ROGER SHATTUCK
547
Apollin aire's li ghth earted irony cuts far deeper toward the feti shes
and taboos o f mov iemakers than we would like to admit, and than any
h uffy mani fes to of cinema ver ite. Do we reall y believe the contrary of
these three p rinciples? About the market economi cs of film we a re
merely uneasy, affirmin g stoutl y tha t business and art can li e down
toge ther. T h e second principle raises awkwa rd p roblems, parti cul arly
for criti cs. No one ever questi oned the right of fi ction film to exist.
Does tha t mean we accept the eq ui valence on the screen of the real and
the fe ign ed? Most critics pride themselves on being able to spo t
immed ia tely any trace of staging in a "documentary."
If
they can , wha t
have they accompli shed? For we waver greatl y in our beli efs about the
truth of art versus the truth of na ture.
T he thi rd p rincipl e, remo te as it may seem a t first from our
concern s, affects every aspect o f video news coverage and comes in to
p lay whenever a cinema tographic record is made or even considered.
For the mere presence of the camera modifies the context in whi ch an
event takes place-the socia l equivalent of Heisenberg's uncertainty
p rin cipl e. Vietnam War pro testo rs learned to stage their demon stra–
tions fo r the TV cameras, and camera crews learned to go where the
demon stra tions would be staged. Everyone coopera ted in a beautiful
feedback a rrangement that pa rall eled what you can observe in minia–
ture every time a pho tographer wanders among the weddin g guests o r
aims hi s machine a t the audience in a big hall. They pose for him by
act ing natural. Near a camera, everyone is in cahoots to behave as if it
weren 't there. Does thi s coy a ttitude p roduce documentary? At the o ther
extreme, wha t should one do about the sado -masochi st films recentl y
imported from South Ameri ca and which show (one hears) genuine
cases of criminal violence?
T he Baron of Ormesan in Apo llinaire's story surely " parti cipated"
in hi s documentary treatment of civili zed na tives in the streets of Paris.
T he camoufl age p rincipl e (compare Poe's "The Purloined Letter") by
whi ch hi s authentic film passes for insignificant fi ction carri es linger–
ing es theti c and ethi ca l overtones for our era of sys tema ti c authenti city
in the medi a. Apo llinaire made a genuine contribution to the tiny
corpus o f film " litera ture."
3.
In 1898 the upheaval in France over the Dreyfu s case had reached a
point of rea l cri sis. Colonel Henry's suicide and Zola's trial had led to
the recall o f Captain Dreyfu s from Devil' s Island. In August he finall y
