💿Prompt1: Steyerl talks about how the “unbroken belief” of the documentary form is challenged. What does Steyerl mean by this? Certain movies and films are based on a true story. How does truth inform the fiction? How might fiction inform the truth?
The “unbroken belief” of the documentary form refers to the idea that what we see is exactly the truth and that the documentary is a portrayal of reality and a depiction of something concrete. However, in the age of digital reproduction, a high degree of reproduction of reality is no longer the only and main goal of documentary. Documentaries have begun to give audiences more room for imagination through abstract compositions that no longer capture a focus, allowing them to integrate their own emotional imagination into the images they see. This enables people to better feel the vibe of the scene, and to gain a more realistic feeling. However, what they see and what they feel may not be the truth.
Truth provides a realistic basis for fiction, making it more logical and enabling it to have a greater impact on the audience. For me, when I see a film or TV production that is based on a true story, I get a bigger impact. Because I know that this is something that actually happened, not something that is entirely imagined, then I will bring in the real social phenomenon of the moment to see and reflect on reality.
Fiction expands the possibilities of the truth; it is something that people develop through their imagination, reflecting the divergent thoughts people have after seeing the truth. These reflections come from people’s real experiences, and they show the true expression of emotions. It can provide inspiration for real life.
💿Prompt2: What is the significance of the authenticity and representation of the truth in the media that you consume on a daily basis? What is the role of a live broadcast?
The authenticity and representation of the truth can give people a sense of security. There is a lot of fake news in the online world nowadays. People don’t know what to believe and what not to believe. I use Weibo, a popular social media platform in China, on a daily basis. On Weibo, I can see all kinds of official media posts, marketing campaigns, and the voices of the people. I block some marketing accounts because they are mostly created for commercial purposes. They create gimmicks to gain traffic, and their content is hard to distinguish. I often read the posts of the official Chinese mainstream media because I feel they are more truthful and I won’t get a wrong perception from reading their posts. They are more convincing to the public and give people a sense of security. However, the veracity of the official media’s reporting was not as good as it could have been in many of the events that caught the public’s attention in the first half of 2022. The “failure of the official media” was once a hot topic of discussion. The public’s trust in the official media was lowered in one case of misreporting by the media. This has increased people’s sense of insecurity. Xinshixiang(新世相) is an unofficial news media that I like a lot. It is not so much bound by the chain of interests and political purposes, thus it can better restore the truth and give people a sense of security, which is becoming more and more rare and valuable nowadays.
Live broadcast allows people to see in real-time what is happening in another place. It presents images of reality to people and gives people a sense of “live”. A sense of “live” is a feeling of being present. When being present, we can judge the untouched truth with our own eyes. Just as fans want to know the real singing level of their idols through live broadcast, we also want to know the unmodified truth as much as possible when watching live broadcast. This is the responsibility of the live broadcast and its edge over other media forms: to restore as much of the untouched truth to the public, rather than presenting what the higher powers want the public to see through deliberate editing and a one-sided perspective.
Leave a Reply