Pitch Document – Where are all the Queers
Reflection:
This blog will focus on my reflection on the impact documentaries Wildness (2012) and The Winterkeeper (2023); and how I plan to draw on the techniques, modes, and devices used to inform the production of my group’s own documentary in the upcoming assignments.
Wildness (2012) is a documentary by Wu Tsang, focusing on the patrons of The Silver Platter, most of which are Latina trans-women. Despite Wu Tsang himself being a transgender person of color (a transgender bi-racial Chinese American), Oishi (2015:253) points out that despite the superficial similarities, he is still distinct from the community he strives to “give a voice” to.
As Ruby (2005:211) states, the filmmaker has a moral obligation to the subjects of the film. As a cishet Chinese Malaysian working on a documentary focused on LGBTIQ+ nightlife, I could not be more separated from the subjects of our film. Wildness (2012) highlights the significance of such a role. Tsang himself acknowledges his conflict between representing an underrepresented minority and the problems that come with speaking on the behalf of experiences not his own (Oishi 2015:253).
In a blog post, Tsang reflects on his authority as a director, and how this authority can be asserted by removing themselves from the film, to keep up an illusion of objectivity (Oishi 2015:262). With this, he emphasizes the power a director holds over their subjects. Interestingly, many of my classmates had complaints about Tsang’s actions that were presented in the documentary. If Tsang had chosen to cut himself out of the documentary, would his actions even be brought to attention to be criticized?
Instead, Tsang chooses to portray his role in relation to The Silver Platter in its entirety. He has chosen to ensure the audience understands and recognizes his presence and acknowledge the separation he has from the community he chooses to represent. I believe this highlights the ethical concerns over the authority the director holds over their subjects. It will be important for me to keep this in mind as we move forward with our documentary.
Outside of ethics, Wildness (2012) does a fantastic job at capturing the feelings and environment of its setting using both the camera and editing. When the bar and nightlife is portrayed, close-ups of the patrons are presented to the audience in addition to fast choppy cuts to encapsulate a bit of the crowdedness and claustrophobia of the bar.
In contrast, I particularly appreciate how Tsang chooses to film his interviews with the bar owners. They are set up during the off-hours of the bar, where the only thing illuminating the space is the sunlight, capturing still close-ups of different artifacts of the bar, with footage of the owners going through their daily tasks in preparation for the bar’s opening, highlighting the efforts of the owners in maintaining safe spaces like this. I believe a similar technique could be used in our documentary for the same effect.
The Winterkeeper (2023) follows Steven Fuller, a winter caretaker who has lived in Yellowstone national park for 50 years. It is focused on warning the audience of the climate crisis that threatens to change the environments that we know and live in. However, the film takes a more passive stance in advocating for this; mostly portraying the beauty of Yellowstone through Fullers daily life, reflections, and thoughts about the park and its future.
The film mainly uses an expository mode, like what Nichols (2017:109) outlines. Fuller acts as our narrator, talking about his job and experience with working and living in Yellowstone. While this can be a good mode to represent the authentic feelings of a subject’s thoughts and experiences, as mentioned in my reflection on Wildness (2012), it may also be used to project a false sense of authenticity. At the end of the day, the director holds the authority over what is represented, even if the voice is not their own.
As our group has discussed the possibility of following a bartender’s shift throughout a night at a LGBTIQ+ bar as part of the storyline of our documentary, it will be important to note the ethical concerns with using someone’s voice as our own. We should maintain a line of consistent communication (Nichols 2017:43) with our primary subjects to ensure we don’t twist or misrepresent their words, as I hope The Winterkeeper (2023) has done.
The Winterkeeper (2023) starts off with a brief introduction to Yellowstone. Fuller then describes his work as a winter caretaker, what he appreciates about his lifestyle, the positive memories associated with Yellowstone, and caps it off with his concerns about the park’s future. I believe the intention of the formatting of this story is to put the audience in Fuller’s shoes, to make them sympathize and understand him, in the hopes of invoking the same concerns Fuller has for the environment in the audience.
I believe a similar style of storytelling could be used if we plan to follow a subject throughout the night at an LGBTIQ+ bar. We don’t want our documentary to come off as an advertisement goading the audience to attend the spaces we represent. Rather, we should aim to invoke in our audience how the patrons and owners of these spaces feel when they attend them. This way, it might act as a more convincing way to motivate our target audience to support our impact goal.
Overall, I believe that Wildness (2012) has given tremendous insight in how my group should go about conducting ourselves ethically, and that The Winterkeeper (2023) has provided inspiration on how our storyline could be presented.
(927 words)
References:
Nichols B (2017) Introduction to documentary, third edition, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 43-109
Oishi (2015) ‘Reading Realness: Paris Is Burning, Wildness, and Queer and Transgender Documentary Practice’, The Blackwell Companion to Documentary Cinema, 253-262
Ruby J (2005) New Challenges for Documentary: The Ethics of Image Making, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 211-212.
The Guardian (2023) The Winterkeeper [documentary], The Guardian, United Kingdom https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2023/dec/06/the-winterkeeper-steven-fuller-yellowstone-national-park
Tsang W (2012) Wildness [documentary], United States of America https://vimeo.com/404104779