“Ex Libris” Investigated — How Objective Can Documentaries Be?
Since I live in New York now, and seasoned documentary-maker Frederick Wiseman’s newest film, Ex Libris: The New York Public Library, has recently come out, I decided to put the idea of objectivity in documentaries to the test. I’ve never been, so my first step was to go to at least one branch of the library, and compare my thoughts on the experience to the expectations Ex Libris gave me. Given Wiseman’s habit of basically setting a camera down and letting it roll for a while, I thought my expectations of the NYPL based on the film and my actual experience going there shouldn’t be very different. Wiseman’s film style is all about trying to provide the audience the most objective content possible by hiding his point of view behind choices definitive of observational cinema.
Since a characteristic of documentaries is that they are fact-based films, audiences often expect the complete, unbiased truth of a subject to unfold in front of them. However, there is no such thing as pure objectivity in filmmaking. Even choosing a topic to make a documentary film about is editorializing before shooting even begins. Filmmakers bring their identities (race, sexuality, background, etc.) to everything they make, and these identities are shown in the style and overarching tone of their documentary coverage. Thankfully, Frederick Wiseman is not disillusioned with the notion of pure objectivity that audiences believe documentaries should have.
However, his documentary style does seek to hide his particular point of view. His subject matter is often aimed at exposing the structure of institutions and their effects on workers, but he tries to be as unobtrusive as possible. In order to get the most genuine footage of how incidents play out, Wiseman does not insert talking-head interviews, voiceover narration, extra diegetic music, sound effects or any archival material. He practically leaves his camera to pick up later, generating a fly-on-the-wall aesthetic. He tries to be fair during the editing process, but also acknowledges that every aspect of making a movie involves choice.
Wiseman opposes the way traditional documentary content is packaged for television and film, as if producers are trying to educate audiences in an obvious and contemptuous way. This is why, although he cannot be completely objective, Wiseman likes to hide his perspective from his audience. He sets up his camera and leaves things be, so that scenes can play out in a way that allows viewers to come to their own conclusions, solely based on the footage Wiseman decides to keep together in the end. However, the nature of his shots still gives Wiseman an opportunity to sway the audience — such as his technique of following certain characters in close-ups or very long takes. His shot decisions allow film analysts to see where his empathy lies. Although Wiseman wants to paint an image of the inhabitants of certain circumstances so audiences can make their own conclusions, his point-of-view indirectly makes itself known through his films’ structures.
Ex Libris is yet another inquiry into institutions and what keeps them running, similar to his previous films like Titicut Follies and High School. However, this one seems more lighthearted in the fact that it’s also a film about finding joy in shared spaces, shown through all the different people who are drawn to them. Ex Libris invites viewers to see that the library is an extension on peoples’ neighborhoods, where many different and seemingly unrelated communities can come together for a common goal — like to obtain an education or better cultural understanding. This is shown through footage from different branches of the NYPL that Wiseman decided to be present for and stitch together: children seeking homework help after school, art students flipping through photo archives, document recitations in American Sign Language, NYPL staff being on-call to provide assistance (including and not limited to explaining the origin of the word “unicorn” over the phone). Few shots focus on physical books, the film highlighting the essence of the library as a public gathering space rather than solely a place to read.
Wiseman visited many different branches of the NYPL and had much more time to see and film and plan than I did, but I will say that I got a noticeable glimpse of what he delved into in Ex Libris when I visited the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in Midtown. High school kids were borrowing the library’s laptops, a busy-looking businessman sat down near me in the Edna Barnes Salomon Room to find a moment of peace, two design students flipped through the library’s selection of magazines for fun — all different people of different backgrounds coming to the library for different reasons. But would I have noticed all of these things and their unlikely relationships to each other if I hadn’t watched the film, and if I wasn’t keeping an eye out for a diverse array of community members? Probably not. My impression of every other library I’ve been to revolved around the books, as that’s what I assumed was supposed to be the interesting part about a library. As it turns out, there were activities and learning opportunities right under my nose that I had no idea were going on pre-Ex Libris. There’s still so much about the NYPL I don’t know about and haven’t explored, but I know from Wiseman’s film that the possibilities are infinite.
What I enjoy about documentaries like Wiseman’s are that they make you think harder about your surroundings than if you were to just walk into a space like a library by happenstance. Does that make my experience in the library objective? Definitely not — I was influenced by what I had concluded from the footage Wiseman deliberately included in his documentary. However, taking on this task has shown me that there’s nothing wrong with Wiseman’s quest to give audiences a largely authentic and untouched experience. In fact, by stripping a film down to what he has chosen as the bare essentials — although not purely objective in that sense — Wiseman does give viewers the freedom to see things through their own eyes, more than a typical talking-head documentary would. He forces viewers to seek out movie-worthy occurrences in unexpected places, and I think my time in the library would not have been a full experience if I didn’t have the sense to seek out the community connections Wiseman alluded to.
This was article was written by Red Summit Productions Intern Stacy Andryshak
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