Against Animated Documentary?

Annabelle Honess Roe Abstract University of Surrey Animated documentaries have been written about in a mostly positive way that explores the way the form enhances and expands the documentary agenda. This is true of scholarly and academic writing as well as that in the popular press and film reviews. However, some authors have taken issue with the ascription of the term ‘documentary’ to animated documentaries. In addition, there are potential issues regarding audience response to animated documentaries and the technical proficiency of the films themselves as they become more ubiquitous. This chapter explores the existing, and potential objections to and criticisms of animated documentary and suggests that a more ‘360-degree’ discussion of the form will enrich the scholarly discourse on animated documentary.

Keywords: Animated documentary; documentary; animation; discourse, objections

20 In 2013 I published Animated Documenta- contexts” (p. 207) and “the acceptance introduction to Animated Documentary – ry – the first book dedicated to the study of such hybrid forms by the mainstream” the fact that “animated documentaries of the convergence of the animated form (p. 208). Skoller’s attitude reflects the do not fit easily into the received wisdom and the documentary impulse. The book majority (in fact, I would wager, the en- of what a documentary is” (Honess Roe, was a reflection of my own academic in- tirety) of published scholarship on ani- 2013, p. 3).2 This objection forms the terests, in response to what I identified mated documentary at the time I wrote main tenor of Cristina Formenti’s na- as a growing trend to use animation as Animated Documentary. scent contributions to the scholarship a representational strategy in a nonfic- on animated documentary. For example, tion context – a trend that has expand- However, I thought it would be worth- in an article published in 2014, she takes ed since it first began to take root in the while to briefly consider at this juncture issue with the “necessity of justifying 1990s. More recently, the book received whether more resistance to animated the animated documentary’s allocation some mild criticism for not engaging documentary has manifested since my within the documentary realm” (p. 103) with the “skepticism that still exists to- book was published. We will see below and suggests that because “what we see ward animated documentaries” (Strøm, that while scholarship on animated doc- unfold on screen is far from being an ob- 2015, p. 94). This comment gave me umentary tends to continue to be posi- jective record of the events depicted” (p. pause to think. Was I too enthusiastic tive, accepting and, dare I say, even cel- 104) that it would be “more appropriate about animated documentary? Was I ebratory, there are beginning to emerge to allocate the animated documentary blinkered to their shortcomings and an voices that are more dissenting. Further- in the docufiction territory” (p. 108). For existing “skepticism”? After some re- more, I wish to consider potential and Formenti, animated documentaries are flection I admitted that it was true – I even anecdotal objections that, while not too “creative” and “imaginative” to be did, perhaps unconsciously, set out to necessarily forming part of the “schol- classed as documentaries. They are, at “champion” animated documentaries arship” are still an entirely valid part of their core, too fictional. and as such I dedicate little space in the the discourse surrounding animated book to acknowledging the criticisms of documentary and therefore worthy of Formenti’s attitude echoes responses the form. But, I then remembered, this reflection. The purpose of this exercise is I have received, either directly or anec- was in part because at the time I was not necessarily to go on to refute these dotally, to animated documentaries. For writing the book I struggled to findany of objections (although that exercise is one example, I remember one conversation this alleged “skepticism,” at least in print. that is sometimes too hard to resist). with two “old guard” documentary film- Indeed, the tone of most of the pre-exist- But, rather, that a more “360-degree” making instructors that occurred when ing scholarship on animated documen- consideration of animated documentary I was on the cusp of completing my tary was celebratory and accepting.1 This might enrich our understanding and fu- doctoral thesis on animated documen- is implied in Jeffrey Skoller’s introduction ture study of the form. tary. Their resistance to the notion of to a special edition of Animation: An Inter- animated documentary was strong, and disciplinary Journal dedicated to animat- The most immediate potential objec- unequivocal. There was no way, they ed documentary, published in 2011. Here tions to animated documentary are to contended, that you could animate a Skoller notes the “popular acceptance do with issues of definition. Or, more pre- documentary because a documentary of recent hybrid forms that integrate cisely, documentary definitions. Indeed, had to contain observational, “objective” animated […] imagery into documentary this is something I acknowledge in the filmed footage. They could not be bent

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on this matter, and they stubbornly held tion of the documentary. In this, I am in a glance at the history of documentary on to this aesthetically-specific concep- agreement with Paul Ward (2013), who filmmaking, from Nanook to Senna, from tion of what a documentary should be. notes that the reviewer response quoted John Grierson to Errol Morris. I have had similarly sceptical responses above “suggested to [him] some crusty from undergraduate students to whom I old fuddy-duddy, under a blanket in a The responses to the objections stated show animated documentaries as part bath chair, railing against the youth of above are, therefore, easy to rehearse. Of of a documentary studies syllabus. While today, ruining things with their dyed hair, course documentary does not have to they often respond positively to the films, their nose rings, their skateboards and be (and in fact, I would say cannot be) they rankle at their description as “docu- (shudder) their ‘animated documenta- objective. Of course documentary can be mentary,” because animation does not fit ry’.” This attitude towards documentary creative and imaginative (and is all the in with their preconceived notion of what is not only outmoded, but also unrealis- better for, I would say). Who says docu- a documentary should look like, and the tic because, as I have pointed out,3 very mentary must be “observational”? And, relationship between what they expect few, if any, documentaries have lived up anyway, observational documentary it- to see on screen and what (supposedly) to this purist ideal. Indeed, one of the self belies a whole host of “creativity” and happened in reality. I am not the only per- reasons, I suggest, that John Grierson’s construction (who to film, how to film son to experience such resistance to the 1933 definition of documentary as “the them, how to edit them, and so on) be- form. Paul Ward (2013) recalls a particu- creative treatment of actuality” has had hind a veneer of non-intervention. I have larly entrenched response from a peer re- such longevity is because it is broad always contended to my students that viewer to one of his early articles on an- church – it allows for a wide variety of piffling over definitions and labels is a imated documentary. “The author then aesthetic and practical approaches to fruitless task. Call the films under discus- discusses ‘animated documentary’ – as making nonfiction. Thus, a documenta- sion animated documentaries, or docu- if there is such a thing …” And trailblazing ry made in the 1930s is a very different mentary animation or, even, if you would animated documentary maker Sheila So- animal to one made in the 1970s, which rather a term more onerous, animated fian (2013) notes that “there is still a per- likewise looks not much like one made in reconstructions of factual events and vasive idea that live action documentary 2015. In part this is due to the aesthetic experiences, it does not in the end make is ‘real’ and therefore animation cannot implications of the changing technol- a lot of difference. It certainly makes little be an accurate depiction of reality.” ogy of filmmaking, but also because difference to the films themselves. What attitudes and assumptions regarding is interesting, and I think more import- All the above objections are of the same what documentary “should” look like ant, than quibbling over semantics, is ilk – animated documentaries are not have changed to reflect all manner of to think about what these films do and documentary enough. This attitude is other things, such as increasing visual how they do it. Indeed, perhaps we can rooted, as I suggested in 2013, in the literacy and a growing public savviness be heartened by the fact that the above widely held assumptions that “documen- to the processes and institutions of me- published and anecdotal objections to taries should be observational, unob- dia making. The idea, then, that there is animated documentary seem not to be trusive, truthful, bear witness to actual any singular ideal (be that a detached about something inherent in the form it- events, contain interviews and, even, be observational style, or anything else) self. But, rather, simply the ascription of objective.” (p. 3) This is, I think, a rather which a film must meet in order to be a the term ‘documentary’. limited and overly conventional concep- “documentary” is quickly undermined by

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But, what about objections to the form imation Film Fuss (FAFF). Here, at a Q&A The filmmaker panellists at FAFF, howev- itself? As mentioned above, I have yet to session with three animated documen- er, made the valid point that TV and the- come across anything that critiques the tary makers, an audience member asked atrical release schedules are saturated inherent form, aesthetics and structure the panellists how they overcame this with “serious” live action documentaries, of animated documentary in “scholar- potential issue of animation detracting many of which fail to find an audience or ly” publications such as journal articles, from the seriousness or “reality” of a sit- strike a chord – perhaps because we are books, and even blog posts. Scouring uation. At the root of this question is the already inundated with indexical imag- journalistic writing, mostly in the form idea that animation somehow prevents ery of the “reality” of the contemporary of reviews of feature-length animated us from directly engaging with the factu- world. Also, these “serious” documenta- documentaries such as Waltz with Bashir al content of an animated documentary. ries tell stories, usually, of an individual (Ari Folman, 2008) and the more recent or small group of people and there is Rocks in My Pockets (Signe Baumane, This concern is one that was voiced in potential for us to disregard their reali- 2014), also tends to reveal an open and the reviews for Waltz with Bashir, reviews ties as specific to that person or group responsive attitude from film critics. We that were otherwise almost universally and therefore not relevant to ourselves. can, however, identify two issues that positive.4 For example, Peter Brunette Animation, on the other hand, allows for critics repeatedly, if not overly frequently, (2008) in the Hollywood Reporter wor- a more universal level of identification express regarding animated documentaries that the film’s animation “visually by more easily enabling us to imagine ry. These issues echo comments I have abstracts the scenes that haunt Folman ourselves into a scenario. This, again, heard either directly or anecdotally. The and his former comrades, making them is something I posited in Animated Doc- first is to do with audience response and less emotionally immediate.” Similarly, umentary, following the insightful work the second is about technical proficien- Variety ponders whether “some auds of graphic novel scholar Scott McCloud cy. may quibble that ultimately the atrocity (1994) in Understanding Comics. In that isn’t tackled in a more head-on fashion” book, McCloud suggests that because The audience response issue centres (Felperin, 2008). Yet, Elizabeth Weitzman comic book characters, and faces in on the concern that animation is a “lay- (2008) in the NY Daily News sees this po- particular, tend to be more abstract er” that prevents the audience from di- tential limitation in a positive light when and symbolic (as opposed to realistic, rectly engaging with the participants or she says “perhaps only animation could in the sense of a photograph of a face), story of an animated documentary (or, give us the distance that makes his sub- it allows a greater number of people to as it is sometimes expressed, “reality”). ject bearable”. This concern regarding identify with it (see Honess Roe, 2013, p. This is a response I have received on a animation’s potential distancing effect 111). So, while only one person may “see” few occasions when screening animat- reflects, perhaps, the form’s historic as- him or herself in a photograph, there is ed documentaries to audiences ranging sociation with comedy and children’s the potential for a much larger number from students, to academics in other entertainment. From this comes the of people to see themselves in a drawn disciplines, to members of the public. perception that animation is not suited or animated face. Indeed, this was a concern mooted at to “grown-up” material and that there a recent festival dedicated to animated is something inherent in the form that The notion that we more easily identify documentary that took place in London, means we take what we see less seri- with animation may be true, but it may UK, in September 2015 – the Factual An- ously than we would live action. also be true that some people find ani-

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mation a turn off, or that it acts like a The Guardian newspaper has commis- imation in Waltz With Bashir, whose real- screen or layer that prevents them from sioned its own animated documentary, isation one can argue is a reflection of fully engaging, emotionally and cogni- Guantanamo Diary, which can be viewed the film’s themes regarding trauma and tively, with the realities being portrayed. on its website. The downside of this memory). This criticism is not limited The fact is that we know very little about prevalence, identified by the audience to Ahadi’s film. Early reviews of Leanne how audiences respond to animation member, was that ubiquity leads to lazi- Pooley’s WWI animated documentary differently to live action as scant empir- ness and that animated documentaries, 25 April (2015) suggest that the ani- ical or scientific research has been done instead of utilising the animated form mation in this film is also limited and in this area, for example in the fields of in an imaginative way, often simply bolt limiting: “the faces look wooden and neuroscience of cognitive psychology. 5 animation on to an existing (documen- the movement is awkward” and one re- Similarly, whilst much of film theory has tary) soundtrack. As a result, animated viewer “couldn’t help but think a straight been preoccupied with understanding documentaries are in danger of becom- doc about this subject would have been spectatorship, that is theorising how and ing little more than illustrated radio doc- more interesting” (Tallerico, 2015). Of why audiences engage with film, very umentaries with the animation merely course any film, animated or otherwise, little theorisation has been done around providing a visualisation of what we hear can have technical or creative limitations whether audiences engage differently on the soundtrack (and a very simplistic that detract from audience enjoyment with animation and live action. What the visualisation at that). and engagement. However, there was an critics’ and anecdotal comments above acknowledgement at FAFF that there is point to is the need for more research For example, Lauren Wissot (2012), in the potential for animation to become a into animation reception and a more Slant Magazine, response to the 2012’s lazy or easy documentary strategy due robust theorisation of spectatorship in The Green Wave (dir. Ali Samadi Ahadi) to assumptions that it will attract an au- relation to medium-specificity. mirrored my own reaction to the film in dience or because it is often cheaper and commenting that the film “only seems easier to animate than to reconstruct or The second issue, or potential objec- to be using the medium in an effort to otherwise film in live action. As a result, tion, to animated documentary that is make blog diaries by twentysomethings an increasing number of uninspired and evidenced in reviews and anecdotal appear cinematic. And because the an- uninspiring animated documentaries are responses is one of technical and cre- imation is literally illustrative, there’s no filling up festival slots and online video ative proficiency. Again, this came up at crucial tension between voiceover and streaming sites. FAFF when one audience member asked image.” When I saw the film I wondered about the potential downsides of the in- what the point of the clunky, almost stat- Of the objections and issues explored creasing ubiquity of animated documen- ic, animation was, other than perhaps as above, only one is genuinely inherent to taries. Animated documentaries were a a gimmick to attract audiences or as a the animated documentary – the notion rarity in the 1990s. Now the use of ani- cheap way to provide some visual ac- that animation, through its very materi- mation as a representational strategy for companiment to the soundtrack.6 The ality and form, somehow limits audience documentary is far more commonplace, animation certainly did not enhance my engagement with a film’s subject mat- to the extent that the New York Times ran understanding or interpretation of the ter, or dilutes a film’s impact. This is an an article on animated documentaries reality of the situation of Iran’s “Green important concern to explore, one that in November 2014 (Murphy, 2014) and Revolution” (unlike, for example, the an- would be illuminated by the empirical

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research and theoretical explorations lead to a more “360-degree” consider- suggested above. Issues of technical ation of animated documentary. proficiency and thoughtful and relevant use of animation in a documentary con- The objections surrounding classifica- text could perhaps be seen as a side tion – in particular that documentaries effect of the maturation of the animat- cannot be animated or that animated ed documentary. Early animated doc- documentaries need another label – is umentaries, those made in the 1990s, one that is, in fact, rarely expressed by tended to be original, experimental and documentary, film or animation scholars. innovative – pushing new boundaries It certainly seems the case that film crit- and exploring the potential for combin- ics have no issue ascribing the animated ing documentary stories with animated form to documentary, as evidenced by visuals. Films such as Jonathan Hodg- their frequent and free use of this term in son’s Feeling My Way (1997) and Dennis reviews. However, it is of course often in- Tupicoff’s His Mother’s Voice (1997) sug- teresting to explore issues of taxonomy gested the ways animation could offer and classification and this in itself leads fresh insights and new ways of seeing to new and revived understandings of the world from the perspective of film- the media forms in question. maker or documentary subject. On the bedrock of those early films, animated The brevity of this discussion of the criti- documentary has grown and evolved as cisms of animated documentary reflects a form to the extent that it is no longer the fact that it is hard to find much of the unusual to see reality animated. As with “skepticism” that Strøm claims exists. any established form, genre or medium, Scholars are mostly celebratory and in- as animated documentary becomes clusive, seeking to explore the various more established it will entail less imag- iterations of animated documentary inative and successful examples along- rather than looking to quibble over its side those that continue to stretch and existence. Similarly, film critics seem challenge the form in a progressive and to have accepted animation as another original way. To look at this concern means of documentary representation more positively, animated documenta- with little opposition. In many ways, ries that are less imaginative, those that this is itself a limitation of the discourse do little more than illustrate a documen- surrounding animated documentary tary soundtrack in a limited way, for ex- because, as this brief exploration has ample, can help us identify how and why shown, examining animated documen- animation does and does not function tary from all angles, both positive and successfully in a documentary (or any) negative, can only help further illuminate context. This can, as suggested above, and elucidate our study of the form.

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26 Against Animated Documentary? Annabelle Honess Roe

Skoller, J. (2011). Introduction to the Special Issue: Making it (Un)real: Contemporary Notes Theories and Practicies in Documentary Animation. Animation: An Interdisciplinary 1 Indeed, much of the early scholarship on Journal, 6 (3), pp. 207-214. animated documentary discusses which of Bill Nichols’ documentary modes animation Sofian, S. (2013). The Camera and “Structuring Reality.” AnimationStudies 2.0. Avail- fits into, thus implying an inherent - accep tance of animation as a mode of documen- able from: http://blog.animationstudies.org/?p=159 (accessed 7 October 2015) tary representation. See Honess Roe (2013, pp.18-22)

Strøm, G. (2015). Animated documentary, by Annabelle Honess Roe. Studies in Doc- 2 i discuss the inherent assumptions regard- umentary Film, 9(1), pp. 92-94. ing ‘documentary’ definition further in Ho- ness Roe (2016, forthcoming)

Tallerico, B. (2015). TIFF 2015: “Anomalisa,” “Phantom Boy,” “25 April.” RogerEbert.com, 3 See Honess Roe 2013 and (forthcoming) 18 September. Available from http://www.rogerebert.com/festivals-and-awards/tiff- 2016. 2015-anomalisa-phantom-boy-25-april (accessed 7 October 2015) 4 Notably, critics use the term ‘animated documentary’ to describe the film with no inkling of an issue with that term. Ward, P. (2013). “To document differently”: Random thoughts on a taxonomy of 5 Patrick Power cites, in a 2008 article, a 2006 animated documentary. AnimationStudies 2.0. Available from http://blog.animation- study that examined fMRI scans of partic- studies.org/?p=199 (accessed 7 October 2015) ipants viewing live action and rotoscoped imagery. See Power (2008).

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