Documentaries as Advertising

February 23, 2020 11:09 AM

From Food Evolution to At the Fork to Farmland to The Painful Truth, corporate interests are turning to indie documentaries for influence (100Reporters): Though most moviegoers might imagine that a director’s only client is his or her audience, the reality of documentary filmmaking is more complicated, as industry groups, advertising agencies and companies today hire filmmakers to tell their stories, which are released and streamed to the public as independent documentaries. In much the way that Facebook users have been targeted unwittingly for political propaganda and misinformation campaigns, viewers of documentary films have become captive, unsuspecting audiences for industry messaging that is shaping how we think about controversial topics, whether it is how we should grow food, manage the opioid addiction crisis, or address climate change.
posted by not_the_water (13 comments total)

OH oh oh. This is a bummer. I really liked The Garden. I know documentary filmmaking is not a moneymaking biz, but that the director went from showing the South Central Farm's struggles to this?

New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle regrets agreeing to be interviewed for Food Evolution, calling it a “highly sophisticated propaganda film for the food biotechnology industry.” She is featured in the film saying she hasn’t seen convincing evidence that GMOs are unsafe to eat, a statement that she says is so “hugely out of context” with her real views that she repeatedly asked Kennedy to remove her from the film. He refused.

posted by spamandkimchi at 12:00 PM on February 23, 2020 [10 favorites]

I mean, plenty of documentaries are truly great work, doing work about topics unexpected and finding delight and insight and shining a light into the dark corners.

But there are plenty of documentaries which are just plain screeds by the filmmaker, regardless of their funding. And plenty of crackpot rants disguised as documentaries, too. And the line between reporting and opinion has blurred a lot over late, and documentary film making hasn't escaped.

AND... as the firehose of streaming platform needs ever more content to keep its pipes full, previous possible gatekeepers about quality or reliability of source have fallen away and it all gains the same credibility by being a box to click on those platforms you pay for.

Disinformation is becoming nearly impossible. If only we'd taught everyone media literacy back in the early 90s like I was trying to advocate for in the elementary school where I was working. But the effort wasn't well-met then, and certainly never gained traction despite multiple attempts across generations.
posted by hippybear at 12:07 PM on February 23, 2020 [5 favorites]

There's a Netflix documentary series about Chinese food (Flavorful Origins) that's pretty interesting and well produced, yet is clearly blatant propaganda. I always get such a weird vibe when I watch it.
posted by sjswitzer at 1:02 PM on February 23, 2020 [4 favorites]

And plenty of crackpot rants disguised as documentaries, too.

I ... I kinda blame streaming video for this, inasmuch as it has substantially reduced the barriers to getting a large audience, and the various streaming services are all desperate for shovelware. Prime Video, for example, is chock-full of "documentaries" that are clearly propaganda made by idiots for viewing by morons.
posted by aramaic at 1:24 PM on February 23, 2020 [3 favorites]

It's a mistake to think that, once upon a time, documentary film making was beholden only to the absolute truth. Nor that the blame goes to streaming services desperate for content. The documentary market may, in fact, have always been significantly populated by people with an axe to grind. For better or worse.

At every step of the way, it's now far easier to produce and distribute professional looking films of any kind than it's ever been. As "documentary" began to distinguish itself from "educational" and "public service" type of film making, it's clear that as a medium, it's beholden to whomever if funding each particular production. From Chariots of the Gods to Ancient Aliens and beyond, questionable to shitty documentary film making is clearly a long standing tradition.
posted by 2N2222 at 2:14 PM on February 23, 2020 [20 favorites]

Sorry but if you're being funded by corporate cash, you are no longer "Indie" (Despite the fact it's not a film studio funding you).

Same with games that are "indie" studios that have massive bucks tossed their way by publishers, but just aren't published by the publisher (looking at you, Epic Store... Double Fine Games, etc...)

I get that indie doesn't necessarily mean amateur, but it's still disheartening to see the word completely ripped out of its meaning, but I suppose once "Indie" music got signed to majors they weren't indie, either, and we shouldn't have been considering REM or Grunge bands "indie" at that point.
posted by symbioid at 2:44 PM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

Dick DeBortolo's secondary comedy podcast "The Giz Fiz" includes a segment from some decades-old "educational" film. Yesterday's was a 1961 piece on the Future of Communications... sponsored by Bell Telephone. Those were the days when the "documentary" market was significantly populated by people with an axe to grind and the resources to buy lots of axes.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:45 PM on February 23, 2020 [5 favorites]

Just watch old MST3K episodes. The 'shorts' were routinely bald-faced propaganda from big companies presented as if they were journalism.
posted by Scattercat at 3:25 PM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

I remember watching Waiting for Superman on an airplane once, and being 0% surprised to learn that it had been made by an industry group or something. It really felt like straight-up propaganda from start to finish.
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:36 PM on February 23, 2020 [4 favorites]

Went to AskMe for an antidote to the sadness induced by the article and, lo and behold, found this post listing great independent documentaries to watch at my leisure. Thanks Metafilter!
posted by q*ben at 6:28 PM on February 23, 2020 [7 favorites]

Also, looking at a list of actual indie documentaries, it strikes me that a lot of the greatest nonfiction storytelling out there is done without a powerful thesis statement to knock you over the head with. Nuance, depth, and ambiguity are all characteristics I love in documentary filmmaking, and the lack thereof in most Netflix shovelware docs is probably the reason I can’t stomach most of them (tho I did cackle with glee during The Game Changers).
posted by q*ben at 6:33 PM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

Several of my friends (older & retired Canadians) recommended the Netflix Doc American Factory, which is about a Chinese company setting up near Dayton, Ohio, and comes with a short extra from those nice Obama people, Barack & Michelle, where they introduce the filmmakers. The "plot" centres around the differing expectations of the US vs. Chinese workers, and how misapprehensions on both sides affect the factory's results, especially when there's an effort to unionize the American workers. It's clear that the Chinese workers have a completely different attitude: they're there to work & make money, & they're willing to work 18 hours, 365 days a year if necessary. And the Americans and Chinese workers get along pretty well, in spite of their differences and the company's oppressive management style.

Pardon my cynicism, but I thought the Obamas and the nice Midwestern hippy doc-makers were nothing but a setup for one of the scenes 3/4 of the way through, where things aren't going so well for the plant, production is not meeting targets, and they appoint one of the senior Chinese foremen to manage production. His introductory speech to the Chinese workers translated from Mandarin is nice, and then he says, "Just remember, we're better than them." I mean, yes, it's a thing that he said, but it stands out to me as the singularly important message of the whole film. I thought it was incredibly manipulative. Who benefits from this kind of messaging?
posted by sneebler at 8:55 AM on February 24, 2020 [1 favorite]

sneebler, I couldn't finish American Factory. Something about the tone put me right off.
posted by fiercecupcake at 12:51 PM on February 24, 2020