“I don’t really believe that documentary is objective reality and fiction is all illusion.” — Mike Mills
Lights, Camera and Action. The glamour, the fame, the insane paparazzi, the scandalous secrets, Viral Bhayani and whatnot. The amalgamation of these together makes for a matter of intense scrutiny and great excitement for the ‘woke’ generation that promises to care ‘like, so much’ about the world. In a state like this, analysing the rise of celebrities might seem like a futile attempt at analysing something that’s obvious.
When there’s demand, there’s supply and that is the simplest answer one can have to understand the rise of celebrity documentaries… but it’s slightly more complicated than that. While the buzz around celebrity documentaries stems from our deep interest in their personal lives, be it Taimur’s potty schedule or Kangana Ranaut’s love affairs, the matter of the fact is that these documentaries also make for fantastic press and oftentimes, a peak into the tragedy that comes with fame and glamour.
The question, however, remains how genuine are these strangely fascinating and sensational documentaries? The answer, I believe, is extremely challenging to find out. In a world where I see every one of my classmates excessively image-conscious and so particular about how they project themselves to their little worlds (a human quality, mind you), what are the chances that documentaries are not just a way for a celebrity to project an image that they have absolute control over?
Celebrity documentaries used to be made by independent filmmakers and while that is still the case, an example being ‘Framing Britney Spears’, celebrities have decided to take autonomy over how they choose to portray themselves and carefully monitor what details should and should not be let out. Some of these supposed ‘tell-alls’ are often produced before an upcoming and important project or are fed to the curious and fickle audience as a tool for crisis management or image building.
Taylor Swift and her ‘revealing and vulnerable’ documentary ‘Miss Americana’ was released amidst the chatter of her previously released project ‘Lover’ and the upcoming albums at the time called ‘Evermore’ and ‘Folklore’ which followed the journey of a little girl with huge aspirations who was restricted to her image of the ‘goody two shoes’ and later on, a ‘calculated, pretentious woman who switched boyfriends like flipping pages of a book’. It is a story about how Swift was trapped under these personas created by the media, simultaneously being a victim of an eating disorder and rising to stardom.
The documentary ‘Harry and Meghan’ or Meghan and Harry (doesn't make much of a difference) which explores the ‘very challenging’ journey of ‘M’ and ‘H’ was a self-produced docuseries that witnessed a polarising reception of both the British and American audience serves yet another example in this long list. The docuseries obsessively draws parallels towards Meghan and Diana’s journey, debatably capitalising on Princess Di’s popularity. It then, with great courage and a tinge of overconfidence, goes on to compare the discriminated duchess of Sussex (still) *cue eye roll* to the marginalised Africans. With their upcoming Netflix series ‘Live to Lead’ inspired by Nelson Mandela *cue disappointed sigh this time*, we await another fresh tale of public relations and manipulation.
Meghan and Harry or Harry and Meghan was a perfect example of celebrities using documentaries as a tool towards image building, hoping for good press. What’s unfortunate is that, as the Australian journalist, television and radio presenter Joe Hildebrand pointed out in this particular case is that, “the most overprivileged people in the world can claim to be oppressed simply because they identify as such. And that some people will actually believe them.”
So? Don’t believe everything you hear or watch and enrol into the media literacy programme designed by Ms Sonia Khudanpur and Dr Aloke Thakore.
And then there are other documentaries. Documentaries like ‘Amy’ (about the British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse full of archival footage and personal testimonials present an intimate portrait of her life and career), ‘The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe’ or ‘Diana: Her True Story’ and many more. We might not be able to monitor how objective and genuine the documentary is but it magnifies the real lives of people we might otherwise not really know. Be it relationships, weight change, family drama, or the turmoil and trauma in the valley of glitz and glamour.
Documentaries have the potency to form a window between the outside world and the dark world of fame and popularity that we have been too foolish or naive to observe. We have a tendency to put celebrities onto a pedestal that’s much higher than us, these documentaries if presented with some honesty and integrity are grounding and show humility in those who might have never shown it before. They, then, are more real, are more human. How practical and possible is that? I have no answer to that.
Damn you just highlighted the difference. So do you think, people should value their true work on screen more than their personal screens?