Documentaries Count
Those of us in the conservative and free market movement have two common sources of inspiration. The first is Richard Weaver's famous book, "Ideas Have Consequences." The second is F.A. Hayek's famous 1949 paper, "The Intellectual and Socialism," which taught us to appreciate the roll of public intellectuals who speak to the population.
The growth in conservative think tanks and academic publishing shows that we have taken Weaver's lessons to heart. And the success of everything from conservative trade press books to talk radio to blogs to John Stossel's TV specials is evidence that we're learning to translate our ideas for the general public.
But when it comes to the "aesthetic media," as distinct from the news media, which includes everything from art and music, to dramatic films and documentaries, we are behind the curve. We are not really competitive with, say, Michael Moore and Al Gore. That's a problem, because while we've been developing and publishing clear and cogent ideas, the left has mastered the forms of communication that shape what most people believe.
For instance, recent studies suggest that the average American derives more information from visual media than from any other source. Of course, much visual media is persuasive primarily by being pervasive. But a few forms, like documentaries, can be powerful tools to educate and persuade. The documentary is an important film genre because it allows one to combine "message" and "metaphor" in a way that is entertaining, educational, and persuasive. Few other genres allow expert testimony and arguments (message) alongside narrative, visual effects, symbolic imagery, and score (metaphor).
Of course, lots of people try to produce documentaries. Some succeed. But most fail. For think tanks, the difficulty can be even more acute, since the tendencies of idea peddlers don't often mix well with the aesthetic insights needed to make good visual media.
Idea and movement people tend to see visual and other media as means to an end. Our primary interest in a documentary, for instance, is bound to be its message. In contrast, most filmmakers will tend to see a film in aesthetic terms as an end in itself. They prefer metaphor. This is a valuable tendency, but here is also a danger here.
A filmmaker's commitment to the artistic merits of a film can sometimes override his commitment to the truth of its message. Whereas, in making films, our commitment to our message might lead us merely to transliterate our arguments into video, rather than to translate them into an entirely different medium of communication.
At the extreme is Ron Mann, director of "Go Further" and "Comic Book Confidential," who said: "All documentaries are propaganda … There is no such thing as objective truth, only point of view." Unfortunately, this is a common conviction among those on the far left. You tell your lies. I tell mine. May the better propagandist win. This is not a conviction we should entertain ever. We should tell the truth, insofar as we are able.
That doesn't mean we can't try to persuade and entertain. It doesn't mean we can't appeal to sentiments and emotion. It means that we must do so with good arguments and evidence, and without trying to manipulate the emotions of viewers. What we want to create are products with high artistic merit that also make our points. The best productions, I would argue, are those that best balance and integrate these competing tendencies, which best combine metaphor and message.
We were acutely aware of the difficulty when we decided to start producing documentaries at the Acton Institute. We are primarily a research and educational institution — a think tank, not a production company.
Nevertheless, with help from a production partner, we recently completed our first documentary, "The Call of the Entrepreneur." It premieres in New York today at the Asia Society. And now we're in the middle of production on our second film, "The Birth of Freedom."
We've been gratified and a bit surprised to see it so well received by diverse audiences not just in America, but also in large gatherings as far away as Kenya and the Philippines. We hope that means that we have not only balanced the message and the metaphor, but also have tapped into something universal in the human spirit.
Mr. Richards is a research fellow at the Acton Institute and director of Acton Media.
