Let’s Get Ethical
So ethics hey?
My difficulties being a filmmaker (can I call myself that yet) thus far have surrounded either:
a) Practical concerns – group members I couldn’t stand, inflexible work timetables and always forgetting my password for booking the edit suites. However I thought that in three years I possibly had acquired the skills to battle these relatively small but nevertheless real concerns
b) Creative concerns – it really is the main challenge of the Media course, how to be creative, whilst fulfilling a fucking rubric with only a few weeks to do so. I feel the a lot of the course was balancing creativity and practicality. The task at hand was quite a challenge: in 5 weeks myself and my group members needed to create a film that was both poetic and political. Having made two previously with great group members. But that wasn’t even where my concern was this time.
I never thought that it would be ethical issues would halt me in my tracks like they did. That’s not to say that I didn’t take the subject seriously or understand the nature of political documentaries, or even that I hadn’t considered ethics important before.
The problem was this.
The issue I wanted to explore was disability. I’d worked in disability for a number of years and found myself to be really passionate about it. No, it was more than that – disability was an important issue for me because it was the first time I had felt politically passionate about something. Like really passionate, I found myself for the first time reading more about the issue, caring more about the policies in Australia, talking about it with friends and family, researching and really having a stance on an issue I felt invested in.
So it made sense to make a film about it…right? Perhaps not. With hindsight, I now will do my best to map my thinking during this time for you.
The issue really came up when we looked at the theme. We automatically thought about pairing the theme of disability with exclusion. First mistake. You know that saying – when you assume you make an ass out of u and me? Well that’s what I did and certainly how I felt.
I just assumed that people with disabilities felt excluded from society.
The second qualm I had was with the subject matter. When we decided on disability all members of the group started to verbalise people they could ask. Friends, family, even those that work in the disability . However when I started to really think about what we were doing, by highlighting their difference I essentially was doing exactly what I set out to critique, which was making assumptions and exclusion.
A friend of mine suffered an absolutely horrific brain injury when we were both 12-years old. Although he survived which for a while was not always clear, he now has a pretty severe physical disability. Asking him to do an interview was where I struggled most. There were arguments in my head
If I hadn’t asked him these questions before, why was it suddenly okay that as a 3rd year media student with a sound recorder was it okay?
On a totally selfish and personal level, I also felt myself getting really upset. The nature of the situation I found to be more detrimental than helpful as it was happening in a relatively public forum, even if that was the others my class. Ultimately, making the film forced me to ask questions that I did not want to share with others.
So instead the film became about the ethical dilemma rather than his story.
But wasn’t that a little unethical too? To make a film about him without telling him?
His story is amazing and I wanted others to hear it I do want people to hear it. But perhaps it is something that I wanted to happen more organically.
That’s not to say that I didn’t think he was amazing, special, a great story and that word… inspirational. My third final qualm – should people with disabilities be considered inspirational? Once again, should they be picked out and put on show as inspiration?
Stella Young thinks not.
I kept thinking and saying, “I want someone to tell me that what I am doing is okay.” But that’s the thing with ethics – no one will!
The decision to not go ahead with this film was actually really tricky. I felt defeated and emotionally exhausted. However going ahead whilst I was still unsure of what I was doing was right or not felt worse.
I’d still really like to pursue the idea of looking at people with disabilities and how they are in the media. I don’t know that there is a definitive answer but I certainly think its worthy of exploring.