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American Documentary Film
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American Documentary Film
Projecting the Nation
Jeff rey Geiger
Edinburgh University Press
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© Jeff rey Geiger, 2011
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
22 George Square, Edinburgh
www.euppublishing.com
Typeset in 11/13 Ehrhardt
by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and
printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7486 2147 7 (hardback)
ISBN 978 0 7486 2148 4 (paperback)
The right of Jeff rey Geiger
to be identifi ed as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to reproduce material previously published elsewhere.
Every eff ort has been made to trace the copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked,
the publisher will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the fi rst opportunity.
Published with the support of the Edinburgh University Scholarly Publishing Initiatives Fund.
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of illustrations ix
List of abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 Novelties, Spectacles and the Documentary Impulse 17
Case studies: Blacksmith Scene (1893), Buff alo Dance (1894),
Mess Call (1896)
2 Virtual Travels and the Tourist Gaze 40
Case study: Nanook of the North (1922)
3 Serious Play: Documentary and the Avant-Garde 65
Case study: Manhatta (1921)
4 Activism and Advocacy: The Depression Era 86
Case study: The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936)
5 Idea-Weapons: Documentary Propaganda 121
Case study: The Memphis Belle (1944)
6 ‘Uncontrolled’ Situations: Direct Cinema 154
Case study: Grey Gardens (1975)
7 Relative Truths: Documentary and Postmodernity 186
Case study: Tongues Untied (1989)
8 Media Wars: Documentary Dispersion 217
Case study: Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Bibliography 242
Index 263
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Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to the British Academy for awarding a grant during the
early research stages, and to the University of Essex for a generous sabbatical
(2008–9). I’m lucky to work in a congenial and stimulating environment, so
must thank the members of the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre
Studies for their support. Many thanks, also, to the following for their gener-
ous feedback: Sanja Bahun, Shohini Chaudhuri, Ian Scott, Randy Rutsky,
Eithne Quinn and John Haynes. Students in my documentary seminars have
helped me to crystallize and challenge many ideas discussed here; I would
thank especially Nic Blower, Lina Alhafez, Kirsten Jones, Mark Tasker, Chloe
Wilson and Richard Craig. Daniel Rellstab, Christiane Schlote and Danièle
Klapproth kindly invited me to the interdisciplinary ‘Out of War’ confer-
ence in Bern, which fueled ideas for Chapters 5 and 8. I also appreciated the
help of staff at the following libraries and archives: the British Film Institute;
the British Library; the UCLA Film and Television archives; the Margaret
Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the George
Eastman House; Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University; the
Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley; the Butler Library
at Columbia University; and the University of Illinois at Chicago Library,
Special Collections. Sarah Edwards at EUP deserves credit for pointing me in
the right direction early on, while Esmé Watson and Vicki Donald have been
the ideal editors, with Peter Williams helpfully working on the manuscript.
Finally, thanks to Hal Gladfelder who, with our selfl ess cats, has kept me
focused on life beyond the screen.
Part of Chapter 8, revised for inclusion here, was published as ‘Taking Aim:
New Documentary and War’, in ZAA: Language, Literature, and Culture, 56.2
(2008): 153–74.
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List of illustrations
1 Midway Plaisance with Ferris Wheel 21
2 Javanese house builders 25
3 Plate 188, ‘Dancing [Fancy] woman draped [Miss Larrigan]’
(1885–7) 28
4 Mess Call (1896) 37
5 Flyer for Lyman H. Howe’s ‘22nd Semi-Annual Tour’ (1906) 48
6 Nanook of the North (1922) 53
7 Ballet Mécanique (1924) 68
8 Manhatta (1921) 74
9 The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) 108
10 The Spanish Earth (1937) 113
11 Native Land (1942) 116
12 The Memphis Belle (1944) 145
13 Ruins of Wendenstrasse, Hamburg (‘Operation Gomorrha’,
July 1943) 148
14 Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963) 165
15 Grey Gardens (1975) 176
16 The Thin Blue Line (1988) 197
17 Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1988) 201
18 Tongues Untied (1989) 203
19 ‘Target Iraq’ graphic (2003) 224
20 Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) 229
21 Bowling for Columbine (2002) 234
22 The Real Face of Occupation (2004) 237
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