Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Grizzly SCAM LOL
I've always considered documentaries to be true. Watching historical documentaries throughout middle and high school, I assumed that they were completely factual with solid evidence to back up the claims. However, after seeing the first half of Grizzly Man, I'm beginning to second guess myself, as the "truths" within this documentary are ones that Timmy created himself. Even though Timmy was probably not intentionally trying to fool us, he did so through fooling himself. I think that because of his past issues, like failing to be an actor and overcoming alcoholism, he had to convince himself that he was on top, and that he was finally understood. He did this through understanding bears, and telling himself that they understand him too. It's almost like this was his way of finally coming up on top, and proving to anyone that ever doubted him that he would succeed. And I mean, he did, he has a documentary about him. But the factual evidence, aka the connection with the bears, is something that only Timmy can say is there.
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Until class today the thought that a documentary could be lying had never crossed my mind. It's one of those things that you always believe no matter what, like wikipedia or your mom. Giving things different titles allows us to differentiate them from one another. But when the author or director lies, it leaves the reader confused and constantly questioning. If Treadwell had finished and produced his documentary, then I would have believe that he was truly protecting the bears. I would have never questioned it. Even though I've been told a million times in this class to constantly question things, I can never seem to remember. I always just believe what I'm told and never second guess it. But after watching the second half of the video I realize that I would be crazy to believe anything Treadwell says.
ReplyDeleteI too find this documentary hard to comprehend because on the one hand, I want to take all of its contents as given fact (like you said) but on the other hand, Timothy is obviously somewhat crazy. What made it more confusing is that, while Herzog's narration seemed to remain factual throughout most of the documentary, grounding it to some extent, at the end even he became very opinionated in stating his feelings about Timothy. This entire documentary is incredibly biased and in no way factual.
ReplyDeleteI like your post and your title especially. To add, I think a documentary can simultaneously lie and tell the truth. Herzog presents videos that are real and truthful in that they are actually of Timothy interacting with grizzlies, but he manipulates us in the way he presents them. He took 100 hours of video and cut it down to a two hour movie. I'm sure he could have told a completely different story by selecting different parts of the 100 hour footage.
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