Steyerl talks about how the “unbroken belief” of the documentary form is challenged. How are Steyerl’s ideas about truth and fiction represented and expressed in Abbas Kiarostami’s film? How does truth inform the fiction in Close up? How might fiction inform the truth?
Steyerl’s idea about the truth and fiction distinguishes in the basis of the objective interpretation. That is, low resolution, which can erase the realistic expression of the documentary. Our desire for the documentary such as emotionalizing effect on the individual level will strongly impact the documentary as well. And for Steyerl’s ideas about truth and fiction represented and expressed in Abbas Kiarostami’s film, I think, is that the strong personal desire impel Hossain Sabzian to finish this ridiculous “performance”. The truth informs the fiction as it gives the fiction a strong starting point in which the story based on it. For fiction informs the truth, I think it is to help audience understand the background and trigger their interest.
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?
I think the significance of the authenticity and representation of the truth in the media that we consume on daily basis is important. Imagine that you go through daily news but the reports are deceitful and misleading. How horrible it is！！！Howerver, actually,there are too many misreports, or I’d like to say, misleading headlines in our daily life. Like some time ago, Xiaohongshu, an app like Tiktok, was fined as a result of modifying photos too far that when people go to a scenic spot which was photoed and published by a publisher in Xiaohongshu, they are astonished to find they are perfectly dissimilar to each other.
Live broadcast gives audience a chance to have a simultaneous view. And it is a way to entertain people. And Viewers get a thrill that they don’t get when they watch a video. Once I went to a place where peole were watching a game live broadcast. When the gamer won, people in the room jumped for joy. Their emotions changed with the live broadcast and that’s the charm of live broadcast