The Cove

So in September I will be commencing my Masters degree in Documentary Production at Salford and I think it's about time I get back into some thinking and analysis about media text, particularly documentaries. What better place to start than with a wonderful documentary The Cove. Louie Psihoyos produces the film which attempts to uncover the hidden secrets of a tiny piece of coastline in the Japanese village of Taiji. In an attempt to highlight the slaughter of thousands of dolphins every year Psihoyos and veteran activist Ric O'Barry form a crack squad of ex military, special effects professionals and world champion free divers to covertly expose the sinister truth.

The film has all the tension of a great Hollywood thriller. Scenes shot in the dead of night with the use of thermal imaging and night vision ads to a sense of unease with the ever present sonar clicks of the captive and doomed creatures. Just like a good heist movie, the Japanese police are ever present in a menacing way, constantly following and monitoring members of the team. Certain characters too play the roles of bad guys, non more so than Sergent Space, armed with a video camera, recording every move and constantly hounding anyone who dare visit and query the goings on at Taiji.

At times the film feels a little too definitive in good and evil, the Japanese being portrayed as a problematic society of lies, bribery and oppression. Empathy however is difficult to find as graphic images of slaughter and blood stained ocean emerge from the groups endeavours.

Who are you?

I found an interesting article in The Guardian a week ago. New York university lecturer Clay Shirky was discussing the online social sphere. I thought it actually had echoes of what I was trying to say in a previous post regarding comment sections and how often annonimity promotes negative and sometimes vulger discourse. Shirky goes onto to discuss the potential emmergence of social norms such as the use of true identity, again this is something I discussed earlier and I think but I suppose, As the article highlights, "people were saying those nasty things to one another on the pub!"

In Print

It occured to me the other day that while newspaper and magazine circulations are constantly falling, I have never bought or consumed more print media that I currently do. While I still use online media content, I throughly enjoy the methodical processes associated with newspapers or the anticipation and excitment of the next magazine. Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming some miraculous revival is on the cards, my belief is that while figures will level out but will always ever so slowly be in decline. Maybe it's too little to late, but there is definatly a more interesting personal connection with print. More on this later!

Adam