Yesterday, I talked about movies – and there were a ton of
examples of them last season – American
Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, 12 Years A Slave, etc. – that were energetically promoted on the basis of
their being “Based on Actual Events.”
These movies – which I shall call “partials” – because they are, at
best, partially accurate – make no effort to distinguish the “actual” portions
from the fabrications, producing the unimpeded impression that what the audience
is watching is reliably close to “Documentary Reality.”
(Before moving forward, I must, to round out the picture,
reference some commercial enterprises that promote themselves somewhat
differently. The Law & Orders and SVU’s
I watch, while claiming to be “torn from the headlines”, simultaneously insist
that they are “entirely fictional.” I am
not exactly sure how that works. But I
imagine the “torn from the headlines” part emanates from the “Marketing
Department”, and the “entirely fictional” part comes from the series’ real-life
attorneys.)
My message yesterday involved my discomfort with this hybrid
form of entertainment that seeks to exploit the film’s ”Special Status” (because
it is based on “Actual Events”) on the one hand, while shielding its factual
deviations behind the banner of “Artistic License” on the other.
A position to which my considered response is:
Bushwa. (Or “Gimme a
break!” Pick one.)
We now move on to real
“Documentary Reality”, which I suggest, at the risk of tipping my ideological
hand here, may itself be an egregious oxymoron.
Overall, audiences seem more attracted to the “fake-real” to
the “entirely made up.” Why? Because what they are watching, more or less,
actually happened to regular people just like themselves. Fiction, as skillfully as it can be executed,
is still, in the end, the dramatized story of non-existent people.
Traditionally, non-fiction books sell better than
fiction. For what reason? Think about it. “The Titanic” as fiction – sad. “The Titanic” as a “historical event” –
devastating.
That water was cold! And actual people turned blue and died in it! Their nearest of kin had to be contacted and
informed that their loved ones had perished at sea. In well-crafted fiction, this is
upsetting. But there is nobody to
contact. Except fictional relatives.
The original “chronicling documentaries” – stories of
uncovered atrocities – were books, some of the shocking information embedded in
novelistic fiction, some served up via non-fictional J’Accuses (as well as in newspaper serializations.)
One of the most famous of the novel/“eye openers” was The Jungle (1906) by Upton Sinclair,
which, in the course of its fictional storytelling, blew the lid off the cruel
and unsanitary conditions in the Chicago stockyards.
I have no problem with this manner of expose. Why?
Because there is no legitimate “opposing perspective.” Though I have never read The Jungle, I cannot imagine, after finishing it, an insistent
desire for a “balancing the books” counter-argument, perhaps entitled,
“The Cows Love It!”
Or even the somewhat less confrontational,
“You Eat The Stuff,
Don’cha? So What Are We Talking About?”
They are mutilating the cattle and distributing food products
that could kill us. There is no
“Opposing Viewpoint” to such criminality.
(Except, perhaps, “Be A Vegetarian.”
Although who knows what they are doing to the carrots!)
For debatable
issues, however, an alternate perspective is not only illuminating, it’s
essential. I once read a biography of
Ulysses S. Grant that barely touched upon the general’s much-publicized drinking
problem. This disconcerting downplaying
set me to wondering: Was the issue
barely mentioned because Grant, in reality, wasn’t a drunk? Or was it because the Grant-championing biographer
was deliberately obscuring the fact that he was?
For clarification on this issue, we are fortunate to have
more than one biography about Grant. We
can pore over other biographies – of
which there are plenty – compare the information therein (specifically,
relative to his drinking) and, after steeping ourselves sufficiently on the
subject, we can arrive at our own educated conclusion.
So far, I have read only one Grant biography (the earlier-referred-to
alcoholism-downplaying version), and finished about a third of Grant’s
self-written memoir. Not surprisingly,
Grant himself makes no mention of his drinking problem whatsoever.
We now arrive at the cinematic descendant of the muckraking
novel or non-fiction expose – the cinematic documentary.
And here the head-scratching begins. (Note:
After ruling out dandruff, you can proceed, knowing that you are
genuinely perplexed.)
Wait, hold on, here.
Sensitive to “portion control”, I am ever wary of
over-filling your plates, turning a gourmet delight for the intellect into an overstuffing
disaster, requiring Pepto Bismol and
– worst case scenario – a Vomitorium.
I also detect some deliberate foot-dragging on my part, due
to the fact that I am about to provide a perspective I am concerned will meet, less with agreement and approbation than
with criticism and rebuke, triggering a barrage of (which in the case of this
blog generally means one) hostile and possibly personally hurtful responses.
Despite what it says about me courage-wise, I feel no
reservations about pushing that possibility off for another day.
Tomorrow (finally):
My nagging concerns about feature film documentaries.
3 comments:
You nicely explain why I have a policy of avoiding Hollywood "biographical" movies about real people and events.
There are a couple more possibilities for your Ulysses S. Grant biographer: 1) he was so incompetent he never found out that Grant *had* a drinking problem; 2) he thought Grant's drinking was entirely irrelevant to his life and work (in which case, I suspect the biographer of having a drinking problem and being in denial about it).
wg
Gotta ask: is the headline "Factiods" spelling intentional as a commentary on the movies?
I thought the announcement of "Factiods" indicated a tie in with Dr. Who...can't wait for tomorrow!
How is possible to write a book about Grant w/out covering his drinking? Covering up his drinking just ain't the same. That's like writing a biography about Grant and not asking who's buried in Grant's tomb.
Just watched the new doc. called The Armstrong Lie so I'll be interested in tomorrow's post.
Post a Comment