Documentaries that changed the world
December 4, 2019 9:51 PM   Subscribe

Can you give examples of documentary films that effected real change in the world?

I'm open to different definitions of "change"- shifts in widespread attitudes or behaviours, policy and law changes, cultural or activism movements, etc. Not all the changes need to be positive. Any time period or country of origin is fine.

Where possible, I'd be grateful for links to articles or other supporting documents describing or even quantifying the changes, but of course that's optional. Thanks!
posted by nouvelle-personne to Media & Arts (11 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line led to the release of a guy wrongly imprisoned for murder.
posted by less of course at 9:58 PM on December 4, 2019 [7 favorites]


Wan Juiliang's documentaries like "Plastic China" about the impact of China having to deal with the world's plastic waste went viral and are having an enormous impact. I've heard that it was one of the factors in China's decision to stop taking in everyone else's waste.
posted by Zumbador at 10:02 PM on December 4, 2019 [3 favorites]


Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth
posted by quercus23 at 11:13 PM on December 4, 2019 [9 favorites]


Marcel Ophuls' Le Chagrin et la Pitié (The Sorrow and the Pity). It didn't change the world but it certainly changed France.
posted by TheRaven at 1:39 AM on December 5, 2019 [3 favorites]


Gasland and fracking came to mind. Turns out somebody published a study about its impact.
posted by gueneverey at 4:01 AM on December 5, 2019


McDonalds stopped offering super-size portions six weeks after “Supersize Me” came out in 2004.
posted by mhoye at 5:40 AM on December 5, 2019 [9 favorites]


Blackfish financially devastated SeaWorld and has potentially irreparably hurt its image (Good)
posted by matrixclown at 5:50 AM on December 5, 2019 [12 favorites]


Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father got a bill passed in Canada that protects children in custody disputes.
(It's also the most devastating film I've ever seen.)
posted by matrixclown at 6:16 AM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]


The Joe Berlinger documentaries about the West Memphis Three had real world effects.
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra at 7:13 AM on December 5, 2019 [4 favorites]


Alanis Obomsawin's Kahnesetake: 270 Years of Resistance would be one.

The footage she shot told a story that ran contrary to the narrative being constructed by the Canadian media at large about the "Oka crisis."

Rocks at Whisky Trench and Incident at Restigouche are two of her other films that stand out, but she's made over 50 films thus far, and her body of documentary work has had a wide-ranging cultural impact. For more background that touches on the impact her films have had, there's a great discussion between her and Jesse Wente from the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival you can watch here.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:01 AM on December 5, 2019


Titicut Follies raised awareness of how inmates in Bridgewater State mental hospital for the criminally insane were treated. It is a graphic and disturbing film. Had major and two differing effects. One of which was just "Wow people are being treated awfully, that should change" (and it slowly did) but the other was about the inmates' right to privacy--the film was banned by the state of Massachusetts to all but medical professionals.
posted by jessamyn at 12:47 PM on December 5, 2019 [2 favorites]


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