Over the past years, documentary films have evolved from the conventionally perceived genre meant for entertainment or informal learning to an active experience that significantly shapes and critiques policy questions and social issues. Consequently, with the fast-evolving trends in documentary production, content, reach, and distribution, researchers have recently developed unique research approaches beyond textual analysis to include cultural production and ethical considerations in documentary films. An in-depth review of two documentaries; American Murder: The family next door (2020) and The vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021), reveals the unique representation of reality in expository documentaries, whereby the films offer vital moral, social, and ethical lessons through the authoritative commentary of a real-life event. A comparison of the films reveals the true nature of expository documentaries, as an educative genre, meant to convince the audience, through strong arguments and evidence, of the accuracy of the narrator’s point of view regarding social and ethical issues.
The vanishing at the Cecil Hotel and American Murder: The family next door are two exciting documentary films. In both cases, the filmmakers drew inspiration from actual historical events for their stories. Both of the documentaries fall within the category of explanatory documentaries, which are documentaries that provide footage and support the film’s argument. It is not uncommon for historical events to be re-created in the form of historical documentaries. The documentary The disappearing at the Cecil hotel is based on a true story, and the Cecil Hotel has been the site of more than 80 deaths. The Cecil Hotel event is just one of several disappearances of women who later died. The reality in the American Murder documentary is a common occurrence in the contemporary world (Tanenbaum 2020). Most people fail to realize that even the closest people, such as family, could be why they lose their lives. The two documentaries under analysis in this text share various similarities and differences in the way the filmmakers depict their perspective of reality to influence public action.
Documentary films began towards the end of the nineteenth century as visual poetry or a trip to exotic lifestyles and lands. Since its infancy, the term “documentary” has been misunderstood. It was named “documentaries” by some early filmmakers who recorded moving images of real-life occurrences in the late 1800s (Aufderheide 2007). Even after decades of use, the phrase was still not established. The film’s subject matter may have been referred to as travel films, actualities, educationals, or interest films. Any documentary’s meaning is shaped by the viewer’s own experience and interest in the world and the way the filmmaker presents it to them. Previous experiences also shape viewers’ expectations; they do not want to be duped or misled. True things are what the audience expects to hear (Aufderheide 2007). There is no requirement that the information is presented objectively, nor does it have to be the whole truth. Occasionally, the director will use poetic license and metaphorically refer to reality (an image of the Colosseum representing, say, a European vacation). On the other hand, a documentary should be an accurate depiction of a person’s experience of the world and reality.
To the audience, documentary films are significant because they appreciate them specifically and uniquely for their authenticity, accuracy, and reliability. By misleading the audience, documentarians confuse not just viewers but also the general public, which may act on the information presented in the film (Nisbet and Aufderheide 2009). Films like documentaries contribute to viewers’ understanding of their role in the world, molding them as public actors. Thus, the significance of documentaries is tied to the concept of the public as a social phenomenon. John Dewey demonstrated convincingly that the public, the vital body of a democratic society, is not simply the sum of its parts or individuals (Aufderheide 2007). An organized group of individuals who can work together to achieve a common goal and hold powerful institutions accountable describes a public (Nisbet and Aufderheide 2009). People can belong to as many publics as there are occasions and issues to bring them to light because they can all speak with each other about the shared issues they confront. As a result, public life revolves around communication.
“Reality is a precious resource,” as communications researcher James Carey put it. When it comes to reality, people’s perceptions of the world are more important than reality (Aufderheide 2007). People’s minds are the most valuable real estate in the world, and the media directly impacts it. For its assertions of truth, the documentary is a powerful reality-shaping medium (Kluge 1980). Unlike fiction films, documentaries are firmly rooted in reality and claim to reveal something vital about it (Kluge 1980). Therefore, it is crucial to explore various documentary films and understand how the filmmakers combine various sources such as crime footage and police evidence to present a unique perception of reality that guides public action and knowledge about social vices and reality.
American Murder: The Family Next Door re-ignited public interest in the murder of Shanann Watts along with her two young daughters, Bella and Celeste. After going missing from their home in Colorado in 2018, the case became well-known across the United States (Qureshi 2020). When Shanann Watts’ husband, Chris Watts, the father of her three children, learned of their abduction, he appeared to be perplexed and made public pleas for their safe return (Popplewell 2020). Eventually, it was revealed that Chris, who was having an affair with Nichol Kessinger, killed his wife and children.
As a crime documentary, Jenny Popplewell’s film relies on historical material to tell its story, rather than the typical narrator and emotive interviews common in television shows. Video confessionals and text conversations between Shanann and her husband serve as the film’s primary source of narrative material (Popplewell 2020). Eventually, the evidence from Christopher’s confession and the video evidence from police body cameras and polygraphs come together to form reality from the filmmaker’s perspective (Qureshi 2020). There is a strange intimacy to the final product. However, it is also broad enough to show how far a couple’s online portrayal of happiness differs from the heartbreaking reality of their relationship’s eventual dissolution.
“Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel” features essential elements of a reputable true-crime documentary: a strange hotel, unscrupulous individuals, and a tragically relatable victim. The Netflix documentary examines the baffling vanishing and death of Elisa Lam in 2013 during the student’s solo trip to Los Angeles (Framke 2021). After being recorded on tape acting abnormally at the ill-famed Cecil Hotel downtown, the victim’s body is found in the water tank of the 15-story skyscraper one night.
Director Joe Berlinger and his editors do an excellent job capturing the infamous history of the Cecil Hotel, which serves as the perfect backdrop for Elisa Lam’s mystery. When it comes to world-building, the documentary perfectly depicts the hotel and the surrounding area through the use of mythical stories and old camera footage (Framke 2021). Lam’s life and the events preceding her demise are first explored in detail in the documentary series, followed by an examination of the scene of her murder and the long-term consequences that followed that terrible night of her disappearance (Framke 2021). The Netflix’s original is a standout for its production values, not just its story. The Cecil Hotel and Elisa Lam’s reality are expertly re-created using interviews, footage, and stock actors.
By utilizing a diverse range of cinematic accents, Berlinger and his production team show off their skills to the utmost extent possible, presenting a gripping narrative. This true-crime documentary series uses symmetrical vintage filters and carefully selected color palettes to create a striking emotional contrast to its gloomy material (Framke 2021). Moreover, Berlinger moves beyond the immediate events surrounding the backdrop of Lam’s death explores how the murder has motivated groups of internet investigators and sleuths, almost a decade later, to seek justice for Lam. Therefore, it is evident that Berlinger’s depiction of reality through the series triggers widespread social action and public outcry for justice. Many documentary filmmakers cannily design their productions for entertaining the audience; hence they are storytellers, not journalists. Therefore, they are movies about real life, such that they portray real situations through the producer’s eyes, who decide what story to tell and its purpose.
Bibliography
Aufderheide, Patricia. Documentary film: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press, 2007.
Framke, Caroline. “’Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel’ Threatens to Fall down Its Own Rabbit Hole: TV Review.” Variety. Variety, February 9, 2021. https://variety.com/2021/tv/reviews/crime-scene-vanishing-at-the-cecil-hotel-review-elisa-lam-1234903600/.
Kluge, Alexander, Klaus Eder, and Robert Savage. “Debate on the Documentary Film: Conversation with Klaus Eder, 1980.” In Alexander Kluge: Raw Materials for the Imagination, edited by Tara Forrest, 197–208. Amsterdam University Press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt46n2tx.14.
Nisbet, Matthew C., and Patricia Aufderheide. “Documentary film: Towards a research agenda on forms, functions, and impacts.” Mass Communication and Society 12, no. 4 (2009): 450-456.
Qureshi, Bilal. “‘American Murder: The Family Next Door’ Review: Tragedy Reconstructed.” New York Times. September 30, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/movies/american-murder-the-family-next-door-review.html (accessed February, 2022)
Popplewell, Jenny, director. American Murder: The family next door. Knickerbockerglory, 2020. 1 hr., 23 min. https://www.netflix.com/ke/title/81130130
Tanenbaum, Ross. “’American Murder: The Family next Door’: What It Got Wrong …” Film Daily, October 12, 2020. https://filmdaily.co/news/american-murder-chris-watts-murders/.
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