A01=Bill Nichols
academic
aesthetic
argument
Author_Bill Nichols
Category=ATFR
cinema studies
culture
documentary
documentary films
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
ethics
evidence
film content
film essays
film form
film history
film scholar
film studies
film writing
form and content
history of film
impact
introduction
irony
making movies
metaphor
mockumentary
narrative
political
real world
realistic
research
satire
scholarly
short essays
social studies
storytelling
true stories
truth
Product details
- ISBN 9780520290396
- Weight: 499g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 05 Apr 2016
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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How do issues of form and content shape the documentary film? What role does visual evidence play in relation to a documentary's arguments about the world we live in? In what ways do documentaries abide by or subvert ethical expectations? Are mockumentaries a form of subversion? Can the documentary be an aesthetic experience and at the same time have political or social impact? And how can such impacts be empirically measured? Pioneering film scholar Bill Nichols investigates the ways documentaries strive for accuracy and truthfulness and simultaneously fabricate a form that shapes reality. Such films may rely on reenactment to re-create the past, storytelling to provide satisfying narratives, and rhetorical figures such as metaphor or devices such as irony to make a point. Documentaries are truly a fiction unlike any other. With clarity and passion, Nichols offers incisive commentaries on the basic questions of documentary's distinct relationship to the reality it represents, as well as close readings of provocative documentaries from this form's earliest days to its most recent incarnations.
These essays offer a definitive account of what makes documentary film such a vital part of our cultural landscape.
Bill Nichols is a leading authority on documentary film and the author or editor of a dozen books. His Introduction to Documentary is the standard text in this area. He lectures widely and consults often with documentary filmmakers on their projects.
