| Keywords [eng] |
epistemology, truth, belief, doubt, knowledge, cinematography, performative, observational, interactive, poetic, reality, documentary epistemologija, tiesa, tikėjimas, abejonė, žinojimas, kinematografija, performatyvus, stebimasis, interaktyvus, poetinis, realybė, dokumentika |
| Abstract [eng] |
This master thesis analyzes the epistemology of documentaries in two Mads Brügger films: The Ambassador and The Mole: Undercover in North Korea. The study aims to analyze in what ways documentary films provide knowledge. The previous research showed that the purpose of analyzing these films is placed not on the aspects of epistemology but on identifying what the documentary presents. Due to this reason, it is fascinating to analyze how cinematographic tools and the theory of knowledge present the truth. The theoretical background consists of the theories of BonJour, Lynch, Schwitzgebel, and Zagzebski. The methodology is based mainly on the ideas of Nichols's modes of representation and Bordwell & Thompson cinematographic terminology. The analysis of both documentary films provided different insights. The Ambassador lost the documentary effect and, in a way, became an action film where the filmmaker went on a self-exploration journey. However, the film managed to justify the belief that the CAR is corrupt and that you can do anything you want without any moral boundaries. The documentary makes the audience question not the truth presented by the film but the documentary film itself. On the other hand, The Mole: Undercover in North Korea used the same method but acquired extraordinary knowledge about North Korea. It proved the belief that North Korea is an evil and criminal enterprise without making the audience doubt the strategy of how the documentary was made. |
