Stranger With a Camera

Barret's "Stranger With a Camera" reflects on the story of the inhabitants of a poverty-stricken rural town and their reaction to the media's ardent desire to expose that poverty. After near constant contact with filmmakers and other media members, many townspeople felt ridiculed or looked down upon, while others believed that the documentaries gave an inaccurate representation of their home.

This inaccurate - or at least partial - representation  of Appalachia was due to filmmakers' explicit expectations about what they would find and what they wanted to include in their documentaries.  Having seen other films or images about the area, the filmmakers had a mental image of Appalachia before ever setting foot in Kentucky.  This expectation is reflected in their selection of interview questions - "What do you have for breakfast?" "How will you make ends meet this year?" - which are framed to expose the interviewee's poverty. Thus, the filmmakers limited the scope of Appalachia that could be shown in their respective projects.

On the other hand, if the filmmakers had let go of their expectations and entered Appalachia as if they were learning about it for the first time, they may have been able to construct a documentary more satisfactory to the local population. In letting go of their expectations, they could have asked a greater variety of questions - "How do you perceive your quality of life" "Do you like your job?" "What would you like that you do not have?" - rather than those framed to confirm the filmmaker's preconceived notions.

Thus, while it is not the main task of the filmmaker to please his or her subjects, the filmmaker does have a responsibility to approach a new subject with an open frame of mind (even after having completed research and mapped out the project), for it is the filmmaker's - or, at least, documentary maker's - main goal to show a situation objectively, illuminating all facets his or her subject, rather than simply focusing on a single slant.

- Katie

PS. Another interesting about filmmaker's "expectations": This summer, I watched a documentary called "American Teen," which followed around a select number of high school students over the course of their senior year. I was surprised to find that the documentary fell in line with the stereotypical high school experience: jocks, nerds, social tension, prom, etc. Having attended a not-so-stereotypical high school, I wondered if the director had chosen to follow these particular seniors on purpose (in line with her expectations of the traditional high school experience), or if these kids were actually a random sample. When I looked up the film online later, I found that there had been arguments over how much of the documentary had been set up (although these arguments mainly brought up the authenticity of various reaction scenes). Even now, I still haven't decided how reliable this documentary was, and how much of it was merely confirming the aspects of high school life that the director wanted to show. If anyone else has seen this documentary, I would love to hear your thoughts!

Here is a link to an article about the documentary/various criticisms of it.