Documentaries. Documentaries are omnipresent in the media and some examples are firmly anchored in the public consciousness. But they are not without their problems and controversy.
In a time that is so heavily influenced by the media as ours, social and political problems are always being dealt with on the screens of cinemas, televisions, computers and smartphones – whether this is in the form of fictional films and series, live broadcasts of debates, talk shows, Commercials or documentaries happen. The latter form an interesting intermediate form of non-fiction and entertainment, as they at least claim to present facts, but still use certain narrative forms to convey these supposed facts in a rousing and engaging way. It could even be argued that the latter aspects are more important to a successful documentary than the underlying facts. Particularly in the case of films and series that deal with complex problems, the question arises as to what effect they can have in raising awareness and in education. Academic work has also looked into whether and how this type of entertainment can drive social change.
The 2006 documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” by and with former US Vice President Al Gore is often cited as one of the important early events in the modern climate debate. He coined the word “climate crisis” in public discourse and created awareness of the extent of global warming. Investigations around 2010 did not come to a uniform result, however, as to whether this also resulted in active changes in individual behavior. In addition to allegations of scaremongering and comparisons with Mein Kampf – especially by conservative political actors – it was also criticized that the effects on indigenous peoples living in the Arctic are not dealt with.
According to surveys, documentaries and series that do not deal directly with problems such as global warming, but primarily depict the life of different animal species, without suppressing the already visible consequences of the changes in the climate, have an influence on the public’s awareness of these Crisis. Fahrenheit 9/11 and Food, Inc. are further examples that the niche genre has long since become a successful branch of the film industry, and Seaspiracy and Tiger King prove that this success has continued into the age of streaming services. The latter series also shows how the presentation in such media can have negative effects; Accusations of sexual abuse against the main character were deliberately left out in order to be able to portray him as eccentric but still sympathetic – at least that’s what some allegations against the production team represent. The series also resulted in stalking and death threats against the one also shown in the series Animal rights activist Carole Baskin. All in all, example enough of what can happen when the entertainment factor outweighs the factual content and neutrality of the concept. Documentaries are an important tool in disseminating information by their reach alone, but they are by no means immune to adulteration and oversubscription, whether for entertainment purposes or as part of an active disinformation campaign.
:Jan-Krischan Spohr
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