Re-enactment and factual discourse in a Biopic

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 2,0, University of Copenhagen (Film- und Medienwissenschaft), course: Between Documentary and Fiction, language: English, abstract: In this essay I want to focus on the integration of "factual discourse" in its different forms in a movie and the effects they are creating for the viewer. First of all it is interesting to look, where we can situate the biographical movie within fiction and historical truthfulness. I want to show that re-enactment of originals and the application of fictional facts is animating the viewer to reflect differently on the represented images. Here it is interesting to observe the story-line of Jack Rollins, including the effects of aesthetics and documentary consciousness. The movie is playing to a huge account with aesthetics, but also with the cultural knowledge of people "knowing" something about Bob Dylan and the previous documentaries "Don't look back" (cinema verite) and "No direction home". It is interesting to observe how the viewer can actually differentiate between factual and fictional discourse and to which degree he might believe, what is presented to him. The question can also be framed into the whole aim of the movie, which might explain the choice of certain media techniques. In which ways is factual discourse integrated in the movie "I'm not there"? Which documentary techniques underline the purpose for authenticity? How does the movie play with the concept of "documentary consciousness"? What does the re-enactment of factual discourse and material together with fictional elements achieve compared to a classical documentary?