Second literary journalism class, third week into the semester.

This week in class, we watched a literary journalism film, which was interesting to say the least!

It moved at a slow pace, but it was interesting to see how the author narrated his own personal story and aligned it with the stories of the people of the town. It was quite random in style, the way it moved from piece to piece and person to person. The real life characters had a very ‘real’ aspect about them. The author had a way of letting the camera role and capturing all that occured. He let their anecdotes flow and if interrupted, continue, this allowed for a ‘as they are’ element. He was not judgemental in the way he portrayed his characters, he allowed them to emerge as it happened.

The random aspects and the ‘as they are’ aspects were important as it helped in the creation of the overall story, it helped the story to accumulate and build.

The film was interesting in the way it brought together various elements which initially appeared to be random and dettached, although when put together made the film flow with a general purpose. I admired the way he got his subject to speak so openly and with such candor. There was a scene i remember, where he is speaking with a subject who is in hospital and he has his son with him. I admire the fact he was able to get a hospitalised subject to speak with him about an intimate topic.

In terms of how these elements could contribute to my own literary journalism creation, it is a good idea to focus on details, intricate details which aid the story telling. The creation of scenes and mood setting, assists the reader in generating a visual image which pulls them further into the story. The accumulative style is important as it has a sense of ‘interest’ and mystery, until it all is revealed.