I love documentaries. The more depressing, the better. The kind that hit you over the head with how the world is going to hell in a hand basket, leaving you sad and hopeless. Yep. Love it. When I asked my Twitter followers if they liked documentaries and why, I got some really great responses…
Director Chris Paine, via NUVO.net
@mitchmaxsom: Happy or sad, well-told stories that better help us understand another perspective or circumstance are beautiful and necessary
@joanofdarkknits: I watch them, but I hate them [at the same time]. I still have images burned into my brain from one on animal cruelty and one on child cruelty.
@raypawulich: They can be powerful, but if I’m going to invest my time in sitting still and watching something, I choose to be entertained.
Sure, they can really open your eyes. But sometimes, they just tell you to keep on keepin’ on. For example, I’ve been on an save-the-planet documentary kick lately, but I’ve always been pretty passionate about the environment. I don’t eat meat, I recycle, ride my bike a lot, I’ve worked for an environmentally-conscious local newspaper, and now an environmentally-conscious museum. All good things, but I have to admit, just like anyone I get lazy (I forgot my reusable grocery bag at home. Again. Oh well.) and stray from the path. Sometimes I just needed a jolt of reality to reaffirm my tree-hugging beliefs. That’s not a bad thing, right? Do what you gotta do to stay motivated.
Here are the last few documentaries I’ve seen that have done just that.
Watching those movies reminded me why I chose my way of life in the first place. They didn’t change my opinions, just made me aware again. Given my interest in all things ‘green,’ it’s probably no surprise to you that I really dig the Planet Indy speaker series here at the IMA. Tonight, you can see Who Killed the Electric Car? by director Chris Paine… here’s the trailer:
The aforementioned local paper, a.k.a. NUVO, recently interviewed Paine:
NUVO: Why did you think electric cars would make a good documentary?
Chris Paine: The mainstream media didn’t cover the story of why these 5,000 cars were all re-possessed and destroyed. We were shocked. And we thought, well, why is that? Then later, in the midst of a production at a television station in Michigan, someone there said, “You know, one of the reasons the story wasn’t covered was that so many of the TV stations got burned by covering the Firestone rollover stories earlier in the ‘90s.” Everyone had their advertising budgets pulled by the car companies. Car advertising is so critical to so many media outlets it usually pays to not do highly critical stories of the auto industry. So it created this vacuum for us.
Here’s a little info on the event: In the four years since filmmaker Chris Paine released the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, electric vehicles have been revived. In that film, Paine documented the corporate leaders, government officials and consumers who embraced SUVs over electric cars, exploring the larger story of our car culture in the process.
See Who Killed the Electric Car? at 5:30 pm, then at 7:30 pm hear Paine discuss the latest progress on electric vehicles, the relationship between good design and sustainability, and new ways of thinking about mobility. After the program, see an electric car up close and get information about companies making electric vehicles in Indiana. How did we get that electric car in the building? Glad you asked…
So will you leave the Toby feeling depressed and hopeless? Maybe. Maybe you’ll feel outraged. Or maybe, like me, it will just get you back on track. When NUVO asked Paine what people interested in seeing more electric cars should do, he gave a really simple, but brilliant answer:
They can keep motivated, keep asking questions and keep taking risks.
Have you seen a film or documentary that has changed your opinion on social issues? Has a film ever inspired you to make changes?
Filed under: Current Events, Film, Local, Public Programs, The Toby
February 11th, 2010 at 11:37 am
Great post, Kate! I’ve actually seen the film before, and it is astonishing. It’s hard to pinpoint a specific film or article that served as inspiration, but since 2007 or so I’ve been watching, reading, thinking, and doing a lot about sustainability.
And sort of turning @raypawulich’s comment on it’s head, my philosophy is that if I’m being entertained, I’d prefer to also be learning something, developing a skill, or getting exercise. That’s why our DVR is full of documentaries.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:47 pm
I’m the same as you, Kate: can’t get enough documentaries. Luckily here in Missoula, we just wrapped up the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. A week crammed with docs, local and international. I just saw two goodies: Man on Wire, and The Bridge.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:00 am
Thanks for the comments!
@Audra I bet that is a really great experience! Thanks for sharing!
September 7th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Thanks for posting this. I, too, was supremely motivated by Food, Inc. Using kind of depressing images as motivation is really effective
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