Introduction
Documentaries tell the real stories in society. They record, reveal, and persuade the community to enforce change on crucial issues. Belinda Smaill refers to documentaries as discourses of sobriety where the true and the real are narrated. Unlike in movies and fictional plays, emotions in documentaries are displayed uniquely. They are portrayed to enable sympathy, affection, and education, whereas fictional plays may go overboard for entertainment. Documentaries subtly display emotions, while fictional plays exaggerate. Emotions can be transmitted among film viewers when they are tailored in a recommended manner. Researchers suggest understanding the circulation of emotions in society to unravel how filmmakers develop documentaries. Emotions create a strong connection between the documentary developers and their audience. Persons can understand and picture accurately what they can feel. Emotions display the human nature of the documentary’s story. More so, through emotion, the documentaries solicit action from appropriate authorities. According to Eastwood (2023, p.6), documentaries are strategic interventions that present to us issues of the marginalized. This research focuses on Al Jazeera English’s documentary on drug addiction in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital. Inferring to Belinda Smaill’s Documentary and the Emotions and other film theory peer-reviewed papers, this literature will illustrate the function of emotion and methods of emotional engagement in the documentary.
Discussion
Screen emotions are majorly associated with fictional movies. This raises debates on the suitability of emotional display in documentaries. Documentaries tell factual stories and show the ills or interesting occurrences in society. Nevertheless, it is important to incorporate emotions in documentaries for a streamlined story. Bondebjerg (2014, p.13) interrelates the cognitive theory with human understanding of our surroundings and how cultural and social conditions may impact us. This cognitive theory emphasizes the importance of emotions in improving our storytelling capability. However, it is important to understand the role of emotional depiction in fictional movies and documentaries. Fictional movies are mainly developed for entertainment. On the other hand, documentaries are created mostly to educate and enlighten (Eastwood, 2023, p.7). Both these genres share similar cinematic properties, such as color, music, sound effects, and camera angles, to achieve the desired mood and tension. Fictional movies, unlike documentaries, can, however, embrace intense editing for entertainment purposes. The use and targets of emotion in the two are significantly different. Emotion may improve message delivery in a documentary and ensure audience concentration in a fictional movie. Documentaries use an objective approach when displaying their emotions since they present real characters and struggles (Eastwood, 2023, p.7). Fictional films may opt for subjective emotional approaches where the audience is presented with virtual characters and occurrences for entertainment. Visch et al. (2010, p.1440) report on viewers’ emotional responses to different movie genres. Viewers reported stronger emotions when they watched fictional movies due to the illusion of being physically present in the narrator’s world. Non-fictional movies reported subtle emotional displays, which can be attributed to their purpose. This shows that film producers have more significant control over emotional manipulation in fictional movies than in documentaries that mainly present real scenarios.
Documentaries have gained popularity over the years, which indicates their relevance to viewers and filmmakers. Belinda Smaill suggests that film producers should look beyond the immediate concerns of film and media to align documentaries with emotions such as care, pain, or disgusts (Smaill, 2009, p.5). This suggests an open-minded approach while selecting the emotional perspectives in documentary creation. Equally, Isobel Armstrong illustrates that rationality is key to defining emotions included in documentaries. Yet initially, documentaries fell short of inclusivity of emotions in their storytelling since they sidelined emotions. Their sobriety aspect could be easily associated with rationality and neglect of subjectivity (Smaill, 2009, p.6). Here, despite the documentaries conveying a deep message, they should include tonnes of creativity to ensure the audience can relate to the narrator’s story. Documentaries are developed to illustrate a special focus on the community in the picture. Emotions in the documentary aid us in understanding situations in which we have no prior experience. Since we are made to relate to alien situations, Smaill (2009, p.6) states that emotions in film are malleable. Malleability describes how one scene can purpose to deliver a specific emotion that will be felt differently when received by the audience. Belinda thus asserts that emotions in documentaries are a tool for the bonding of critics, filmmakers, and viewers. The analysis of documentaries illustrates that appropriate emotional engagement helps transform the audience. Audiences serve as observers of conflicts, pleasures, or social tensions in the documentaries, yet with effective affective engagement, they become participants.
Al Jazeera English’s documentary on the drug rehabilitation centers in Kabul depicts most aspects discussed on the place and function of emotion on the screen to ensure effective audience engagement in documentaries. Al Jazeera’s English documentary uses sad music at the beginning and throughout the film to show the emotions of despair and sadness. According to Eastwood (2023, p.5), music speaks out what speech or pictures cannot effectively communicate. Music and the occurrences in the film must have a meaningful interaction. Belinda applauds Richard Dyer’s work which advocates for emotional encoding through musicality (Smaill, 2009, p.15). For instance, in the Al Jazeera English documentary, there is a subtle chilled sound effect at the beginning of the film, which introduces the viewers to the film. It captures attention and suspense, which is vital in engaging the audience with the storytelling. The film creators also blend sorrowful music with images of people who are consuming drugs (Al Jazeera English, 2023, 00:01:45). Researchers state that tone, melody, and harmony in the music dictates a viewer’s interpretation and connection with events in the background. Murmurs in the background also blend with the music to connect the audience emotionally with the movie. It illustrates the beehive of drug consumers’ activities in their hideouts (Al Jazeera English, 2023, 00:00:42). Lastly, the documentary brings out emotions by blending music with individual experiences. Sorrowful music is played at the end of a response narration of the state of drug addiction in Afghanistan. This highlights emotions of despair to the audience and shows that society needs salvage.
The Al Jazeera documentary brings out emotions through narration. At the film’s start, a random person narrates Afghanistan’s ugly state of addiction. About a third of the country are drug addicts. The documentary is also presented as a narration. The narration occurs in an area where many drug addicts are assembled to partake in their vice (Al Jazeera, 2023, 00:01:15). It links the addiction vices to society’s challenges, such as poverty. When the narrator states that poverty is worse than misery and desperation, and it leads to unemployment and despise of religion, it creates emotion in the viewers (Aljazeera, 2023, 00:01:12). Such statements indicate that drug addicts are victims of numerous challenges in society and may opt to the vice to escape reality. Narrations also help the viewers relate to a documentary’s activities (Schmoelz, 2020, p.182). For instance, Babrak Hosseini, a social worker at IBN Sina Hospital, narrates how engaging it is to capture drug addicts and send them back to rehabilitation. He tags along a few security persons to help in securing the area. The narration shows the extent of damage due to drug consumption in the Afghanistan community. It tells the drawbacks of drug addiction to society. A drug addict who is forced into the rehabilitation center’s bus narrates that he has eight children who will lack a breadwinner (Al Jazeera, 2023, 00:04:46). Here, the audience can understand that drug addiction affects family life. The documentary further incorporates visual storytelling with the narrations. The film producer utilizes visual storytelling in most of the documentary. Visual storytelling illustrates scenes that provoke emotions in the viewers. For instance, as the rehabilitation group walks through the streets to collect drug addicts, there is a scene where an addict rolls on the ground while wailing (Al Jazeera, 2023, 00:04:13). Visual storytelling also arouses emotion in the documentary when the filmmakers focus on objects that help tell the story more engagingly (Bradbury, and Guadagno, 2020, p.342). The documentary focuses on drugs and syringes obtained from the victims’ bodies after the search at the rehabilitation site’s entrance (Al Jazeera, 2023, 00:07:43). Visual storytelling in the Al Jazeera documentary also gives hope. The documentary shows pictures of how the addicts are taken in the rehabilitation center, bathed, and given fresh clothes (Al Jazeera, 2023, 00:09:54). This elicits emotions of hope and joy amongst the audience. The narration talks more about the events on screen and can aid the audience in deeply understanding the characters’ life.
Documentary engages viewer emotion through personal stories, interviews, and testimonies. This provides a first-hand experience of the issue under discussion in the documentary. Viewers can know how the issue impacts society and the likely outcome of the documentary under discussion. Philipps and Mrowczynski (2021, p.62) state that interviews and testimonies often illustrate interactions between two characters which may determine the scene’s outcome. Interviews engage the viewer’s emotions by illustrating the nature of activities in the documentary. Experts such as Malwavi comment on the events in the documentary, which improves the audience’s connections to the unfolding events. This makes the topic more emotionally relatable. Al Jazeera interviews Mawlavi Abdulnasir, who is a Taliban commander and hospital director. Mawlavi is a reformed addict. This interview engages the audience since it portrays the negativity of addiction as it is prohibited by religion. It shows the community’s determination to end addiction (Al Jazeera, 2023, 00:07:18). This interview also communicates hope. If Malwavi managed to reform from the vice and head a rehabilitation center, the viewers would feel inspired. Interviews in the documentary also command empathy from the audience. Malwavi states that the majority of the persons who were captured are regular visitors to the rehabilitation center. This creates concern for the relapse into drug addiction. Belinda states that documentaries focused on politicized identities attract empathy from the audience since they evoke a desire to gain knowledge about the victims’ experience (Smaill, 2009, p.62). The audience will be compelled to brainstorm more practical solutions to minimize relapse. Documentaries also combine interviews with captivating music, which commands audiences’ emotional involvement. Personal stories connect the audience with the story’s scope in the documentary. An addict in the interview tells of how he has neglected his family, which is catered to by his brothers. More so, he is engaged in crime, such as pickpocketing, to fund his addiction (Al Jazeera, 2023, 00:10:58). Such personal stories may arouse pitiful emotions among an audience. Interviews can also arouse the audience’s emotions in documentaries by illustrating problem-solving. They create a sense of satisfaction amongst the audience when they see an effort toward solving a prevalent societal challenge.
Conclusion
Emotions in documentaries have been crafted to enhance audience engagement. They are unique from screen emotions in fictional plays, which may be utterly exaggerated. Belinda Smaill illustrates that documentaries should communicate factual elements in society excitingly. Emotional display in the documentaries is illustrated through music and sounds. Music and sounds tell stories about events. These music and sounds enable the audience to connect with the message by communicating the emotion relevant to the situation. Documentaries also illustrate emotions through narrations. Narrations improve the audience’s connection with the story. It helps them picture the situation and evoke emotions such as sympathy. Lastly, Al Jazeera’s interview uses personal stories and interviews to connect with its audience emotionally. Experts explain the cooccurrences and effects of incidences in the documentary, which makes them more relatable. Interviews can also communicate hope by showing positive outcomes from victims of similar circumstances. The Al Jazeera interview has appropriately utilized aspects listed in Belinda Smaill’s Documentary and the Emotions to communicate its message to the targeted audience effectively.
References
Smaill, B., 2009. The documentary: Politics, emotion, culture. Springer. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=1470076450068035075&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en
Al Jazeera., 2023. Inside one of Kabul’s largest rehabilitation centers. YouTube. https://youtu.be/PHVGL1BDXXU
Eastwood, C., 2023. Documentary Display: Re-Viewing Nonfiction Film and Video by Keith Beattie. http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2009/book-reviews/documentary-display/
Schmoelz, A., 2020. Combining the documentary method and the narrative-structural method. In Analyzing Group Interactions (pp. 180-189). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429316647-20/combining-documentary-method-narrative-structural-method-alexander-schmoelz
Bradbury, J.D. and Guadagno, R.E., 2020. Documentary narrative visualization: Features and modes of documentary film in narrative visualization. Information Visualization, 19(4), pp.339-352. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1473871620925071
Philipps, A. and Mrowczynski, R., 2021. Getting more out of interviews. Understanding interviewees’ accounts in relation to their frames of orientation. Qualitative Research, 21(1), pp.59-75. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1468794119867548
Bondebjerg, I., 2014. Documentary and cognitive theory: Narrative, emotion, and memory. Media and Communication, 2(1), pp.13-22. https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/17
COMMENTARY
The documentary is non-fictional but should employ emotions to communicate the message effectively to the audience. Belinda Smaill (2009, p.3) states that emotions should take effortlessly conveyed trends. From The Documentary: Politics, emotion, culture, Belinda describes how documentaries can portray varied emotions in their narrations. This reading mainly attaches the emotional qualities of a documentary to its surrounding culture. Here, an emotion illustrated in a documentary can be experienced differently by independent parties. This can be influenced by the experience related to the emotion. Modern documentaries’ analysis reveals several styles that seamlessly convey emotion to the audiences. Documentaries utilize sound, music, interviews, narrations, and visual storytelling to show relay emotion. Documentaries may share the delivery mechanisms with fiction movies but have different aims. For instance, the lighting, sound, camera angles, and mood in both documentaries and non-fictional movies can be quite similar. However, fictional movies have more exaggerated forms of emotions. Documentaries are rational and convey emotions in a real-life fashion. Nobert Willey (2003, p.169) compares emotions in our everyday life versus emotions in movies. Emotion in everyday life matches the displays in documentaries, which are unregulated.
Human emotion has a strong correlation with cognition. Strong and well-communicated emotions guarantee a deeper understanding of the documentary’s message. Nobert Willey (2003, p.172) illustrates similarities between the pragmatist theory and Hochschild’s constructionism in the development of emotion for film. These discuss factors that affect the relativity of an emotion illustrated in the documentary. Researchers describe symbolic interaction and pragmatism are the best blend for illustrating emotion in documentaries. (Nobert Willey, 2003, p.172). While we use these theories to evaluate different aspects of documentaries, John Ellis (2021, p.142) shows how documentaries distinguish themselves from fictional movies through their emotional depiction. The illustration of emotion in documentaries hugely relies on facts. However, some documentary producers drift from creating an engaging film by omitting creative emotional portrayal methods. Otherwise, some content in the documentaries can send confusing messages. Recent production shows that we should increase our scrutiny when analyzing emotions communicated in documentaries. While we regard documentaries as entirely true, John Ellis (2021, p.143) demands intense scrutiny of unauthentic photographs or videos which may be included in some documentaries and send the wrong message to the audience. The factuality of the documentaries has also been affected by scripted reality television shows which imitate the emotional communication styles of documentaries. Despite these challenges, effectively incorporating emotion in the documentaries will ease the audiences’ understanding of its events. When documentaries over-focus on facts, they lose creativity and may lose an audience’s interest.
References
Smaill, B., 2009. The documentary: Politics, emotion, culture. Springer. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=1470076450068035075&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en
Wiley, N., 2003. Emotion and film theory. In Studies in Symbolic Interaction (pp. 169-187). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1016/S0163-2396(02)26012-3/full/HTML
Ellis, J., 2021. How documentaries mark themselves out from fiction: a genre-based approach. Studies in Documentary Film, 15(2), pp.140-150. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17503280.2021.1923144
Eastwood, C., 2023. Documentary Display: Re-Viewing Nonfiction Film and Video by Keith Beattie. http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2009/book-reviews/documentary-display/
write