Friday, March 30

Freedom From Religion

Reprinted is a letter I sent to Andrew Sullivan about this:

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/03/the-documentarians-dilemma.html


Documentary or reality show? Reality shows are nothing more than heavily scripted and hardly cinema verite. Is Mike Daisey's monologue about Apple journalism or art?  Since he was still revealing some ugly truths, does it matter that he embellished facts to make a point? What is the viewer to believe?

Have we become so jaded that real truth isn't clever, exciting or dramatic enough that we have to juice it up with lies? Hasn't journalism always engaged in some measure of manipulation to make a point? Think of the "staged" photos dating back to the civil war where bodies were moved around to make for a more dramatic and gruesome picture. Haven't biographers taken artistic license to create a more vivid subject? 

 The further blurring of lines between these genres is distressing. It leads the viewer to question whether how much of what we are being presented as the truth, is true at all. 

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