Two interesting items from today’s daily news cycle.
First, one thats being fairly widely reported – a blogger known as Petit Anglaise won a wrongful dismissal suit in France. She’s an Englishwoman who was fired from her job in Paris after writing about her experiences on her blog. The coverage today starts the inevitable speculation about what this means for bloggers the world over.
Secondly, I really enjoyed this column by the Vancouver Sun’s Stephen Hume this morning. He’s basically saying that he avoids films such as An Inconvenient Truth and The Great Global Warming Swindle because films aren’t really the best medium for conveying information. Writes Hume:
I haven’t watched because I don’t turn to a medium which is essentially emotive to obtain information that demands logic and reason.
As a recovering documentary addict, his point resonates with me. I’ve been moved by a number of similar films in the past – Bowling for Columbine, The Corporation etc. Now I should probably take a step back and consider if it was the message that moved me or the medium.
Somewhere I’m sure Marshall McLuhan is aching to say something.
Last night at the Hot Docs festival I attended the Canadian premier of Manufacturing Dissent (www.imdb.com/title/tt0961117/). It’s not a perfect documentary by any means, but it was a wake-up call to view Michael Moore’s past documentaries (not to mention the political activism he practises in his daily life) with a bag of salt on hand.
It seems Mr. Moore considers “editing” out key things from his documentaries just a part of the creative process. Not to mention elaborate set-ups of scenarios that appear “as-it-happens” in the finished product.
But I disagree with Hume that films aren’t an excellent medium for conveying information. Framed and edited properly (i.e., as objectively as possible) documentaries can do an amazing job. Academy Award nominee, Jesus Camp, is an example that comes to mind. Very powerful…and not something that I would have experienced in another medium (e.g., TV, radio or book).