Intelligence Work
The Politics of American Documentary
Published on 7. July 2008
Book
Hardback
432 pages
978-0-231-14206-9 (ISBN)
Description
Intelligence Work establishes a new genealogy of American social documentary, proposing a fresh critical approach to the aesthetic and political issues of nonfiction cinema and media. Jonathan Kahana argues that the use of documentary film by intellectuals, activists, government agencies, and community groups constitutes a national-public form of culture, one that challenges traditional oppositions between official and vernacular speech, between high art and popular culture, and between academic knowledge and common sense. Placing iconic images and the work of celebrated filmmakers next to overlooked and rediscovered productions, Kahana demonstrates how documentary collects and delivers the evidence of the American experience to the public sphere, where it lends force to political movements and gives substance to the social imaginary.
Reviews / Votes
[A] sobering reappraisal of documentary film. -- Lyell Davies AfterImage [Kahana] illuminates many documentaries that deserve to be much better known... Recommended. Choice the author's impressive grasp of documentary history and insightful discussion of cinematic form make Intelligence Work a significant contribution to the literature on documentary. -- Susan Ryan Cineaste Kahana's approach navigates what might be called the interstices of political critique, revealing documentary's multiplicity while marking its relative successes and limits. -- Jeffrey Geiger New Formations [Kahana provides] a much-needed survey of a century-long development in cultural history that is nonetheless tightly focused on the crucial political issue of how art enables the production of publics. -- Jeff Allred American Literature Kahana is often intensely insightful about form and style in the films he considers, such as a sophisticated analysis of sound particularly in radical documentaries of the 60s on. -- Chuck Kleinhans Jump CutMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
113 illus.
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
737 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-231-14206-9 (9780231142069)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
07/2008
Columbia University Press
€43.40
Shipment within 10-20 days
E-Book
07/2008
Columbia University Press
€39.49
Available for download
Person
Jonathan Kahana is assistant professor of cinema studies at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
Content
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction. The Intelligence Work of Documentary: Publics, Politics, Intellectuals Part I. The Sentiment of Trust: The Documentary Front and the New Deal 1. National Fabric: Authorship, Textuality, and the Documentary Front 2. Voice-Over, Allegory, and the Pastoral in New Deal Documentary Part II. Lyrical Tirades: New Documentary and the New Left 3. Revolutionary Sounds: Listening to Radical Documentary 4. Documentary Counterpublics: Filming Prison Part III. The Public Sphere of Suspicion: Documentary in the New Obscurity 5. The Vision Thing: Documentary, Television, and the Accidental Power of the President 6. Tense Times: Documentary Aporias; Or, the Public Sphere of Suspicion Notes Filmography Index