This course introduces students to a wide range of documentary practices and purposes as well as a number of aesthetic and ethical issues raised by the non-fiction film and television form. It explores the evolution of documentary motion pictures, from the birth of the film medium to the present day explosion of "reality TV" programs such as Survivor and Real World and feature films such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and Super Size Me. Students examine a variety of non-fiction styles and the many agendas of this mode of filmmaking, such as persuasion, social commentary, voyeurism and political activism. This course fulfills a history/theory requirement for the Television track of the major/minor. It also fulfills a Visual and Performing Arts core requirement in history. Three credits.

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