticity.
The concept of authenticity has definitely transformed over a period of time from the initial days where the belief was that the cinema is absolutely a representation of the truth and hence fully authentic and it remains so always.
Today the notion of authenticity has changed, with the ability of the maker to influence and selectively portray what is seen from the maker’s point of view the authenticity is something that is to be questioned and remains so in the modern documentary films.
The history of movies has clear evidence in the literature on how the world has viewed movies and the notion of authenticity has clearly changed. This is owed to the beliefs and perceptions about the movies. This has changed from the days of Freud to the days of Navvro and Spence. History is a testimony to this change. Literature in the each of the periods is a recording of the perceptions about movies and this itself is changing and therefore the perception about the authenticity of the movies!
Works Cited
Fine, Wendy Wolfe. Response to Crafting Truth: Documentary Form and Meaning by Louise Spence and Vinicius Navarro. 2014. 13 October 2014. <http://wendywolfefine.blogspot.in/p/wendy-wolfe-fine-stuart-steck-advisor.html>.
Gunning, Tom. The lost world of Mitchell and Kenyon. BFI Publishing, 2004. Print.
I.M.Pacatus. "Review of th Lumiere Programe." Nizhgorodski Listok (1896). Print.
Leda, Jay. "A history of the Russian and the soviet film." Kino. New York: Collier Books, 1973.
Navarro, Spence Louise and Vinicius. Crafting Truth: Documentary Form and Meaning. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2011. Print.
