The Spaces Between Grassroots Documentary ... - Ezra Winton

CHAPTER IV
PROTESTS, RAVES, VIRAL MARKETING AND THE BOX OFFICE:
CONVERSATION/RESEARCH SPACES
The evolving dynamics of cultural production, dissemination, viewing, and
consumption will largely determine the shape of cultural participation to
come. From a public policy perspective, it is imperative that we have an
informed understanding of the risks, tendencies, and trends of cultural
participation and consumption in order to act strategically in the public
interest of Canadians. From a research perspective, we need to keep the
audience or participating population at the centre of theoretical cultural
analysis, in order to enhance our understanding of the motivations and
patterns underlying the scope and duration of such cultural participation
and consumption.
(John A. Foote, Department of Canadian Heritage, 2002)
I have also attempted to locate documentary in a new relationship to
social science, at the heart of the epistemological debates of the twentieth
century…Documentary form is not simply a reaction to previous
documentary theory; it is also a response to shifts in theories of knowledge
more generally. In its relation to social science, documentary is a
discourse subject to objectives and truth claims that transcend film.
(Zoë Druick, 2007, p.182)
By now most scholars and dutiful readers of cinema and communication studies know the
old story: Canada’s cinema is under the oppressive thumb of multinational studio
conglomerates working out of Hollywood. So where to go from this position when
conducting investigations into the sordid spaces of documentary and grassroots d/e in
Canada? Some advocate for an “affirmative-based” rather than “defensive-based”
response to problems that have been identified in this thesis’s previous pages. 17 It is true
that there is much literature by Canadian scholars that point to problems with Canada’s
17 This comment is based on unpublished correspondence between myself and communication
scholar Ira Wagman, May, 2007.
92