What is a documentary?

[MIke]

I'd be interested to know how other people define documentary film.

Personally I have a fairly narrow view of what a documentary is and is not (I've even been accused of being an elitist on this subject). I don't accept John Grierson's widely accepted definition that a documentary is "creative treatment of actuality", in so far as actuality can be faked in order to create what people will believe is real. Perhaps a good example of this would be "Nanook of the North". Is "Nanook of the North" a documentary? I might argue that it's a drama disguised as a documentary. Is "Fahrenheit 911" a documentary or propaganda? The same question could be asked of "Triumph of the Will" and the "Why We Fight" series (which by the way is great public domain material which I have taken advantage of many times, my thanks to Frank Capra for saving me on a few projects). Of course that would lead to the question, are propaganda films documentaries? And you could go on and on. So the question is what is a documentary?

[Nadia]

I guess my scope is pretty narrow as well because I believe a documentary is, for the most part, non-fictional material. I believe it is the presentation of actual people, places and events. However (as much as this may contradict), I think that some propaganda films can be classified as documentaries based on the fact that they capture the attitudes and opinions of a particular group(s) of the day. They may be presenting a half truth (or no truth at all) but they still reflect issues of the day (be it a war or some government conspiracy); that is where the reality comes into play. Make some amount of sense? Maybe the meaning of a documentary has evolved over the years but I think generally speaking it is non-fictional. I've never actually thought about this. Interesting.

[MIke]

I make what I would consider both propaganda and documentary films, I think there's a real difference in the two of them, even if the audience might not notice that difference. When making propaganda I am very aware that I am at times showing some things in a more positive light than they are in reality, or I'm completely leaving out parts of the story which may reflect badly on the side of the story that I'm hopefully being paid to tell. On the other hand, when I'm making a documentary I feel a very deep sense of responsibility to tell the story as accurately and with as much truth as it is possible for me to squeeze out of that little camera. I don't think it's possible to truly capture reality, mostly because I'm there with a camera in someones face, which obviously distorts reality, but I'm trying my hardest to be as truthful as possible. Of course with propaganda truth is set aside, except of course you want people who are uninformed to take the propaganda as reality.

To move to a different idea, I don't really consider "Super Size Me" a documentary. The whole "story" was contrived, and although I may agree with the points that Morgan Spurlock makes in the film, I see that film as something much more closely associated with reality television, people are put into contrived situations. I basically view that as an unscripted drama.