A Study of Rhetorical Systems in the Documentary Mode
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A STUDY OF RHETORICAL SYSTEMS IN THE DOCUMENTARY MODE by JAMES HENRY IDDINGS A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1991 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ABSTRACT v PREFACE 1 The Formation of a Topic 1 Some Significant Discoveries 4 Personal Rewards 7 THE EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY FILM: AN OVERVIEW WITH A LEFTIST PERSPECTIVE 10 Introduction 10 Dziga Vertov and Post-Revolutionary Russia 13 Workers' Newsreels in Europe in the 1920s and Early 1930s 22 Joris Ivens and the Workers' Newsreels of Holland. 24 John Grierson and the British Documentary Movement. 41 The Other British Documentary: Workers' Film Organizations 49 Robert Flaherty and Poetic Realism 53 The Workers' Film and Photo League in America, Nykino, and Frontier Films 60 The March of Time 75 Conclusion of Description of American Documentary Film 80 Pare Lorentz 81 The Plow that Broke the Plains 83 The River 91 The Rhetorical Diegesis of The River 94 DOCUMENTARY DRAMA IN THE 1930s : A THEATRE OF POLITICS. 112 Factors and Conditions Contribution to the Evolution of Documentary Drama 112 The Federal Theatre Project: A People's Theatre, Not a Workers' Theatre 116 The Living Newspaper: Theatre as an Educational and Social Force 120 Early Attempts of the Living Newspaper 125 One-third of a Nation : A Study of Rhetoric on Two Levels 129 Rhetorical Inventory and Interpretive Possibilities 158 ii ARTHUR KOPIT'S INDIANS : A STUDY OF MYTHS AND DOCUMENTARY DRAMA 164 Introduction 164 Off-Broadway: An Alternative Theatre 166 Off-Off-Broadway: The New Alternative 173 A Plan for the Study of Indians 181 Documentary Drama of the 1960s 182 Myth-making 189 Indians : An Analysis 197 The Hybrid Diegesis of Indians , of Myths, and of Life Itself 230 DOCUMENTARY FILM ACTIVITY IN THE 1960s 233 Introduction 233 Documentary Film in the 1940s 234 Documentary in the 1950s 239 The British Free Cinema 246 Documentary Film in the 1960s 251 French Documentary in the 1960s 257 Ethnographic Films 259 Documentary Film in Canada in the 1960s 261 British Documentary in the 1960s 264 The New York Newsreel and the San Francisco Newsreel 268 The Work of Emile de Antonio in the 1960s 271 Point of Order 273 Rush to Judgment 276 Two Other Films 280 In the Year of the Pig 281 The Rhetorical Diegesis in In. the Year of the Pig . 284 A Conventional Approach Is Possible 285 Considerations of Overlap and Other Generalities... 286 Some Specific Thematic Examples 287 The Formation of Motifs 292 First Key Concept: Technique Over Content 294 Second Key Concept: Getting the Establishment to Undress 296 Third Key Concept: Collage 297 Fourth Key Concept: Brecht 298 Fifth Key Concept: Viewer Participation 299 Sixth Key Concept: Preconceptions 301 Seventh Key Concept: Microcosms 301 Relationships Between and Within Shots: The Interview 303 Conclusion: The Rhetorical Diegesis in In the Year of the Pig 305 A CONSIDERATION OF THE DOCUFICTION MODE OF ADDRESS IN SIXTY MINUTES 307 iii BIBLIOGRAPHY 318 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 325 iv Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy A STUDY OF RHETORICAL SYSTEMS IN THE DOCUMENTARY MODE by James Henry Iddings May 1991 Chairman: Dr. Greg Ulmer Major Department: English This work applies an historical-rhetorical approach to the study of documentary drama and film in the 1930s and 1960s, first identifying background material, and then examining the rhetorical systems in four tutor texts: One- third of a Nation , produced by the Federal Theatre Project's Living Newspaper; The River , directed by Pare Lorentz; Indians , written by Arthur Kopit; and In the Year of the Pig , directed by Emile de Antonio. A central interest is the interaction and rhetorical functioning of narrative devices and structure with documentary elements of exposition--or in other words, the (con) fusion of fiction and fact. In the final chapter, the set of rhetorical devices identified as operating in the drama and film of the 1930s and 1960s will be applied to a critical reading of television documentary, in particular Sixty Minutes . The V overall purpose of the study is to develop an awareness of the presence of rhetoric in everyday life and to provide a method for rhetorical analysis. VI PREFACE The Formation of a Topic The choice of topic is perhaps the most important step in the dissertation production process. I wanted a subject that would involve as many of my personal and professional interests as possible, a subject that would create a network of inter-related benefits. My interests included film studies, rhetoric, history, politics, cultural studies, twentieth century American studies, critical theory, and writing itself. At the same time my topic must be focused enough to produce results that would fit within the curriculum of most English departments. I reasoned that choosing an uncommon, unfamiliar subject was a good strategy as far as publication possibilities were concerned, so on the advice of a project committee member, I began to research the life of an obscure (in the United States) Brazilian filmmaker who had done most of his film work in France, Britain, and his native country over a period spanning six decades. His name was Alberto Cavalcanti; he died in 1982. His role in the British Documentary Movement of the 1930s led me to an interest in documentary film in general. Documentary filmmaking thrived in the 1930s, not only in Britain and elsewhere but also in 1 2 the United States. I decided to set aside any further biographical study of Cavalcanti and instead focused my research on that turbulent decade itself. Documentary forms and approaches appeared in the literature and theatre of the period as well. I intended my dissertation to be foremostly an American study, although the documentary films and drama presented in this country had antecedents that were essential to the study of documentary. An outline for my project began to emerge, and the subject matter promised to stimulate the areas of interest listed earlier. A historical study of documentary film and drama should reveal the social and political uses of these works, uses that involved rhetorical methods and devices, in a variety of cultural contexts. The writings and works of Vertov, Eisenstein, Meyerhold, Brecht, Piscator, Ivens, and others provided abundant material for theoretical discussion. Finally, what seemed to be taking shape as the central object of study was the rhetorical value of documentary elements appearing in any medium. The next period of extensive activity in documentary came in the 1960s, another decade of social and political turmoil. Clear connections existed between the ideas and works of the two decades. The development of television as an instrument of the mass media further enriched the study, and I realized that two more personal interests could be brought into the project: contemporary concerns in general 3 and practical utility. Considerations of the role and function of television made my study meaningful to anyone who depended on that medium as a primary source of information, especially since the average American's exposure to documentary historically had come mostly (excepting films made during World War II) through television, starting from the 1950s when television became a standard household item. The possibility of the project's practical usefulness excited me. Perhaps my study could lead the reader to a more thoughtful and more critical viewing of television. Now the project had a framework, a set of goals, and a path to follow. The range of material to cover was quite broad, but one object of interest centralized the study: rhetoric. Rhetoric is an everyday fact of life, not only in written and spoken communication but visual communication as well. I recalled a concept discussed by Bill Nichols in his Ideology and the Image , his notion of the "rhetorical diegesis, " an abstract plane of intellectual, emotional, and expository activity where rhetorical forms and values interact to produce a documentary work's overall effect. My historical survey would trace the rhetorical use of certain forms and techniques in documentary films and drama. I now needed to choose representative tutor texts to use to study the rhetorical diegesis of each. For the 1930s I chose Pare Lorentz's film The River , and for drama, a production of the . 4 Federal Theatre Project's Living Newspaper entitled One- third of a Nation ; for the 1960s, Emile deAntonio's film In the Year of the Pig and Arthur Kopit's play Indians . To conclude the study, I would examine a contemporary television documentary program. Sixty Minutes , in order to consider some of the rhetorical elements identified in the previous chapters. Thus, the mapping of the project was complete Some Significant Discoveries One of the many findings of this study involves the consideration of film or drama in terms of aesthetics and entertainment versus its use as an informative, didactic, social medium. This question constituted the crux of the early 1930s conflict in the Soviet Union between Social Realism and the so-called formalism of Dziga Vertov and others. The same basic debate split the British GPO Film Unit in the latter '30s, and was also the central divisive issue in the United States among leftist filmmakers. The chief concern, particularly in the '30s, was whether or not to incorporate techniques from the fictional narrative films of Hollywood in order to make documentary films more dramatic and entertaining, and thus more appealing to a wider audience. To create social awareness and change, a large majority of the public must be reached.