“Strange with A Camera” by Elizabeth Barret is a documentary film produced in 2000. The principal aim of the film is to investigate some of the circumstances that surround the death of Hugh O’Connor. Barret was born and also raised in that region and the movie she explores few questions on public image and peoples lack of will and power to define themselves in the American media landscape. The circumstances that led to the death of O’Connor was a local history that had significance to every filmmaker and members of the society as well. In short, the documentary becomes an educating story of both essential and intrusion of cameras in our lives. The primary aim of this paper is to discuss how Barret used location to shape the whole story.

It is true that Barrett’s film does not neatly wrap things up for all the viewers. There are no easy answers provided from the movie just because there aren’t any. The documentary is like a question posed to the viewers about the making of the media and the close relationship of all filmmakers to people they handle and the societies they portray. The film recognizes that in any case there are some consequences to filming work. To the viewers, the film is an accurate reflection of a person whose region is portrayed and is fighting against all forms of stereotypes.

When it comes to film making, location plays a very integral role as seen in Stranger with a camera documentary. The killing of O’Connor took place in Lecher country, just the same county where Appalshop lived. When Barrett went in the community to make the films memories were still there. People had not forgotten what had happened as they would always remind Barret that O’Connor was killed in the same place. Therefore, it was apparent that the people in the community were telling her what had happened with an excellent reason. The killing was kept in a community memory with a lot of uses, and one of the ideas was the cautionary tale. In the film, the location is a poor community located in the coal mining areas of Appalachia which attracted a lot of media attention. The position of the village was well analyzed through different cultures and how the cultures collided together. However, the local people were much angered by how the media were depicting the cultures and town.  It is essential for filmmakers to research thoroughly on a community before filming them. However, Barret managed to work out well with the people because she also grew up in the same county. However, according to her, it was a question of how people saw their place and how other people represented it. The moment the local people feel that the filmmakers are using them, they will not cooperate. Most people who have done documentary films will agree that the first step is creating a good friendship with the community itself. Appreciate their culture and be part of them. By doing this, they will have confidence in you and offer what they can. However, before Barret went to the people, they had already lost hope with the media people. Before, there was a lot of false reporting about the community.

According to Nichols, ethics is fundamental when it comes filmmaking especially when it involves a particular group of people.  He observes that debates surrounding ethics in documentary always tends to be sporadic. One of his important ideas is that Communities needs to be respected by the filmmakers. Go to the people and report what is right. While watching the film, I was wondering how someone would take a picture of other people and make them look so bad. What you capture is a moment in an individual’s life; therefore, the media would be very cautious of that. This is unethical according to Nichols. In the documentary, most of the people who lived in that same town where the killing took place had a happy life. Understandably, they saw everyone who came to discuss and cover the whole story of impoverished and destitute as incomplete and telling and a very unfair version of their side of the story. Can you advocate and push for social change and action without causing pain and embarrassing the people you are covering? This was one of the questions that kept lingering in the minds of Barret. Every society has its own culture that needs to be respected. However, this was not the case in Stranger with a Camera according to to Barret.

By location, it just means the exact place where the film took place. It was a community that was portrayed as poor whereas they would work, eat and drink. Barret lived near the working station of the filmmakers; therefore, she was in a position to relate how the local people felt when their community was being poorly reflected in the media. At first, the people had a lot of hope that the presence of the press would bring change and help to the town. However, others had a different feeling. There was some different location of some key characters. Despite coming from the same city, O’Conner and Hobert had different agendas for their community. While O’Connor tried as much as possible to bring change in the town through films, Hobert saw it as a threat. Eventually, a shooting took place, and O’Conner lay dead. This, however, helps to shape the whole story. There were two people but with a different vision for their society.

In the end, Barret concludes that it is the responsibility of a filmmaker to be always faithful to any complexities of any situation as much as possible. It was not an issue of poverty to the people but the right of visitors to value and respect the culture of other people. A camera does not lie nor does it take a photo of something that is not there. Every society has its culture;, therefore, the media people should be very skeptical about what they report. Always, the camera will behave like a gun as it will threaten to be invasive and exploitative when it comes to mass media. For example, in the film, a child was published giving the impression that he was feeding on dirt directly because he was not fed well. This was not taken well by the locals as people knew that all children were fed well. It was just a strategy of the media to portray the people, and the town in the wrong way.

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