Yes, yes, some people have considered me one, but I do have the credentials to back it up, I don’t want to toot my own horn here, but I have a double major in Art History and Cinematic Studies…so my personal opinions on film tend to be backed by theory at the very least. Anyway, I’ve always stood by my love of documentary film in light of other people bashing it for being boring or not a good reason to want to see films. There are many people out there that revel in the entertainment value alone of the cinematic experience. Those Avatar lovers who get super excited to slap on the 3-D glasses and chug back their giant slurpy at the theatre….which btw is not a film I’ve seen.
Documentary films are different, in that you learn something more on life, through the struggles, challenges and successes of others these films often focus on. Sometimes they are on a hot political topic that spawns major discussion amongst friends afterwards over coffee or with that well versed guy at work around the water cooler who’s seen it too. It becomes interesting to get a glimpse into a world you would not really be privy to otherwise, that’s why I enjoy documentaries. I mean let’s face it, I’d never be:
-A black male rapper-“The Carter”-documentary on Lil’Wayne
-A magazine mogul- “Hugh Hefner-Playboy, Activist and Rebel”
-A child from an Evangelical Christian family-“Jesus Camp”
-A truck driver in the US on a late night route -“Big Rig”
-An International break dancer-“Planet B-boy”
You get my drift. I loving seeing the world from a vantage point I never would be able to all from the comfort of my living room or a small indie theatre and of course still take it with a grain of salt that it is one opinion, not a generalized view of that culture, lifestyle, issue. etc. Sometimes it can get even better when you see it at these small theatres, they invite the Director or Writer to it and have a q and a session that follows-bonus….ok well sometimes, sometimes the q and a sparks too much back and forth and turns into a major war of words, but I digress.
I’m not saying I wouldn’t watch anything else, I love other genres of film too, don’t get me wrong. I’m just perplexed at the people who hate with a capital H, documentaries. I’ve been coming into contacted lately with these people…a lot. Dated a few in fact (and must say I think it’s now a deal breaker for me!) Anyway, the long and short of it is, I may talk about Docs that I’ve seen on here, so skip over those entries, if you don’t enjoy them too!!! You’ve been warned!
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