Every morning, as I get ready for work, I watch the news. It's like my outlet into the outside world. I await the weather report and updates on what is happening with the latest conflict, and all of those things become real to me. But it is a muted or distant reality. I rarely remember the names or faces of the stories features and only comment on the seemingly sensational. But there are times, that even after I have turned off the box on the shelf in my bedroom, I sense an immediacy to what is going on in the world. When it affects me directly and the stories become a tangible reality. Fox speaks of how the distance has been reduced with the innovation of technology, especially that of video. This "collapse of the delay" has created the "ability for reflexive mirroring and constant reassessment" in the realm of documentary. (44)
Several months ago, I heard the the freeway was shut down one morning because someone had been hit. Wondering what on earth a person would be doing trying to cross the freeway at two in the morning, I left early for work to deal with the delay. Later, I received a text that the person killed was a young man in my ward who committed suicide. Suddenly that distance became very fragile and I struggled with how to contextualize the story I has heard that morning with the family i had talked with two days prior. My mirror into myself, and my perceptions of life and family and security and sanity were jolted.
Fox further states that "searching for one's mirror - in culture, in others, in history - is a necessary means by which we construct a full sense of self." (45) By following his journey across America with the nightly news guiding his destination, McElwee sets out to reveal and discover not only the stories of a people in turmoil, but perhaps also to examine that reflexive mirror and reveal his own turmoil. His journey begs to close that aforementioned distance created by the news, from the victim and the audience, and thereby join stories of struggle together in a sense of community. The filmmaker himself notes that initial distance when he observes that stories are being shared after hurricane Hugo, that those about whom the reports are centered, will never even see the stories about themselves, due to lack of electricity. He calls into question the concept of reality, especially within the realm of the news, film, recreation, etc.
McElwee's film utilizes a variety of modes in his storytelling. There is certainly an expository look into how the news treats people like commodified information as opposed to human beings. Observationally, he shoots the newscasters shooting the story and the children playing and only interacts if they first (reflexively) approach him. Centering around the participatory mode, he interacts with his characters, interviewing them and immersing himself in their worlds, if only for a bit of time.
We see his son, in a time where most outside people are not allowed around a newborn,
we see his friend Sharlene in an intimate and candid moment.
And, of course, throughout the certainly autobiographical piece, he shares his worries with us, his intimate family moments, and even his hotel room.
He doesn't know quite where this journey will take him, and neither do we. But we are along for the journey. If he had, perhaps centered solely on one clearly defined mode, I wonder if the piece would have the capacity to affect its audience and be accessible on so many levels, like it does now. In this way, his piece reflects a part of all of us, on our own journey, as we try to understand the world and define our reality.
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