Online Response 4 - Participatory and Reflexive Documentary

Enabled by the technological advancements of the 1960s, the participatory mode of documentary formed. It is nearly opposite of the observational documentary with the filmmaker directly interacting with the subject, conversing, collaborating, and sometimes confronting. The audience also is able to interact more with the subject. These films draw from an anthropological tradition but differ in their dedication to the rhetoric of a story rather than simply the social science research. Documentary tends to not sacrifice the narrative for the data. Often in participatory mode however, the narrative doesn’t occur until the filmmaker incites the story; potentially one they are already involved with, or perhaps one that they seek out to investigate. 

The participatory mode can be exemplified by Ross McElwee’s documentary, Time Indefinite and Jean Rouch’s Chronicle of a Summer. The story in both films would not have occurred if the filmmakers had not picked up their cameras and incited the action. McElwee chronicles the journey of his own emotions through his engagement, marriage, and the sudden deaths of his Grandmother, unborn baby, and then father. His camera and search for meaning in his grief takes him across the country to reconnect with family and old friends. The film that emerges is far deeper than a simple home video. In Chronicle of a Summer, anthropologist Jean Rouch and Sociologist Edgar Morin Set up discussions on society and happiness, and then recreate moments based on the interviews. They then retrospectively examine the scenes they created.

Time Indefinite

Chronicle of a Summer

The reflexive mode is far less common. Reflexive cinema could be considered synonymous with meta film. This mode is self-referential, calling attention to the specific conventions of documentary and the potential problems of representation within it. "In other words, [it] questions the principles that underlie the other five modes rather than the various models drawn from other media like the printed word," (Nichols, 110). Reflexive films can also be reflexive towards other nonfiction models, i.e. diaries, biographies, or anthropological findings. The "intensified level of reflection on what representing the world involves distinguishes the reflexive mode from other modes," (Nochols, 125).

One such example of this mode would be the film F for Fake written and directed by Orsen Wells. The film is a contemplative look at fraud and lies, demonstrated with Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving as examples. Wells reflects on the implications of dishonesty, and at the same comments on the dishonesty of the film itself. Wells’ interpretation and representation of the stories shouldn’t be taken for fact just as little as Hory’s forged art or Irving’s invented bibliography. “In this mode, rather than attend to a spoken commentary about the historical world or follow the filmmaker in his or her engagement with other social actors, we now attend to the filmmaker’s engagement with us, speaking not only about the historical world but also about the problems and issues of representing it,” (Nichols, 125). 

F for Fake

Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov, 1929) and Stranger with a Camera (Barret, 1999) are also very reflexive films. Man with a Movie Camera considers the process of filming, editing, and watching the very film that is being produced. Sometimes we see the filmmaker or the editor, and other times we see the product of what they’ve been working on. It comments on the historical world, giving us a distinct perspective through and accompanied by the lens of a camera. In Stranger with a Camera, Elizabeth Barret reflects upon the influence of film in her own life, and her home town. Visiting filmmakers caused conflict in the way they depicted rural Kentucky. Many of the residents felt misrepresented and vilified, to the point that it escalated to the murder a documentarian visiting the area. Elizabeth grew up in that region but is now involved in film herself. The film brings up a lot of concerns and questions with representation and reflection.

Man with a Movie Camera

Stranger with a Camera