Documentaries and Debate
I apologize for the slightly off-topic post, but I think this is the space to do this, so...I'm following the long line of distinguished "I Just Saw" bloggers in teaching the Debate course at Pitt this spring. I thought I would turn to you all for some recommendations.
Here's the conceit of the class: Documentaries make great starting points for debate. 4 people pick a documentary that appeals to them, show 10-15 minutes of it to a public audience, and then have a public debate about some issue that the documentary raises. Imagine a debate about Wal-Mart's effect on the working class after viewing Robert Greenwald's new Wal-Mart movie. Or about foreign aid after watching Born into Brothels. Or about Google's impending world domination after watching the Flash film Epic 2015. Or about the dying coral reefs after watching Coral Reef Adventure.
Ok, maybe not the last one, though it is a fine film. But you get the idea.
I'm interested in a) what documentaries really rock your socks (or tacos, in Max's case) and b) if there are any thrilling critical reviews, essays, books, etc. that you think would be good resources. I'm not really thinking about having them read "documentary theory" but it wouldn't hurt if I knew a thing or two about it. Any other thoughts in general?
Have at it.
Here's the conceit of the class: Documentaries make great starting points for debate. 4 people pick a documentary that appeals to them, show 10-15 minutes of it to a public audience, and then have a public debate about some issue that the documentary raises. Imagine a debate about Wal-Mart's effect on the working class after viewing Robert Greenwald's new Wal-Mart movie. Or about foreign aid after watching Born into Brothels. Or about Google's impending world domination after watching the Flash film Epic 2015. Or about the dying coral reefs after watching Coral Reef Adventure.
Ok, maybe not the last one, though it is a fine film. But you get the idea.
I'm interested in a) what documentaries really rock your socks (or tacos, in Max's case) and b) if there are any thrilling critical reviews, essays, books, etc. that you think would be good resources. I'm not really thinking about having them read "documentary theory" but it wouldn't hurt if I knew a thing or two about it. Any other thoughts in general?
Have at it.
posted by Damien at 12/21/2005 01:01:00 PM 
4 Comments:
I don't know I kind of feel like any documentary discussion needs to start with a few films, definitely including The Thin Blue Line, a masterpiece about police corruption and the "Blue Wall of silence", The War Room, which i admit is overused but just provides a really interesting snapshot of a campaign
another fascinating one i recently was called "Taking on the Kennedys" about a low level fellow who decides to take on young patrick kennedy in a rhode island congress race- just fucking fascinating- Patrick is a total incompentent and openly admits to campaigning just on his family's name recognition and does a whole bunch of ludicrous shit
also just as a public service, the following bands are really rocking tacos: Built To Spill, The Arcade Fire, and The Weakerthans
oh and "Capturing the Friedmans" about a family torn apart by accusations of a father's interest in child pornography is totally fascinating as well- very recent however
D,
Great question, thread. The one thing you might want to consider when selecting documentaries is choosing ones that can articulate the argument within a 10-15 clip. So many documentaries really take time to develop.
With that said, this year at CNU, there is a documentary series where the director talks about the film after a screening. We have already seen Born into Brothels. Next semester is the Enron film (I think this would make a great survey for a business ethics debate). I forget the name of it, but there is a wonderful documenray on prayer in school, very balanced (I'll dig up the name and send it to you). Hearts and Minds is pretty old, but with the war in Iraq, you can find some relevance for it.
I'll think of some more and get back to you.
Great idea to approach the debate class.
Maxwell: First of all, it is liberal claptrap. Second, I notice you left out "Palestine" from your list, which always seems to figure prominently in all the _other_ descriptions of the documentary I've read. ;-)
Damien: there are several very good documentaries on media and campus left-wing bias. While I don't think you'd be interested in most of those, one that I do recomend is "Pallywood". It's by progressive pro-Israel BU professor Richard Landes, and covers the creation of war-time spectacles in the context of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It's about 15 minutes, and can be downloaded from http://www.seconddraft.org/movies.php
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