Documentary: We Care

            For this week’s class, I watched professor Juhasz’s documentary We Care, which acts as an AIDS educational video and form of alternative video activism.  In reading Chapter 6 of AIDS TV: Identity, Community and Alternative Video in correspondence to the film, I was able to understand the socio-economic conditions in which the film was made and was given the ability to reflect upon the purpose of why a film with this topic was constructed and the intentions of the WAVE activists.

            We Care brings to light the different experiences, and collective stories of women who either have AIDS or who are care-givers for people who have AIDS.  The film specifically and strategically shifts attention to minorities who are not usually represented in the media and gives them a voice to assert that people with AIDS are just like the rest of us. The film ultimately and successfully strives to create a community, in which people join together and use their voice to give empowerment the AIDS community.  In this way, the truths and myths of AIDS representation in media, academia, and public health are combined to create a space in which people with AIDS can identify with the stories being told, form a support-group, and simultaneously educate the general public. The video is therefore a successful form of activism as it not only educates, but it empowers marginal voices and encourages people to take an invested interest in the AIDS epidemic. 

Who is the Audience?

          In creating the WAVE video project, the documentary intends to speak to many different groups of people.  The audience includes people who are interested in learning about AIDS in that the video deconstructs the truths and myths surrounding common perceptions of AIDS. The video project specifically speaks to an audience who has little, or wrong information about AIDS education and aims to correct damaging myths. The audience includes people in the community who want to maintain a support network for people who have AIDS or care-givers to those who have AIDS who can relate to the stories being told and want to ensure that there are people who do care about them.  The film also speaks to AIDS activists as it informs the general public that this is not a disease that should be stigmatized and that there is nothing to be ashamed of in having AIDS.  

          After reading Chapter 6, we know that the film was targeted for urban women of color affected by AIDS and people who would want to know more and benefit from a sense of community. The producers assumed that “our audience would share experiences with us, share our concerns. That is why the audience would choose to watch a tape with this title” (213). 

What are the Ethics of Working with Real People?

          In Chapter 6, Professor Juhasz raises many questions regarding ethics. Specifically she raises issues regarding power relationships within filmmaking.  When watching a film, the audience needs to be aware of who is speaking for who. Is it the person making the film who can be constructing and editing the story to fit their agenda or is it the person telling their experiences? 

         In making this film, the WAVE activists take precautions to ensure that the film was made and constructed ethically. “When we talked as a group, we learned things about our similarities and differences and about the numerous deployments of ‘power’ throughout the group only by talking could we begin to explore our similarities.  Only by talking could we get to the more complicated place for comprehending the differences within our similarities (199).

          Another ethical problem when making documentaries, especially social documentaries is that many times a film with a sensitive topic can draw negative attention towards the people being interviewed.   Precautions are taken in the making of this film and is exemplified by the participant who chose to have her face covered while telling her story. I felt in her doing this, it made the audience really have to focus on the words being spoken rather then the background or body language, and even though this was a technique used to protect her privacy, it ultimately gave her more empowerment.

What is the Function (form and function)?

          The function of We Care is to create an educational video.  The film provides information and advocacy efforts to make people come together as a support group, and the form (narrative stories, interviews with health care professionals) is used to build a community.  The function of the documentary successfully allows one to “feel better about oneself as an individual among a community of women with similar concerns” (205).  Ultimately, “we decided to make a tape for care providers for two reasons, which illuminate how the production of community media makes good education while also serving as a vehicle for the reproduction of community and personal identity” (209)

How do you characterize visual and sound design? Is it organic or imposed?

         Visually, this film was structured through close-ups of people’s faces, which mainly showed one’s face from forehead to chin. This drew people’s attention to people who were re-living their experiences.  The interviews in the video felt organic as people were comfortable with speaking, showing their homes and offices.  In addition, the people in the video were talking to each other and not at the camera, which, reflected that there was no central authoritative voice and merely a community of joint experiences.  

          There is no external sound in the film except for a poem, which was written for AIDS awareness day.  The poem, which states,  “We care for people, people with AIDS. Why do we care you might ask? We care because people with Aids are people like us” (209) is reflective of the purpose of the video.  The sound design highlights people coming together which promotes the social trajectory of the film, which is to de-stigmatize AIDS and instead offer truthful education.