Many, many weeks earlier in the semester, we had discussed alternate forms of editing. In this discussion, we briefly learned about French film critic Andre Bazin, and his idea of “The Myth of Total Cinema”.
In this idea, Bazin believed cinema strives for an objective and authentic capturing of reality. In other words, the goal of cinema is to portray reality as is, in a 1:1 representation. According to the film critic, reality would be captured through mainly long takes and deep focus. Though this idea itself is labeled as a myth, one of the reasons we haven’t obtained this goal yet (said by Bazin) is lack of technology to do so. As we make further advencements in tech, humanity will get closer and closer to total realism in cinema.
After learning about documentaries a couple months later, I began to wonder: What does Bazin think of documentaries? This genre of film is meant to provide an objective view of reality, depicting actual events to educate the audience. In theory, would Bazin then prefer every film made to be a documentary?
Though documentaries do embody Bazin’s idea of Total Cinema by showing real people/places/events and placing the audience in the place of an observer or fly on the wall, there’s still a caveat.
As discussed in class, someone still needs to make the documentary. Each documentary requires choices, such as framing, editing, or point-of-view. No film in this genre can be truly objective, as Bazin intends. Some documentaries can also be completely false. For example, Nanook of the North, a documentary we watched in class, showed an Inuit man’s life in the Arctic. In reality, the entire film is staged. There is no Nanook, just a character played by a Inuit man. The costuming is staged as well, along with multiple scenes throughout the “documentary”. Though documentaries seem like the genre that aligns best with Bazin’s ideas, personal choices and views are still projected onto these films and affect them whether we know it or not. Including or not including just one cut could change the entire lesson we take away from the film.
Though documentaries demonstrate our power to capture the world as it is, it does not meet the goal of Bazin’s Myth of Total Cinema. Documentaries are still riddled with choices that shape it’s message and meaning. What matters more is the filmmaker’s respect for reality and their attempt to keep their film as close to reality as possible.
If you’re interested in this topic like me, here is some further reading from Bazin I found: https://www.mccc.edu/pdf/cmn107/the%20evolution%20of%20the%20language%20of%20cinema.pdf
Please let me know if you agree or disagree!
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