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.