The reading is about the challenge to the “unbroken belief” of documentary forms in the age of digital reproduction, and the increasing importance of affect over objective, institutionally guaranteed, even scientific integrity. The article discusses how documentary forms convey, regulate, and administrate huge emotional potentials that they both keep in check and unleash explosively. They bring distant events close enough to get under our skin and alienate what is closest to us. They show us differences but sow enmity. Their shock effects are amplified; they can trigger horror and disbelief, just as they can bring endless relief and satisfaction. The author argues that documentary truth has become uncertain and incertitude is becoming stronger and stronger. The article also raises questions about the authenticity and representation of the truth in the media that we consume on a daily basis, as well as the role of live broadcasts. The significance of the authenticity and representation of the truth in the media that we consume on a daily basis is that it can shape our perception of reality and influence our beliefs and actions. The role of live broadcasts is to create a sense of immediacy and intimacy, which can be both powerful and problematic.
- 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 discusses how, as opposed to remaining objective, documentary forms are becoming increasingly abstract. The blurry, unfocused photographs merely convey the documenter’s passion. The audience can become more immersed and engaged from these movements. Once, Kiarostami described his approach to film as an unintentional form of minimalism. The truth need not come from hard, cold reality because it can also be found in fictitious universes.
- 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?
In the modern world, when digital duplication is possible, individuals are becoming less and less certain about the information they get from nearly all media. And the need for intensity has successfully supplanted the necessity for impartial, institutionally verified, and even scientific honesty. We can use authenticity and representation as a tool to help us make fair judgments, reduce our anxiety about political propaganda, and avoid being overly emotionally affected by inaccurate information. Their live broadcast has a sense of sincerity that is directly influenced by their incomprehensibility. People are reassured that the type of image/sound is not modified because it is so commonplace.