Abstract
This essay examines the question of the presentation of film and looks at the topic of truth within the documentary film. The writer considers the words of Errol Morris, the director of 'The Thin Blue Line', who believes that documentaries can be as personal as fiction film making. The writer discusses that Morris challenges the concept that objective truth may be captured through film.

From the Paper
"Errol Morris, director of 'The Thin Blue Line', has criticized the cinema verite style of documentary, arguing that: "There is no reason why documentaries can't be as personal as fiction filmmaking and bear the imprint of those who made them. Truth isn't guaranteed by style or expression. It isn't guaranteed by anything". In making this argument, Morris is not only challenging the idea that objective truth can be captured through film, but that the generic line between fictional film and documentary film can often be extraordinarily blurred."

Tags:film, documentary, truth

Abstract
This paper provides an overview of the film "KIDS" and looks at the issues that the film brings up such as AIDS, drugs, violence and teenage sex. The paper shows that the film's intention is not to encourage the behavioral problems that the teens in this movie portrayed, but to emphasize the importance of the role of a parent in a teenager's life.

From the Paper
"In the summer of 1995 Larry Clark, an established stills photographer, shocked society with his first directed movie known as KIDS. Over the course of one humid Manhattan day this film follows the lives of a handful of teens in the streets of New York. So much controversy has arisen due to the plethora of profanity, drugs, violence, and sex that take place in the brief hour and a half movie. Within this day there are three sex scenes, occurrences of trespassing, stealing, urinating in public, and a disturbing scene where a mob of teens beat up an African American. The director used such extreme measures to force people to think twice about teenagers' activities and actions that are undoubtedly shaping our youth. Since kids are not getting enough attention from their parents they look for it in another place, with their friends. Teenagers find it fundamental to fit in with a group of friends because friendships appear to be the only way to cure loneliness. Friendships allow teens to fit in, but at the same time they can be easily influenced to do things that they would not normally do. Larry Clark portrays teenagers as violent drug abusers, who are being ignorant towards societal rules and end up living unruly lives. Obviously, not all teenagers live this type of fractious life, which is most prevalent in the inner city population. Every teenager does not do drugs and routinely walk down the streets of their neighborhood with forty's of Old English in the mid day. But the movie KIDS portrays what can happen to any teen. While parents are too involved with their jobs, inner city New York teens get lost in the hustle and bustle environment and are forced to experience reality on their own. Lacking love from their family some teenagers take it upon themselves to start doing what they want, when they want. This often results in the teen losing respect for all authority and they become inconsiderate for other beings. As they become their own parents they may get increasingly vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, like AIDS. All of these possible results stem in part from the absence of an authority figure in a teenager's life."

Tags:kids, life, movie, reality, responsibility, juvenile, teenager

Abstract
A paper which shows that, by calling it propaganda in the form of patriotism, the American government has been successful in influencing its people on many matters, both politically and socially, with the use of media. The paper uses America's change in its isolationist policy during WWI as an example. It also shows how the movie industry was used to influence the public.

From the Paper
"But the films were even more effective. It wasn't necessarily that movies like "America's Answer" " a documentary in 1918 about the sending of the first 500,000 American troops to France " were great art. The were professionally made, certainly, but their power to persuade Americans in the importance of U.S. engagement in Europe relied not on artistry per se but on each film's possessing a simple, clear message. The force of this repeated, focused message (a hallmark of effective propaganda in all media) combined with the immediacy of film won over many Americans who " had they simply been reading about the war in the newspaper " might well have remained convinced that isolationism was the best policy."

Tags:communist, World, War, I, Woodrow, Wilson, Committee, Public, Information, Our, Bridge, of, Ships, Mary, Pickford, Charlie, Chaplin

Abstract
This paper discusses and analyzes McNamara's "The Fog of War." It also explores John McNamara's motive for making the documentary.

From the Paper
""The Fog of War" is a documentary filmed by Errol Morris that features an interview with former U. S. defense secretary Robert S. McNamara who served under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Over the course of the film McNamara delivers eleven lessons regarding war learned from his experience. The title refers to the fact that human knowledge is incapable of full understanding of the complexities of military warfare. As Stephen Holden says in his review of the film ..."

Tags:military warfare, casualties, reason, intellect, Vietnam, Iraq, Bush, Japan, interview

Abstract
This paper provides an examination of Michael Moore's documentary film, "Bowling For Columbine" as a work of propaganda. It looks at Moore's exposure of the roots of violence, his techniques and how they support his thesis. The paper also looks at Moore's desire to provoke as well as to inform.

From the Paper
"When Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine was released it was certainly a controversial film. Closely following the tragic incidents at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado Moore's film set out to expose the root of the problems behind such acts of violence. In doing so he learns that the conventional answers of easy availability of guns, violent national history, violent entertainment and even poverty are inadequate to explain this violence when other cultures share those same factors without the equivalent ..."

Tags:bowling for columbine, michael moore, propaganda

From the Paper
"While it may be debated for years to come if the term auteur belongs to Hitchcock, it will never be debated that he was a genius in his own right. And if being an auteur means that one exerts much control over his films, it is impossible to contradict the fact that Hitchcock, did indeed, show an unprecedented amount of control in each of his films. If the argument is to be sound, a closer examination of the meaning of auteur might be recognized.Hitchcock was a genius of film and art. His work was revolutionary and gave inspiration to many other filmmakers. His unwavering discipline of creating the best works proves him to be one of the best filmmakers in history. No doubt, his work will be debated and discussed for centuries to come. "

Tags:biography, british, film, vertigo

Abstract
This paper is a reception analysis of "Forgotten Silver," a fake documentary by New Zealand film director Peter Jackson. The paper focuses on the movie, which purported to document the discovery of long-lost New Zealand filmmaker Collin McKenzie, and contended that this re-discovery was of such importance that it would result in the re-writing of cinematic history. The paper explains that the film uses popular New Zealand settler myths such as the white-settler pioneer who masters nature, the rural pastoral paradise, the "do-it-yourself" Kiwi bloke, and an enterprise culture that favors a "have-a-go" spirit. The paper concludes that the film is a lesson in two things: myths do not make the state great, and documentaries are not always truthful (especially when they are fake).

From the Paper
"Forgotten Silver is exploitative. On one hand, it exploits its audience in the sense movies exploit some mundane premise of sex or violence to attract spectatorship. This is correct only to a certain degree, and most especially of the network and its various media partners, such as the Listener: the promise to depict the discovery of a national treasure (in the form of a person) was used in print and advertising to attract viewer-ship. On the other hand, once spectators were drawn to the program, the movie came to exploit the national myths of the culture in order to create an emotional bond between their idea of what Pakeha identity constitutes. The movie also mocks the audience's expectations of what documentary should be, and the application of those expected modes towards the cultural themes commonly accepted by the state's predominantly white population. Conrich and Smith write:"

Tags:McKenzie, Collin, Maoriland, Kiwi

Abstract
A critique of the fast food industry that discusses Eric Schlosser's book, "Fast Food Nation" and Morgan Spurlock's documentary film, "Supersize Me". It contends that both present ample evidence that the health and longevity of the American people are being severely damaged by the fast food industry.

From the Paper
"Eric Schlosser's, "Fast Food Nation" uses the truth to persuade his readers of the reality of the facts and opinions presented in his book. Unlike the devious deceptive and manipulative methods used by the fast food industry to stimulate sales on ..."

Tags:obesity, fast, food

Abstract
This paper is a historical film review of the John Irvin movie, "Hamburger Hill." It examines the movie for content, historical accuracy and context.

From the Paper
"John Irvin's film, "Hamburger Hill," details the events of the battle in the A Shau Valley to gain control of Dong Ap Bia (a small mountain) during the Vietnam War. It was a ten-day battle, fought up hill, from May 10, 1969 though May 20. Most of the film takes place on Dong Ap Bia (Hill 937), nicknamed "Hamburger Hill" by the soldiers who fought there because of the high amount of casualties. The casualty rate of this battle was 70%, (Larson 1). It consisted of several battalions attacking and retreating for ten days up the hill. Scenes in the movie that show the men scrambling up and sliding down the hill in rain and mud being bombarded by grenades and machine gun fire are horrifically graphic and, unfortunately, accurate, (Larson 1)."

Tags:film, hamburger, history, irvin, movie, review, soldiers, vetrans, vietnam, war

Abstract
This paper explores the validity of genre theory in cinema by comparing and contrasting the works of renowned director, Oliver Stone. The author looks in particular at two of his films, "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers". It attempts to prove the significance of genre theory in cinema as a basis for the study and indexation of film.

From the Paper
"The genre theory is both constraining to film producers and beneficial to audiences. Audiences will go into films advertised as being of a certain genre with a pre-concluded set of expectations from the film. The director focused on in this essay works predominantly in one Genre. 7 of his 10 films published before 1994 were Historical Dramas, with the remaining 3 being horror and Fictional Drama. The two films to be analyzed will be JFK, 1991, a Docudrama Based on the 1963 assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy, and Natural Born Killers, 1994, a controversial look at two white trash serial killers/mass murderers who become Tabloid-TV darlings thanks to a sensational press."

Tags:analysis, cinema, comparative, film, genre, natural, killers, kennedy, born, vietnam, platoon