Nichols Ch 7 (p 149-158: Performative Mode)

I am fascinated by the balance of reality and emotion. Performative documentaries prioritize the emotional truths. They are less concerned with telling the audience what happened and more concerned with displaying how it felt for a particular person or people. This type of documentary is crucial to our understanding of emotion–a fact and truth of life. People feel, and that has great effects over how reality is perceived and acted upon. As performative documentaries display the hearts of people (especially those often overlooked), audiences become more empathetic and understanding. This is true for all documentaries that use this function, even if it is not the dominant form used.

Do performative documentaries have success across a wide range of audiences?

How often do performative documentaries reach audiences that don’t identify with the subjects of the film?

Do performative documentaries always involve the film maker?

Can performative documentaries have a strong story structure?

Do performative documentaries ever get categorized under scripted as well as non-scripted?