Title: Documentaries and Contested Historical Memories
Abstract: No medium seems more effective for informing and persuading audiences of specific historical perspectives than documentary film and video. Documentary has become a crucial tool in the articulation of various national consciousnesses: "Utilizing the capacities of sound recording and cinematography to reproduce the physical appearance of things, documentary film contributes to the formation of popular memory. It proposes perspectives on and interpretations of historic issues, processes, and events" (Nichols, ix). Hitler understood the power of documentaries and used the works of Leni Riefenstahl to convince non-Jewish Germans of his agenda. Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 broke several boxoffice records for a documentary film in 2004, an election year, and triggered much critique and debate from all ends of the U.S. political spectrum because so many people realized the impact this film could have on Americans' understanding of what the United States should represent and who should be the nation's leader. In Cuba, Moore's film was broadcast on state-run television, suggesting the role such a film can play on a nation's consciousness when that nation's identity is understood in contrast to that of another powerful country like the United States.KeywordsHistorical MemoryDocumentary FilmFilm FestivalPinochet RegimePopular MemoryThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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