Film Studies 237 - THE DOCUMENTARY IMPULSE

The drive to represent reality has animated media makers throughout history. In the service of this urgent, impossible ambition, documentarians have used myriad forms of media and produced some of each form’s most complex works. This course examines how they have done so, concentrating on different approaches to documentary (observational, ethnographic, essayistic, autobiographical), and considering work in photography, film, television, radio/podcasts, websites and virtual reality. Throughout the semester, we interrogate the boundaries of the documentary mode; the unique ethical considerations of doing documentary work; and the social, cultural and technological factors that shape documentary’s history and current practice.