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A Philosophical History of Documentary, 1895–19591926: John Grierson

A Philosophical History of Documentary, 1895–1959: 1926: John Grierson [This is the first of four chapters in this volume dedicated to the copious documentary work of the Scottish philosopher (by academic vocation) John Grierson (1896–1972), the founder and leader of the British documentary movement. In this discussion I offer a close reading of his famous 1926 critique of Flaherty’s Moana (1926). As it represents the ninth definition since 1895 to be presented and discussed in this book, its occasional attribution as the first definition of documentary in history is relegated to the dustbin. A more strenuous, close-range reading of the entire definition reveals how, contrary to appearances, Grierson does not consider “documentary value” to be THE prime (hence, the ultimate) value of Moana, in the same sense that canonical interpretations have consistently argued since. This analysis casts controversial light on the grander philosophical and practical tension between ethics and aesthetics in Grierson’s documentary project, an innate problem for documentariness that the later three chapters on Grierson’s subsequent definitional attempts (Chaps. 16, 18, and 31 herein) will tackle repeatedly.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Philosophical History of Documentary, 1895–19591926: John Grierson

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Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
ISBN
978-3-030-79465-1
Pages
113 –126
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-79466-8_10
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[This is the first of four chapters in this volume dedicated to the copious documentary work of the Scottish philosopher (by academic vocation) John Grierson (1896–1972), the founder and leader of the British documentary movement. In this discussion I offer a close reading of his famous 1926 critique of Flaherty’s Moana (1926). As it represents the ninth definition since 1895 to be presented and discussed in this book, its occasional attribution as the first definition of documentary in history is relegated to the dustbin. A more strenuous, close-range reading of the entire definition reveals how, contrary to appearances, Grierson does not consider “documentary value” to be THE prime (hence, the ultimate) value of Moana, in the same sense that canonical interpretations have consistently argued since. This analysis casts controversial light on the grander philosophical and practical tension between ethics and aesthetics in Grierson’s documentary project, an innate problem for documentariness that the later three chapters on Grierson’s subsequent definitional attempts (Chaps. 16, 18, and 31 herein) will tackle repeatedly.]

Published: Sep 16, 2021

Keywords: Documentary; Value; Of course; Visual account of events; Secondary to its value as; Beautiful as nature is beautiful; Poetic feeling for natural elements

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