The internet has made a lot of people armchair experts happy to offer their perspective with a degree of certainty, without doing the work to identify gaps in their knowledge. Often the mark of genuine expertise is knowing the limitations of your knowledge.
This isn’t a social media thing exclusively of course, I’ve met it in the real world too.
When I worked as a repair technician, members of the public would ask me for my diagnosis of faults and then debate them with me.
I’ve dedicated the second half of my life to understanding people and how they work, in this field it’s even worse because everyone has opinions on that topic!
And yet my friend who has a physics PhD doesn’t endure people explaining why his theories about battery tech are incorrect because of an article they read or an anecdote from someone’s past.
So I’m curious, do some fields and experience this more than others?
If you have a field of expertise do you find people love to debate you without taking into account the gulf of awareness, skills and knowledge?
As somebody who spent over a decade working in documentaries, you’d be amazed how many people lecture me online about the “duty“ of a documentary to be “unbiased” despite the fact that I’m sure most of those folks haven’t watched one in years. It’s a very American assertion and it’s complete nonsense.
I’m always surprised by how many people think there is some moral issue with paying your interviewees as well. That’s been standard practice forever. They deserve to be compensated for their time and frankly it’s the only way to guarantee they’ll actually keep the dates you set.
PSA: anytime the music kicks in, you’re being emotionally manipulated.
Yes but manipulation - while accurate - has a very sinister connotation. So I’d like to push back ever so slightly there lol
Would it be more fair to say: when the music kicks in, the story is being told?
Sure. I’m also definitely trying to elicit a certain response so manipulate isn’t wrong lol but it just sounds so evil and nefarious.
That’s fair, and I might have gone more neutral than intended. I was just curious if that fit what was in your head more.
I mean I’m obviously going to be overly charitable to my work so I’m trying to not be insufferable here lol your language is fair
Because manipulation is a very sinister thing. You’re deliberately using music to influence and control how another person feels to get a response that benefits you.
Do you think using music in documentaries is morally wrong? Genuinely asking. It seems we are coming at this from very different angles and I just want to establish a baseline here.
That’s really interesting! In the UK we have an excellent tradition of making both really excellent and really abhorrent documentaries, so clearly they’re not all made equal.
Appreciate hearing an expert opinion on what this means in reality.
The quality has very little to do with it honestly! It’s that if somebody’s making a documentary about something, they clearly care about the subject. In addition, you have to to decide who gets interviewed and who doesn’t. Who gets to tell the story and who doesn’t. Then you have to edit: what stays? What gets cut? How can that ever be objective? You have to choose where the camera is pointed, what lens, what camera. It’s nothing but decisions all the time, all of which reflect your own personal biases and values. And there’s nothing wrong with that! It’s about knowing the limitations of our own perspectives.
I definitely agree. The UK has a wonderful tradition of documentary filmmaking.
This makes me think about people (scientists and non scientists alike) who argue that science is unbiased.
Well now I just want a recommendation on some documentaries to watch. Got any favorites you’d share?
God where to begin lol
Honestly? Can’t go wrong with most of the Oscar contenders from 2010 to 2015 or so. 80% of those films are very good. I would say browse those and grab the first one that looks interesting to you. Some notable ones are The Act of Killing (very intense/trigger warnings but an unbelievable film), Blackfish for its cultural reach at the time (also very sad/trigger warning for animal cruelty), and Five Broken Cameras (very relevant with what is happening in Gaza).
Personal favorites? Man on Wire, Won’t you be my Neighbor?, a great short by Errol morris that is super relevant in our highly conspiratorial climate is The Umbrella Man. The Thin Blue Line (also morris) is kind of wild and genre-defining if a little dated - it’s a piece of documentary history though. Won’t spoil the ending but it’s a once in a lifetime film someone gets to make if ever. Also relevant with current police discussions. Harlan County USA is a great film about a Kentucky coal miners strikes focused on their wives. Another piece of cinema history for sure.
I could go on and on, but the nice thing is there are so many amazing ones! If you’re looking for something a little more bite-size, I would check out anything made by Louis Theroux. His ability to get people to open up despite how challenging he is in his questions is remarkable. I don’t know how he does it. HBO has a great collection of his work.
Sweet, thanks for the recs and response, gonna go add a bunch to my watch list!
Enjoy!
The most interesting documentary I’ve ever seen was about Sherman’s March. I stumbled upon it on some random satellite channel in the 90’s. Not only was it unbiased, I’m not even sure it had an objective. It was like 3 hours long, and the guy just followed the path Sherman took through the South and interviewed random people he met along the way. Half the time they weren’t even talking about Sherman. Idk what made it so interesting. I don’t even know why I’m telling you this since it doesn’t really reinforce or dispute any of your points. Your response just made me think of it for the first time in ten years and I wanted to share.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Edit: I found it!
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0091943/
Here’s an example of some of the dialogue:
It’s actually a very famous work! He went through a divorce and basically didn’t make the movie he said he would when it got funded lol
Haha, that’s kind of awesome. What he did make, ended up being really entertaining.
That whole production is kind of amazing when you get down to it. Basically the opening minute or so with that animation was the only thing he promised to make that he actually did lol