Documentary Media: History, Theory, Practice, by Broderick Fox

Abstract

This is a “how-to” book with a difference. When the first edition was published in 2010, author Broderick Fox, a professor in the Media Arts and Culture Department at Occidental College in Los Angeles, was also an experienced practitioner who had made a number of films in various genres (“Selected Works”). Now, as this second edition is published, Fox is widely recognised as an award-winning director and producer. His two major feature-length documentary films both explore controversial and challenging themes, and their intensely personal topics, their experimentation and their exploration of the documentary form illuminate the approach of this book. In the autobiographical, self-revelatory The Skin I’m In (2012), Fox faces the traumas of his young adulthood as he comes out as gay and recovers from alcoholism and an attempted suicide. Zen & the Art of Dying (2015) follows the Australian activist Zenith Virago as she engages with a “celebratory” approach to death. Although these two films are not discussed directly in this book, their embrace of expressivity, art, spirituality and creativity are clearly reflected in its approach.

Keywords

• broderick fox
• documentary history
• documentary theory
• documentary practice