Champ

This question has been floating in our class for quite sometime now. I tried exploring definitions for this genre, and there are loads of them:

“Presenting facts objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter, as in a book or film.”

“A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration,” defines dictionary.com.

There are a few more on the web, but most of them more or less rephrase “realistic presentation of event, people situation etc.”

These words raise a simple question—what is realistic presentation. Can’t drama be a real presentation of actual events? Why can’t Gandhi be called a documentary? It is a realistic presentation of actual events and the film keeps oscillating between plain narrations and depicting actual event.

To understand realism we can go back to the 19th century definition of realism “A nineteenth-century European literary movement that sought to portray familiar characters, situations, and settings in a realistic manner. This was done primarily by using an objective narrative point of view and through the build-up of accurate detail. The standard for success of any realistic work depends on how faithfully it transfers common experience into fictional forms. The realistic method may be altered or extended, as in stream of consciousness writing, to record highly subjective experience. Seminal authors in the tradition of Realism include Honore de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, and Henry James. (reference)

Riding on this definition, every narration which goes nearest to reality will adhere to realism. And if a narration can come into the preview of realism, and if it based on real character and events it can easily fit the regular documentary definition.

I think we need realy need to broaden the definition of documentary. Moreover, when lines are blurring between TV/radio/film, there are little chances that documentary will retain its clear distinction or I’m just trying to be devil’s advocate .

References:
Various websites, periodicals and newspapers