Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Communications -
Movies and Television, printed single-sided, grade: 2,0, University
of Copenhagen (Film- und Medienwissenschaft), course: Between
Documentary and Fiction, language: English, abstract: In this essay
I want to focus on the integration of "factual discourse"
in its different forms in a movie and the effects they are creating
for the viewer. First of all it is interesting to look, where we
can situate the biographical movie within fiction and historical
truthfulness. I want to show that re-enactment of originals and the
application of fictional facts is animating the viewer to reflect
differently on the represented images. Here it is interesting to
observe the story-line of Jack Rollins, including the effects of
aesthetics and documentary consciousness. The movie is playing to a
huge account with aesthetics, but also with the cultural knowledge
of people "knowing" something about Bob Dylan and the
previous documentaries "Don't look back" (cinema
verite) and "No direction home". It is interesting to
observe how the viewer can actually differentiate between factual
and fictional discourse and to which degree he might believe, what
is presented to him. The question can also be framed into the whole
aim of the movie, which might explain the choice of certain media
techniques. In which ways is factual discourse integrated in the
movie "I'm not there"? Which documentary techniques
underline the purpose for authenticity? How does the movie play
with the concept of "documentary consciousness"? What
does the re-enactment of factual discourse and material together
with fictional elements achieve compared to a classical
documentary?
