How narrative and documentary films shape political representation through storytelling

Story Telling and Representing Reality

In what ways do the demands of "good story" telling affect the way political issues and events are represented in film (both narrative and documentary)?

The most obvious answer to the above question has to do with the fact that an issue must be portrayed in a manner that is compelling to the viewer. Both narrative and documentary films, in order to be viewed and understood must have a compelling social interest to the viewer, be it emotional, political or both, which it usually is. There must be a story line, often a villain or an implied villain and a message, often placing the political into a position of affecting emotion, be it anger, disgust, empathy, sympathy or even hatred for an implicit or explicit villain, who is in some manner oppressing an underdog. The manner in which the viewer is compelled to build an opinion about the antagonism of a story is through good story telling. To make a film or write a story that has merit and is read or viewed you must have all the same elements of intrigue, plot, conflict, compelling character (s), compelling setting and compelling ideology as to make a reader of viewer a believer in any concept you must draw them in to the story.

Plot and Conflict

To this end there must be an antagonist and a protagonist, regardless of the nature of the film. The viewer must leave the viewing with a sense of inquiry, to either do something or at the very least form an opinion that builds on the ideology or message of the film. In documentary films like Poverty Outlaw (2008), the message is the system, i.e. government is the villain and the poor the underdog, in the Eyes on the Prize, civil rights episode, Mississippi: Is this America (1986) the enemy is again the dominant social system that penalized civil rights proponents and showed the massive social and economic disparities in Mississippi during the civil rights movement. While the "based on a true story" narrative film Mississippi Burning (1988) had a similar message played up by the artistic license of filmmaking. The Road to Guantanamo (2006) offers the viewer a combination of documentary and narrative (docudrama) (Giglio, 2005, p. 57) while it travels through the lives of three wrongly arrested and imprisoned British Muslims who were held in the Guantanamo Bay political prison for two years without ever being charged, the antagonist of the film, being the special system that allowed detention that violates many individual rights and the implied contradiction of this action on the part of the U.S. The film Dave (1993), on the other hand is a purely fictional account of political scandal and conspiracy, where and individual crooked politician is the antagonist and Dave (the everyman) is the protagonist, in much the same way as the everyman, Mr. Smith is developed in the 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. People in the U.S. tend to believe in the corrupting effects of power and that many people holding power harbor designs on getting more of it, even to the degree that they will bend, break and remake the law to do so, which is interestingly enough the plot summary of The Candidate (1972) where an every man is corrupted by power and again the "system" is assailed as antagonistic to the dream of individualism, as a political ideology as defined by Kingdon in America the Unusual. (1999, pp. 28-29) Finally in Bulworth (1998) a political comedy the already corrupted senator, living on borrowed time remakes himself by telling the truth and going back to his protagonist roots. Each of these films has a similar message, "if your not mad, your not paying attention." This is a message that pervades the "diversity" of opinion that makes up America, yet is really a timeline of the expression of the ideal of the infallible ability of power to corrupt.

Character and Relate-ability

Though all of these films may have a moral that is similar, this ideology is significant in its ability to sway the common viewer of the "right" and the "wrong" of any given political emotion. The individual must be able to relate to the players, or at the very least be able to believe that they exist, especially in the case of the corrupt politician or political system, through observable messages in the film, again no matter if the film is a true documentary, a narrative message that interjects politics as a main theme or a hybrids in the form of a docudrama. This is not unlike any other film, where narrative fiction represents a message associated with sympathy, empathy and emotion of an individual that the viewer can relate to. If the viewer has no interest in the characters or cannot relate to their ideas, monologues, dialogues or non-verbal cues he or she may simply turn off the film and choose to watch something else that moves her or him. Even when the characters of the film are as foreign as they come, such as in The Road to Guantanmo (2006) the skill of the story teller first must begin with his or her ability to make the character/individual relatable. Yes, we have opinions, don't you? Yes, we have families, don't you? Yes, we have community, don't you? And more than that are your opinions not based on evidence from your environment and your community and are they not common among the members of your community? Yet, look where it got us, we are prisoners with no charge, no sentence and no release date, and if your country could do this to us it could do it to you.

Compelling Setting

The setting of any persuasive political film, document or narrative must be believable. For a setting to be believable in the truest sense it must actually exist in some form in the psyche of the viewer or reader. Each of the films mentioned in this work offer the viewer a believable and compelling setting, often places where "mere mortals" rarely tread, the halls of justice, the halls of congress (Rosenstiel, 1997, p. 89) the oval office and even the deep south of oppression, or the confines of a political prison. Many of these spaces are settings in history that few people really get to see and even fewer get to watch people interact within. This in and of itself compels the viewer to watch the bit of good story telling that makes a good political docudrama, documentary or narrative. (Giglio, 2005, pp. 119-120) Due to the fact that these places are mysterious we seek to be a fly on the wall within them, to better understand the decisions and politics that pervade them, true or fictional, but usually believable and compelling. (King, 1988, p. 7)

Conclusion

Both narrative and documentary films, in order to be viewed and understood must have a compelling social interest to the viewer, be it emotional, political or both, which it usually is. There must be a story line, often a villain or an implied villain and a message, often placing the political into a position of affecting emotion, be it anger, disgust, empathy, sympathy or even hatred for an implicit or explicit villain, who is in some manner is usually oppressing an underdog. The manner in which the viewer is compelled to build an opinion about the antagonism of a story is through good story telling. To make a film or write a story that has merit and is read or viewed you must have all the same elements of intrigue, plot, conflict, compelling character (s), compelling setting and compelling ideology as to make a reader of viewer a believer in any concept you must draw them in to the story.

Resources

Gianos, P.L. (1999) Politics and Politicians in American Film. New York: Preager Publishing

Giglio, E. (2005) Here's Looking at You: Hollywood, Film & Politics. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

King, C.S. (Dec. 13, 1988) Hollywood's Latest Perversion: The Civil Rights Movement as a White Experience. Los Angeles Times.

Kingdon, J.W. America the Unusual. New York: Worth Publishers.

Rosenstiel, T. (1998) Chapter 13 Hollywood Goes to Congress, in Dennis E.E. Snyder, R.W. eds. Covering Congress. New York: Transaction Publishers.

Wheeler, M. (2008) Hollywood: Politics and Society. London UK: British Film Institute.