Task 3- Textual Analysis
Most Hated Family In America Essay
Louis Theroux is an interactive documentary filmmaker. 'The most hated family in America' is a participatory documentary where Louis and his crew interact with the the subject, in this case the subject is a family at the heart of the Westboro Baptist Church. The church is run by Fred Phelps and based in Topeka in Kansas. Louis interacts with the family by asking them questions, conducting interviews and he gets personal with the family to expose their way of life.
The main subjects in the documentary are the Phelps family and one in particular being Shirley the daughter of Fred Phelps and the main face of the documentary. She has raised her children (Jael and Becca) with her beliefs. Louis constantly tries to get through to the daughters with personal questions. Steve is a member of the Westboro Baptist Church after converting after once being a journalist visiting the family. Louis is one of the most seen in the documentary and in the interview he is frequently on camera seen interacting with the Phelps.
Religion is the main theme in the documentary however there are also issues raised by the family including homosexuality. The Westboro Baptist Church run a website called: www.godhatesfags.com and the posters presented by the family contain phrases such as 'God hates fags' and 'fag soldiers'. The family also believe soldiers are going to burn in hell for fighting in wars, they often picket dead soldiers funerals with pickets which would be highly offensive 'Fag Soldiers'. Another theme in the documentary is humanity and the controversy. The family take certain biblical interpretations and believe that every world tragedy has been Gods punishment. Contradiction is also a theme for example the family are religious yet often use swear words and vulgar terminology even in their church.
Louis Theroux has a small crew. We can tell this because of the style of the documentary. He almost fits himself right into their day to day life routines and this would not work with a big crew. Also there is no need for extra equipment as the documentary is designed to capture the family in their most natural and purest form and perhaps more cameras and crew would affect the behaviour of the family.
There is a wide range of documentary codes and conventions used in this documentary. Louis narrates the documentary with a voiceover throughout. There is footage of real events, nothing seems to be put on for the camera and the documentary is in a pure form. A convention of documentary making is that the footage is seen as real by the audience. Including natural sound and lighting into the documentary adds technicality of realism for example church choir singing, traffic sounds etc. Louis Theroux includes many interviews in the documentary and interacts with the family for entertainment reasons mainly and to expose the family more.
Theroux clearly achieves this as most of the audience experience anger and hate towards the family whilst watching it whilst others experience confusion. The documentary has been a big talking point on the internet through blogs and documentary views and anger is expressed towards the family by many people. The interview quite simply provoked an emotional response and entertained.
The documentary was very interesting as it draws the audience in with thoughts of confusion as to the beliefs of the family. It also entertains with humorous themes, for example when Louis has an interview with the Grandfather of the family-Phelps who is in charge of the church- none of the questions are answered seriously and the audience feel the awkwardness that Louis is experiencing.
The documentary contained contradicting themes for example the family are quite clearly very religious however do not care for the welfare of others or forgive others which is quite clearly in the Bible. Yet the family only focus on certain themes from the Bible (Sex, Wars etc) for example one of the Shirleys daughters states that if she got hit by a car then her father would be happy as she was being punished by God. They believe that all misfortunes are caused by God.
The daughter also seems brainwashed and confused, when Louis questions the hatred the family have towards homosexuals her response is that it is a sin and when Louis questioned which of the ten commandments stated this, her answer was adultery. The girl seemed very confused and Louis had an aim of changing the views of the family who seem to focus on elements of the bible and they do not picket towards any of the ten commandments yet only for soldiers, punishment and sexuality. Yet the church boasts to have the most knowledge of the Bible. It is almost as if the Church is living in the times of the Old Testament.
The main subjects in the documentary are the Phelps family and one in particular being Shirley the daughter of Fred Phelps and the main face of the documentary. She has raised her children (Jael and Becca) with her beliefs. Louis constantly tries to get through to the daughters with personal questions. Steve is a member of the Westboro Baptist Church after converting after once being a journalist visiting the family. Louis is one of the most seen in the documentary and in the interview he is frequently on camera seen interacting with the Phelps.
Religion is the main theme in the documentary however there are also issues raised by the family including homosexuality. The Westboro Baptist Church run a website called: www.godhatesfags.com and the posters presented by the family contain phrases such as 'God hates fags' and 'fag soldiers'. The family also believe soldiers are going to burn in hell for fighting in wars, they often picket dead soldiers funerals with pickets which would be highly offensive 'Fag Soldiers'. Another theme in the documentary is humanity and the controversy. The family take certain biblical interpretations and believe that every world tragedy has been Gods punishment. Contradiction is also a theme for example the family are religious yet often use swear words and vulgar terminology even in their church.
Louis Theroux has a small crew. We can tell this because of the style of the documentary. He almost fits himself right into their day to day life routines and this would not work with a big crew. Also there is no need for extra equipment as the documentary is designed to capture the family in their most natural and purest form and perhaps more cameras and crew would affect the behaviour of the family.
There is a wide range of documentary codes and conventions used in this documentary. Louis narrates the documentary with a voiceover throughout. There is footage of real events, nothing seems to be put on for the camera and the documentary is in a pure form. A convention of documentary making is that the footage is seen as real by the audience. Including natural sound and lighting into the documentary adds technicality of realism for example church choir singing, traffic sounds etc. Louis Theroux includes many interviews in the documentary and interacts with the family for entertainment reasons mainly and to expose the family more.
Louis Theroux's documentary is of an informal style. The mode of the documentary is participatory. This is where the documentary maker/crew interacts with the subject often for entertainment reasons. There is usually a voiceover by the documentary maker themselves. For example Louis is seen in most of the shots and is heard through a voiceover when he is not in the shots. Louis Theroux uses this technique in order to capture a natural outlook on the family by fitting in with their lives. For example in one section of the interview Louis is seen with the family 'enjoying himself' this is to portray to the audience that they are ordinary human beings with the same basic and social needs but are branded evil by their beliefs. He focuses mainly on the children as it is almost as if they have been 'brainwashed' by the Westboro Baptist Church. It is clear what Louis wants the documentary to achieve. The aim of the documentary is to shock and entice the audience. He wants to provoke an emotional response from the audience with shocking footage of the family and he does this by including footage of their lives and by asking the family questions on their views. He also includes footage of the emotional response from the public caused by shocking pickets on the streets with captions such as 'Thank God For 9/11'.
Theroux clearly achieves this as most of the audience experience anger and hate towards the family whilst watching it whilst others experience confusion. The documentary has been a big talking point on the internet through blogs and documentary views and anger is expressed towards the family by many people. The interview quite simply provoked an emotional response and entertained.
The documentary was very interesting as it draws the audience in with thoughts of confusion as to the beliefs of the family. It also entertains with humorous themes, for example when Louis has an interview with the Grandfather of the family-Phelps who is in charge of the church- none of the questions are answered seriously and the audience feel the awkwardness that Louis is experiencing.
The documentary contained contradicting themes for example the family are quite clearly very religious however do not care for the welfare of others or forgive others which is quite clearly in the Bible. Yet the family only focus on certain themes from the Bible (Sex, Wars etc) for example one of the Shirleys daughters states that if she got hit by a car then her father would be happy as she was being punished by God. They believe that all misfortunes are caused by God.
The daughter also seems brainwashed and confused, when Louis questions the hatred the family have towards homosexuals her response is that it is a sin and when Louis questioned which of the ten commandments stated this, her answer was adultery. The girl seemed very confused and Louis had an aim of changing the views of the family who seem to focus on elements of the bible and they do not picket towards any of the ten commandments yet only for soldiers, punishment and sexuality. Yet the church boasts to have the most knowledge of the Bible. It is almost as if the Church is living in the times of the Old Testament.
No comments:
Post a Comment