The Ethics of Documentary Filmmaking: Truth vs. Narrative

Abstract

Film documentary falls between journalistic investigation, aesthetic expression, and social activism to take a central and disorganized ethical quandary; the discussion between the quest of truth and the requirement of narration creation. This paper states that there is no need of solving a problem but this tension is the plot that makes the genre. With a thematic analysis in the context of the principles of Art and Design, the article conducts the historical changes of this duality through the staged realities of Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North to the performative boundaries of self of Joshua Oppenheimer The Act of Killing. It evaluates how philosophy supports the idea of truth in nonfiction media arguing that documentaries are not just presentations of the truth, but creative interpretations of reality in the form of editorial decision-making, framing, and sound design. The essay examines particular ethical issues such as misrepresentation, emotion work and the false balance problem through selected examples of The Cove, The Fog of War, and 13th to see how the directors manage all those. Lastly, the paper discusses the pressing concerns of modern technologies like AI generated footage and Virtual Reality and the movement toward documentary-as-activism that increases these ethical issues. With the end-result of the article being that the way ahead must entail a new covenant of openness and media literacy wherein filmmakers pledge to the truth of narrative design, and the audience reevaluate their approaches to watching documentaries through a critical perspective on views rather than trying to look at documentaries as being like beam-true fact accounts of the world.

Keywords: Documentary Ethics, Truth in Film, Narrative Construction, Filmmaking Transparency, Representational Integrity, Documentary Activism, New Media Technology