Texts of the documentary genre aim to present their audiences with a documentation of reality of a particular group of people, place or event. However, the term ‘reality’ has an ambiguous meaning as it can greatly differ from one person to the next and so the extent in which documentaries portray a true representation of reality can be debated. According to Bill Nichols there are several modes that exist within the documentary genre that ultimately affects the way in which reality is presented to the audience. The most distinct of these consist of the poetic, expository, observational, interactive and reflexive modes. Although Stella Bruzzi argues that each of the individual modes are often integrated with one another, it is best to deal with them separately in order to understand the extent to which these modes portray reality. This site not only explores the representation of reality in documentary, but also dedicates pages to a few of the successful individuals within the documentry genre, as well as exploring current, exciting documentaries.
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External Articles
Want to find out more? The following links offer further analysis into other current issues surrounding documentary and its portrayal of reality.
–“Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary”
–“Trust and Tv Documentary”, Paul Woolwich, BBC
– “Trust and Observational Documentary”, Pool Woolwich, BBC
Documentary 