Part 1:
Watch at least three documentaries social action
documentaries of varying genres. Create a blog a blog that analyses each
documentary (at least 600 words) . In your blog you
MUST analyse
a) Explain the
purpose of each documentary (e.g. changing attitudes; raise awareness;
create access to media production for non-traditional groups; challenge
dominant representations and agendas, etc.)
b) Explain the
impact of social action in each documentary i.e. what impact does the
documentary have on society
c) Explain the techniques used
in the documentary (i.e. by the producer)to help create social action and
community media production work with some assistance
You should use high quality fluent technical vocabulary throughout your
work. All your references MUST be fully acknowledge in your blog.
MDMA Is
Killing the Planet + 4 other ways we are trashing the planet.
I have been assigned the
task of researching social action documentaries. The first documentary that I
looked into was "MDMA is killing the planet + 4 other ways we are trashing
the planet. This documentary explores a range of ecological issues that are
facing our planet. This documentary was created by vice, which is a current
affairs channel that not only creates videos but also posts articles on a
website.
Purpose
- https://youtu.be/fU3C8o8I6GQ
- https://youtu.be/nRm6EjY8ZWo
- https://youtu.be/wD4sWQG2DnQ
- na. (na). Why Are Drugs So Hard to Quit?. Available: https://teens.drugabuse.gov/videos/videos/why-are-drugs-so-hard-quit. Last accessed
- na. (2019). Plastic Oceans UK. Available: https://plasticoceans.uk/. Last accessed 21/11/2019.
- na. (NA). https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/help-me-out-staying-safe-online. Available: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/help-me-out-staying-safe-online. Last accessed 21/11/2019.
The purpose of this social
action documentary is to raise awareness, change the attitude and to increase
knowledge on five very important environmental issues, it is part of a series
called environmental alarm clock, which aims to explore the way in which us as
humans are destroying the planet. The five key issues that are discussed within
this social action documentary are the pollution of the oceans in Barcelona,
how Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) production is killing the trees, that
our human DNA is being changed due to air pollution in Poland, the river Thames
is becoming full of faces infested wet wipes and finally the rapid increase of
forest fires across the word but specifically in Portugal. This documentary has
many educational factors; even if someone does not change their actions because
of this video at least they are now informed on the subject and what the
correct actions would be to take. Within the documentary they use many shocking
images that will impact the audience and make them feel some sort of sympathy
or fear that makes them want to change their actions. I believe this social
action documentary is aiming for urgent global change.
Impact
The impact that this
documentary will have on society is hopefully that people will begin to think
before they act. By this I mean that by demonstrating to people the dramatic
effects that there everyday actions are having on the world will potentially
make someone re think and stop making decisions without thinking about the
consequences of their actions. I believe that these social action documentaries
impact will be , reducing using single use plastic, wet wipes, coal due to the
toxic effect it is having on our world and by raising awareness for forest
fires, and showing the dramatic effect it has had on the community as well as
the environment it will hopefully influence people to stop using greenhouse
gasses, helping the issue of climate change . However, one thing that I do not
believe is going be impacted by this social action documentary is the
production of the party drug MDMA. This is because drugs are extremely
addictive and, it is a physical thing that humans feel and we are innately
selfish, people are not going to reduce their intake due to the fact that
we are killing trees. You can raise awareness for the future generation not to
take/purchase/manufacture MDMA; however for the generation that is already
hooked I do not believe it will have much impact. It is stated on the Nida for
Teens website that when you have a very strong need to take a substance,
even if you know taking the substance is going to hurt you. Your brain is your body’s
a control system. It will sends out signals that dictate the actions and decisions
you make. When someone consumes drugs, they change the chemical signals that
are sent to your brain. This will start to affect your decisions, your choices and
the way you process emotions. Drugs will affect the parts of your brain that
normally receive enjoyment; this will affect all the things that someone will
enjoy. After prolonged use the drug becomes more and more important to the user.
The initial effects of the drug start to ware off the more you take it, so the
person needs to take more to feel the same effects. This professional perspective
helps to support my point as it explains why mentally drugs are so hard to
quit, it makes your body feels like it needs something to remain happy and will
eventually become dependent on it. This is why I do not think that one video on
how the creation of MDMA is killing the environment will stop people from
taking the drug, if your body feels like it cannot function without the
drug it is likely you will continue taking it.
Techniques
The techniques that Vice used
to collect the data for the documentary were interviews and observations. The
observations that vice made were basic but effective, when discussing the
issues of plastic in Barcelona, they filmed the host going out and collecting
tonnes of plastic and rubbish out of the ocean. Other charities such as
"Plastic Oceans" are also help to clear the plastic pollution out of
the ocean; they stated that "More than 8 million tonnes of plastic enter
the ocean each year". Facts like this help create an impact onto the
community in hope that people will stop using single use plastics.
The filming of this will of
been effective because it is physical evidence that the viewers/audience can
visualise. After only 30 minutes of rubbish collecting they had a copious
amount to take back to shore. Hopefully this physical evidence will help people
to make a necessary change. The advantages of these types of research are that
you will always have a very detailed response due to feelings and emotions that
the person has on the topic, it also means that you may be given a response
that was not previously considered and gives a broader perspective on the
topic. Finally it allows people to explain their answers, hopefully avoiding
any unnecessary pre judgment. However, there are some disadvantages to this
type of research, the first is that it is more time consuming, while not
studying many people. This is because usually budget does not allow for the
amount of staff and equipment that is needed to interview that many people.
Some results can be very subjective meaning that they are difficult to compare.
Finally because the results are going to be different they will hard to
generalize. In the documentary they demonstrate that they have collected both
qualitative and quantitative data. I know this because not only do they hold
interviews with people who are involved or affected by the environmental issues
but they quote statistics throughout to emphasis and back up the points they
are trying to make, for example it is predicted that, by 2050 there could be
more plastic in the ocean than fish.
Don't
Blame Facebook
The next
documentary that I am going to discuss is "Don't Blame Facebook"
which was created by the YouTube channel Real Stories. This documentary shares multiple
different real life stories of innocent posts that have gone wrong. It explores
the deeper rooted issues with social media and the consequences that can occur
when you make a mistake online.
Purpose
The purpose is to get people
to be cautious about what they post online and what they access on the
internet. This documentary also educates people on the serious consequences
that will happen if you do misuse the internet such as fines, arrest and even
jail time. One of the stories that are discussed in the documentary is about a
girl who lived in Hamburg, Germany named Thessa. She plans a small 16th
birthday for her and friends but when she posted the invites on Facebook she
mistakenly made them public instead of private. This resulted in 1500 people
replying to the invite and details of her party going viral. Even though her
parents cancelled it and called security this did not discourage the public.
Over 1500 people flooded to the streets and despite the worries of police the
street party was peaceful. However, not all accidentally huge house parties go
as well as this. A very similar situation happened to a boy named Jordan
Wrights who lived in the UK, 400 people showed up to his house and chaos took
over. This ended up with riot police showing up, with dogs and helicopters.
People were drunk and throwing bottles at police, incidents like this can
result in lawsuits, and even people getting arrested if enough damage is
caused. Shocking stories like this will hopefully make people think twice
before they post something on social media. It shows that even if you have your
privacy settings on high you can never be to sure who is seeing what you post
online. On the BBC website it advises that you must "be aware of your
digital footprint", this means that people need to remember once you post
something it stays online forever. This helps to accentuate the purpose of this
documentary, if you do not want something to be online for the whole world to
see, do not post it!
Impact
The impact of this social
action documentary will hopefully be that society in general will become more
cautious about the actions they take on social media. By demonstrating the
awful effects that an innocent post can have, it will hopefully deter people
from posting things online before they think. However, due to our nation's
obsession with their phones I think that it is going to be difficult to get
people to unplug and focus on the real world. The impact we are looking for
with this documentary is international change of people becoming sensible on
the internet. This is because the documentary focuses on issues in different
countries. Even though it may be a English documentary, it tells stories from
all over the world and shows what a widespread effect social media can have.
For example one of the stories is about a boy who got detained by American
police on his holiday to LA, this is all because of an innocent tweet that
could have been considered a terrorist threat. The impact that this will
hopefully have is that people all over the world will start being more cautious
on line. In my opinion another thing that society constantly see as a direct
impact of social media is depression, anxiety, body issues (e.g. body
dysmorphia and anorexia) and in the most extreme cases suicide. Because people
in today's day and age are constantly uploading there life on social media such
as Instagram, Facebook and snapchat, it has brought many social issues along
with it.
Whether this is for
validation, likes or simply out of boredom, we are a nation obsessed. What
comes along with constant uploads is a lot of pressure and cyber bullying. When
it comes to pressure we constantly see airbrushed models with perfect bodies,
people desire to be like them and then can become very critical of them. This
can result in a lack of body confidence and even self-hatred. Because social
media is such a broad platform there is plenty of space for unpleasant people
and trolls. This usually turns into cyber bullying and for the person on the
receiving end of these spiteful comments can be pushed into multiple mental
health issues such as depression and anxiety.
Techniques
To gain information for this social
action documentary Real Stories used the techniques of interviews with
targeted people who have all made mistakes on the internet. I do not think that
the techniques that were used to collect the data were particularly detailed
enough to have the desired impact. This is because the majority of the
stories will be biased and opinion based (qualitative data). This means that
that the results are difficult to compare to one another due to the subjective
nature of the questions. Moreover, because less people are interviewed due
to the high cost of equipment and staff the answers they get are much harder to
generalize. However, just because this social action documentary did not have
much effect on me but, does not mean it may not impact other people. This is
because the interview allows for emotional response it may connote some empathy
within people who are watching it.
Living
Through Gay Conversion Therapy
The final social action
documentary that I am going to discuss is "We went to a gay
Conversion therapy camp". It
explores what happens within a conversion camp, how they
Are making people who are gay
feel as if there is something wrong with them, which is
Shame
producing and cruel message. They interview many different people who have been
involved with the camps in some way. This documentary was created by
vice, which is a current affairs channel that not only creates videos but also
posts articles on a website.
Purpose
The
purpose of this social action documentary is to raise awareness of how
ineffective and harmful gay conversion camps are. Another purpose of this
documentary is to challenge dominant agendas; in every state in America gay
conversion camps are still legal and still occurring. Powerful facts like this
help demonstrate the objective of this documentary. One minute into the video
it explains how the camps are an "industry profiting off the harm and
sometimes death of kids". Because this statement is almost immediately
said at the start of the documentary it shows there intent from the
offset. Another purpose of this documentary is to help reduce suicide
rates within gay people. I know this because it is constantly stressed about
how detrimental the effects of gay conversion camps are on people's mental
health. As a result of this the only openly gay senator in New York Brad
Hoylman, is pushing for a ban on sending minors to these camps in the state of
New York. I believe that this documentary is aiming for national change across America;
they want every state in the USA to ban gay conversion therapy camps and
restorative therapy for minors. At the end of the documentary it shows at home
video clips of people who have survived the camps, this personal anecdote will
hopefully connote empathy within the watchers and evoke change within their
actions.
Impact
The impact of this
social action documentary will hopefully be that eventually gay conversion caps
and restorative therapy for minors is banned. The reason they do not want to
ban it all together is because they believe that adults can make an informed
decision. If they think that it is going to a conversion camp can improve their
quality of life, they should be able to make that decision. However, a
child who is forced to go by a parent of figure of authority such as a priest
or church member can develop a sense of self-hatred as they are told that
something they cannot help makes them innately wrong or sinful. I also think
that another impact that the creators of this documentary want to see is a
reduced suicide rate in young gay people. Many teenagers
have attempted or succeeded to commit suicide as a result of being forced to go
to theses restorative therapy camps. I think that vice are looking for national
change across America, this is because the documentary only focuses on camps in
the USA, and this is not to say that it is not occurring in other countries and
continents but I believe this documentary is solely focussed on change in the
USA.
Techniques:
This
documentary uses qualitative techniques to collect data for the documentary.
The advantages of using qualitative data are that let you study a
wider range of topics. Because you are not limited to numerical
research there are far more topics you can look into, for example in this
documentary they look into not only the conversion camps themselves but
charities that are fighting towards their closure. This gives you a
wider perspective on the issue and helps the watcher to create an informed
decision on what their opinion is on this matter. The results will
always be detailed due to the analysis of behaviour, feelings and opinions.
Because someone is giving an opinion on a personal experience, the story is
usually far more emotive and can help connote empathy and sympathy within the
watcher. Furthermore, it helps people give opinions on topics that were not
necessarily considered. For example in this documentary at the end there are
personal extracts of how survivors were impacted, they each have a different
story which will resonate differently for each person watching it. Interviews
are used throughout this documentary; they have a range of people who all have
diverse opinions on the camps. This helps to create a well-rounded perspective
on the issue as it shows how many different people view it as well as how it affected
them.
Bibliography
Part 2:
Research For Social Action and Community Media Production Work.
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