• Affective radicality: prisons, Palestine, and interactive documentary

    Author(s):
    Ryan Watson (see profile)
    Date:
    2017
    Group(s):
    Film Studies
    Subject(s):
    Political participation, Affect (Psychology), Documentary films--Production and direction, Documentary films--Authorship, Interactive multimedia
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Interactive Documentary, Sharon Daniel, Zohar Kfir, Activism, Affect, Documentary filmmaking, interactive media, Theories of affect
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/wway-s414
    Abstract:
    This essay analyzes two recent interactive documentary projects: Sharon Daniel’s Public Secrets (2006), an exploration of the prison industrial complex through the testimonies of female inmates in California, and Zohar Kfir’s Points of View (2014) which “maps” Palestinian video advocacy projects made for and/or disseminated by B’Tselem, a human rights organization working in the occupied territories. I argue that the interactive documentary form, as deployed by Daniel and Kfir, draws on the legacies of radical documentary practice, but offers new possibilities for engagement and intervention. The interactive documentary form functions as a structuring device for a wealth of affectively powerful witnesses, testimonies, and varied forms of evidence. This essay explores how interactive documentaries allow viewers/users a multi-faceted affective encounter with a range of subjects and evidence. This form, in concert with a radical political stance, I argue, is a locus for the representation of and viewer/user critical engagement with broad systemic problems, renders visible hidden structures of violence and power, and engenders an “affective radicality” that moves viewers/users into larger networks of political discourse, militant activism, and practices of resistance.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1080/14680777.2017.1326560
    Publisher:
    Informa UK Limited
    Pub. Date:
    2017-6-5
    Journal:
    Feminist Media Studies
    Volume:
    17
    Issue:
    4
    Page Range:
    600 - 615
    ISSN:
    1468-0777,1471-5902
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    4 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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