University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 11-1-2010 Scripting the Docufiction: Combining the Narrative and Documentary Modes in a Social Issue Film Joseph V. Brown University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Film Production Commons Recommended Citation Brown, Joseph V., "Scripting the Docufiction: Combining the Narrative and Documentary Modes in a Social Issue Film" (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 92. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/92 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. SCRIPTING THE DOCUFICTION: COMBINING THE NARRATIVE AND DOCUMENARY MODES IN A SOCIAL ISSUE FILM ____________________________ A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Social Sciences University of Denver ____________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts _____________________________ By Joseph V. Brown November 2010 Advisor: Diane Waldman, PhD ! Copyright by Joseph V. Brown 2010 All Rights Reserved Author: Joseph V. Brown Title: SCRIPTING THE DOCUFICTION: COMBINING THE NARRATIVE AND DOCUMENTARY MODES IN A SOCIAL ISSUE FILM Advisor: Diane Waldman, PhD Degree Date: November 2010 ABSTRACT This thesis combines creative and academic efforts in an examination of the “hybrid” film. The question asked: in what ways can fiction be combined with non-fiction to engage with issues of social importance, is answered in analysis, and through practice. Traditional analysis is focused on films that blur the line between the documentary and the narrative— the “hybrid film” or “docufiction.” Analysis through practice is presented in an original feature length script that moves back and forth between the documentary and fiction film. This feature length script— entitled Rigged, develops a fictional story while examining the issue of corruption in the higher education finance and student loan systems. A final report returns to the thesis question and offers an assessment of the script’s strengths and weaknesses. ii I would like to thank my thesis committee, Professor Waldman, Professor Schroeder, and Professor Buxton, for supporting me in this project. I am especially thankful for my committee’s willingness to work with my scheduling requirements. Thank you all. iii Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………ii Thesis Proposal………………………………………………………………………….1 Thesis Script: Rigged…………………………………………………………………..52 Thesis Report………………………………………………………………………….175 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………...225 Appendix: “The Tape”………………………………………………………………..233 iv bell hooks, a prominent cultural critic and university professor, openly admits that students learn more “[...] about race, sex, and class from movies than from all the theoretical literature [...]” (2) she assigns in her classes. She goes on to claim that “movies not only provide a narrative for specific discourse about race, sex, and class, they provide a shared experience, a common starting point from which diverse audiences can dialogue about these charged issues” (2). Significantly, hooks notes that: “whether we like it or not, cinema assumes a pedagogical role in the lives of many people” (2). It is film's pedagogical potential— its ability to stir debate— that I am most interested in. The film genre or mode that I feel has best demonstrated the potential for critical engagement with society is the documentary mode. From the social problem films of the early 20th Century to Michael Moore's recent treatment of contemporary issues, documentary film has sought to educate, influence, and expose. Historically, documentary was thought to have succeeded in these goals; the documentary form was even held up as the cinematic mode most capable of approaching the “real.” Now, the proliferation of the form has led many to think of documentary as a medium tantamount to other types of “spin,” and the postmodern challenge to Truth (especially as presented in a mediated form) has rendered the documentary less authoritative. This “demeaning” of documentary produces questions about the critical potential of social issue 1 documentary1 in the 21st Century. It causes me to ask: Is anyone paying social documentary any sustained attention? Has the 24-hour news-cycle diminished the ability of audiences to engage social documentary? And ultimately: do social documentaries still have critical or pedagogical potential? I can only answer these questions generally, or maybe even only for myself, but the truth is I now wonder about the contemporary social issue documentary film's potential to affect broad audiences. I know many people who refuse to see a Michael Moore film, no matter the topic. I ask myself what this outright refusal means for documentarians of the future. Specifically, I ask myself what this refusal means for a filmmaker such as myself, a filmmaker whose main goal is to make films on issues of economic inequality, classism, and the unethical nature of capitalism in the United States. I admit that this refusal is a rejection of the way I think about the world, as well as a negation of the way I have previously sought to address issues of social importance through documentary. I'm in need of a new approach, and I am lucky that film— in constantly reinventing itself— offers me the opportunity to develop one. 1 The term “social issue documentary” is both straightforward and ambiguous. The term “social” conjures up recollections of the early days of documentary. During this time the term “social” was applied to the films of Pare Lorenz, the British Documentary Movement, and the films of governments. My conception of the “social” documentary is different. When I use the term “social issue” documentary I have a very specific type of film in mind. The “social issue documentary” I am concerned with is akin to films grouped under the heading “activist documentary.” The “social issue” or “activist” documentary I am concerned with also belongs to a particular place in time— a period starting in the late 1980s and running up to the present (referred to as the “3rd wave” of activist filmmaking). The “social issue documentaries” I am interested in are best exhibited by the filmmakers Barbara Kopple and Michael Moore. They are films that argue a point, and do so overtly. Contemporary films that fit into this category include films like Morgan Spurlock’s Supersize Me, and Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man. In The Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film scholar Angela J. Aguayo claims that these more recent social issue documentaries employ strategies that will place them “[…] in major distribution houses for the maximum audience without compromising activist content” (9). This type of social documentary, the type that seeks to influence large groups of people, is that which I am referring to when I use the term “social documentary.” It is, again, the type of documentary that I believe faces many reception related challenges in a postmodern environment. 2 My questioning of the relevance of social documentary film, my recent study of the modes of documentary production, and my consideration of film's potential to defy genre conventions has led me to conceive of the social issue film in a different way. If audiences hesitate to watch documentaries on “heavy” social issues then these issues must be presented in more subtle or palatable ways. If I am unwilling to give up on the educational potential of documentary film, then I must incorporate documentary film into a more congenial format. I now suspect that the full impact of a social issue film can be best developed through the mingling of documentary and fiction, or in the form of a hybrid film. My thesis, then, will explore the following general inquiry: in what ways can fiction be combined with non-fiction to engage with issues of social importance? To answer this question I will explore contemporary developments in fiction / non-fiction hybrid film while also writing a script for a “docufiction” that investigates the problems of student loan debt, rising education costs, and the unholy marriage of student loan companies to university financial aid departments. Multiple Purposes The self-generated theoretical considerations outlined above have motivated me to write a script that explores a social issue through the combination of documentary and narrative film forms. My objectives in writing this script are multiple. They involve 1.) learning how to write a script; 2.) examining a social issue that I believe is important to 3 society; and 3.) broadening the way I think about documentary by exploring the line between fiction and non-fiction film. My first objective stems from my inexperience in writing scripts. This inexperience guarantees that I will “learn by doing.” I expect that I will write, re-write, and write again. Designating my thesis project as a script will afford me the opportunity to focus on this task in a concentrated way, “workshop” my script with my thesis committee, and become accustomed to thinking about stories in a formalistic way (encompassing three acts, featuring dynamic and developing characters, including multiple conflicts, turning points, etc). A significant objective in writing this script is simply to learn the process; larger goals include teaching myself to think “narratively” and providing myself with the opportunity to assess fictional film's potential for social critique. A less significant goal is to produce a script that I can shoot in an independent fashion. My second major objective in writing this script is to explore and address a social issue that is significant to both myself personally and society as a whole. This issue— the rising cost of higher education and the mounting student debt that matches this rise— presents huge problems for the millions of students who are about to graduate and take leadership roles in our society.