Ranking Documentaries

1. Nature Documentary

2. Autism Reality

3. It's In Your Hands

4. Ken Burns' Civil War

5. My class project documentary

6. Ghost Hunters

7. Borat

8. Surveillance Cameras

9. Parks and Recreation

10. American Idol

11. Jersey Shore

12. Pirates of the Caribbean.

I would group both the documentary I am making as well as the one I viewed last night within the top five group as being all documentaries of some sort based on the set of criteria established in Juel's article. I ranked "It's In Your Hands" above the civil war documentary just because of its relevance to our time and the fact that it was shot with live footage versus a narration/account of a historical period where it is impossible to capture live footage of the actual events being discussed. I suppose by these criteria I could have ranked my own documentary above the civil war one as well, but mine being made by a total amateur, I didn't feel comfortable to personally make that call! Nevertheless, mine will definitely address reality as it is rather than follow a script of fiction.

Let's Define Documentary

I guess I never realized how not quite straightforward the definition for documentary is after considering the debate Juel brought up in his class. The simplistic and overarching definitions seem accurate enough, but really only demonstrate a single aspect of documentaries out of many to consider. The whole issue with using ethics, politics, and aesthetics as the basis for evaluating a film's genre really is that these characteristics cut across genre lines. Any dramatization of a story can include these elements yet it will remain exactly that--a dramatization. Which leads into another issue called propaganda, or an exaggeration of truth in bias towards a specific ethical or political stance. Propaganda is a characteristic Juel clearly explains to not be a goal of a true documentary.

What I personally feel after evaluating many of the criteria described by Juel is that documentaries really have to strike a balance between pure realism on one end and specific aesthetic goals of the producer/director on the other end. Like Juel himself mentioned, surveillance videos are depictions of the real world and real people without acting to a specific script, yet this could hardly be called a documentary. Even a reality T.V. show could not be called a documentary and there is still some purpose behind them, if only entertainment. I feel while documentaries have to be engaging and entertaining enough to keep an audience, their ultimate purpose of highlighting or showcasing reality trumps entertainment. On the other hand, a film like "Pirates of the Caribbean" is a fictional story whose purpose is to entertain even if it draws inspiration from historical fact.

In the end, it's not even style that counts so much as the purpose and premise. There are fictional films for entertainment filmed in documentary style i.e. the YouTube horror series "Marble Hornets," "The Blair Witch Project," and even the 1970's version of "The Last House on the Left." To me, a documentary seems to be a balance between reality and aesthetics, with a specific goal in mind, but also based on very current and relevant premises.

Shakira on Facebook

Facebook uses a pretty standard layout that is common to most profiles and pages. So there isn't anything too unique about singer Shakira's Facebook page. Her profile's layout is definitely very simple, though it does use the new "timeline" layout (it is still pretty generic in terms of overall color scheme and background).

As for contributing, there are thousands of comments for each of her status updates, as would be expected for a celebrity! I'm not sure if I'm particularly keen on contributing because I feel a little turned off by the sheer massiveness of the community.

Also, I guess I'm not heavily into following celebrity lives and updates really all that much. Once in a while I just like to poke around out of curiosity. One benefit of the page is pure amusement as one can see more personal photos of Shakira and thus get a glimpse into her personal life a little more. It's always interesting to see such a huge public personality on a more modest and moderate level like the rest of us. Nevertheless, the posts are still related to the more high-profile activities, such as a meeting with Bill Gates regarding social justice activism.