Critical Questions for Viewing Documentaries

In every film class I teach, I show at least one documentary. Titles I have shown include Roger & Me, The Thin Blue Line, and Hearts and Minds. Each semester I ask students what they think or know in general about documentaries. There are two running themes to the responses. One is that documentaries are…

The Fate of Documentary

A now-deleted article in the New York Press raises some gloomy questions about “the fate of documentary” and “the precarious position of documentarians.” The article provides some interesting perspectives on documentary, but I wonder if they are too narrow in their viewpoints. In many ways it is skewed toward reinforcing the dominance of mainstream fiction-based…