In Reply to: For the 'Heavies' on this board: how can you take documentaries seriously? posted by Guy on December 2, 2005 at 03:08:48:
and these are, of course, biased by the interpretation of the historian. Modern historians don't presume that their rendition of an event, time or place is the "truth" no more than the "absolute sound" is perfect sound reproduction. Documentaries present a view of the world that the film producer wishes to convey -- and they are inevitably guided but such a vision. Does this make them false and misleading? Perhaps. But no more so than audio engineers recording music in a fashion they find desirable (e.g., the RVG effect).To me, the assumption that documentaries (even the "good" ones) reflect some objective reality is a bit like people assuming that double blind testing is more scientifically "valid" than alternative analysis methods (e.g., single blind, subjectivist introspection).
Now maybe I just don't know the history of this poster in relation to the rest of the troupe here but to the occasional viewer I thought that his question was legitimate if not a bit obviously provoking reaction.
Now my follow-up question is -- why shouldn't a documentary attempt to lead a viewer to a desired conclusion?
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Follow Ups
- for goodness sakes -- documentaries are no different than historical pieces - chris e. 01:47:14 12/03/05 (3)
- Re: for goodness sakes -- documentaries are *less* valid... - Guy 21:03:14 12/03/05 (2)
- I tend to agree with you -- I'd go with the book (nt) - chris e. 07:07:41 12/05/05 (1)
- Re: Too bad the suckers for this visual medium don't see the same .... - Guy 03:41:42 12/06/05 (0)