Film Teaching Activity

This activity is meant to spawn discussion about the representation of reality in documentary film after already having shown Nanette Burstein’s documentary American Teen in a previous class. Burstein’s film is widely criticized for its “constructedness.” She inserts animated scenes seamlessly into the plot, happens to be around at the right place and time when important phone calls and unplanned illicit activities occur, and subjects are typecast to fit personas and scenes one would already be familiar with from previous teenage films.

Begin the class by breaking the students into six groups. Each of these six groups will be assigned the task of seeing how well Burstein’s film adheres to the six modes of documentary film that Bill Nichols lays out in his book, Introduction to Documentary. The six modes are: poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, and performative. After everyone gets situated in their groups, hand each group a slip of paper that explains their mode, and ask them to write down how well American Teen fits their mode using examples from the film.

POETIC MODE GROUP

This group will be in charge of noting any emphasis on visual associations not explicitly pointed out by the director, whether there is a rhythmical quality to the film, and if the film is formally organized.

EXPOSITORY MODE GROUP

This group will be in charge of noting any verbal commentary and/or argumentative logic within the film. Commentary and argumentative logic do not necessarily have to be explicit though. This mode deals with how people identify with the documentary in general.

OBSERVATONAL MODE GROUP

This group will be in charge of noting any emphasis on the everyday life of the subjects as observed by an unobtrusive camera.

PARTICIPATORY MODE GROUP

This group will be in charge of noting any interaction between the filmmaker and the subject. This includes interviews, having the director in a shot, or even including archival footage to examine issues.

REFLEXTIVE MODE GROUP

This group will be in charge of paying attention to assumptions and conventions that govern documentary filmmaking. In essence, they are to point out the constructedness of the film’s representation of reality.

PERFORMATIVE MODE GROUP

This group will be in charge of addressing the director’s engagement with the subject or filmmaking process itself to assess his or her objectivity during filming.

After the groups have assessed how well Burstein’s film addresses these modes of documentary films, have them report their findings back to the class as a whole. Discussion should be lively if groups have thought hard about their modes. For instance, the observational mode group will probably assert that Burstein’s film is unequivocally a documentary because it shows the everyday life of teens. However, the reflexive group will probably counter by pointing to the fact that Burstein uses a fair amount of animation, which disrupts the reality she is depicting.

** If discussion seems to be going nowhere, or students are not doing well with analyzing the film according the modes of documentary film, have the class view the first 15 or 20 minutes (just enough to establish the personalities of each character) of The Breakfast Club, by John Hughes, and explain to them that while Burstein’s film is classified as a documentary, Hughes’ film is considered a fictional teen drama. Keeping the students in their six groups, have them discuss and write down any similarities between the two films or any ideas that Burstein may have taken from Hughes. Then, come together as a class to discuss whether or not Burstein could have manipulated reality in order to create a teen film similar to those that came before hers.