In recent years, documentaries detailing the most disturbing and crucial problems facing our world have been released for public viewing. Thanks to these documentaries, people are more aware of issues including but not limited to factory farming, the plight of captive whales and honeybee colony collapse disorder — issues that could have easily remained under the radar in our society. Why the sudden rise in documentary filmmaking? One reason is that documentaries offer a captivating blend of education and entertainment, or “edutainment.”
A Risky Venture for Filmmakers
Documentaries are a risky proposition for filmmakers. More often than not, there’s no big-name studio funding or rich investors that bear the financial burden. Instead, indie filmmakers must often rely on donations, grants, and loans — along with money out of their own pockets. Not only can documentaries be expensive to produce, the process itself can be laborious and time-consuming for all involved. So why do filmmakers continue to make these expose-style films? Often, it’s to bring awareness to an issue they feel strongly about, or an issue that hasn’t received enough exposure in mainstream media. These filmmakers are pioneers, taking risks at their own peril for the greater good.
How Documentaries Become Entertainment
What makes a documentary entertainment? In many cases, these films could be dry and boring due to their subject matter. However, innovative filmmakers understand the public’s short attention span and responsiveness to shock value — which is why many of these films pack heavy-hitting controversy into a short time span. Some films are as short as 30 minutes while others span several hours. The most successful documentaries seem to be those that include lots of real-life footage combined with concise information and expert backing. For example, the factory farming expose Food, Inc. gained acclaim and attention for its hard-to-watch footage of abused animals and its inclusion of expert interviews. Viewers don’t simply want to be told, they want to be shown and visually stimulated — a talent the most successful filmmakers possess.
The History of the Documentary Genre
Documentaries date back to the days of Thomas Edison when his assistant was filmed pretending to sneeze. One of the earliest exposes to gain attention was 1922’s Nanook of the North, a film depicting the hardships of Inuit life. But things weren’t always as “real” as they appeared. In 1938, a documentary called Inside Nazi Germany took viewers to German-American neighborhoods in Hoboken, attempting to pass them off as Nazi-occupied German locations. Controversy has always been a part of the documentary genre, such as in the 40’s film Let There Be Light, a look at three months in a veterans hospital. The U.S. Army never allowed the film to be released, and never gave any compelling reasons why. Speculation is that the footage was simply too disturbing — a documentary filmmaking trend that’s commonplace today. The more shocking, the better. Today’s filmmakers strive to educate the public with images that won’t soon be forgotten.
The Future of Documentaries
In recent years, films like Gasland which examines the North American natural gas industry, Under the Dome which turns a critical eye towards China, and the Sea World exposé Blackfish have served as an effective way to inform the public about distressing issues facing our planet and the people and animals who call it home. Environmental awareness organization Care2 reported extensively on how SeaWorld stocks plummeted in the wake of Blackfish’s success, while EasyMax reported that public opinion on fracking has soured measurably thanks to the awareness Gasland brought the issue. From factory farming, nuclear radiation, the sea-park industry, human trafficking, gang warfare and so many others, documentaries have a clear impact.
The trend of producing concise yet unforgettable edutainment films shows no sign of slowing, with documentary filmmakers staying abreast of the most pressing problems in our society. For instance, with changing legislation regarding cannabis laws across the United States, even marijuana is an increasingly popular topic for today’s documentary filmmakers to focus upon – and that focus may lead to even more lax regulation of the drug as awareness of its relatively benign and often helpful nature spreads.
While the future of these films remains to be seen, one thing is certain. Documentaries play on both our logic and emotions, which is exactly what they’ve been created to do.
About the Author
