how do we know what we know? I don't know.

If there is one theme through out all of the articles we read, and The Thin Blue Line, it is truth. The documentary obviously is all about the truth of a situation, while the articles talk a lot about the 'truth' of a film. The Thin Blue Line is a documentary, but there is a lot of speculation about whether to call it that or not. It is the unfortunate story of two people, a man and a teenager, who meet one night, and a cop gets murdered. The documentary investigates all the different points of view of that story, to try and figure out what really happened. There are a lot of story telling elements used in this film that help move the 'plot' along, but the plot is supposed to be real life; which is hard to remember when there are reenactments, which make it seem more fictional than if he had stuck with the verite style of filmmaking. I personally really liked the reenactments, because I agree with Morris that it helps the viewer to be more engrossed in the film, and really relate to the confusion. In the Linda Williams article, she says that "Morris's abandonment of voyeuristic objectivity" by using reenactments actually helps to tell the truth of the story more effectively.
The film shows a scarier side to the judicial system. In Texas, the death penalty is still used. This film really gave me the creeps, because it seemed to me that the cops were more preoccupied trying to blame someone for the death of Robert Wood, rather than knowing 100% without a doubt that Randall Adams had actually done it. There was still speculation. Even if they were just trying to do their job, their job has the power to kill someone. I think that if the man was being condemned to death, maybe they should have explored the alternatives more before they made their decision. It seemed like there were people trying to give evidence that maybe David Harris had actually caused the crime, but it seemed to be totally ignored. I think that if there was any bit of doubt that Adams hadn't done it, he should not be given the death sentence. Also, this brings up another question I had: why was convicting Adams more appealing than Harris, just because Harris couldn't receive the death sentence? Is it some weird unwritten Texas law that if someone gets murdered that whoever did it HAS to die? But mostly I just don't think there should be a death sentence. Anyway...
The other topic that was brought up in the articles was the power of a film to be completely neutral. I think the consensus between all the articles is that it's virtually impossible. No matter what is being shown in the film, it is going to have some sort of persuasive point to it. In the Grindon article, is says that even an interview cannot really be neutral, based on what is shown and what isn't, how it's edited, it is never just a simple question and answer exchange. In The Thin Blue Line, the film wasn't really supposed to be neutral to begin with. The film shows the innocence of a convicted man, so obviously it is biased in order to make that point and really drive it home. Even though it is the truth, it is still a non neutral film. It would have been impossible to tell this story in a verite style completely, although that is said to be more 'truthful.' All of the articles really make you think about how truthful something is when you watch it, or if it is skewed in some way to make the filmmakers point.
Possible Questions:
What is your opinion on how the cops/judicial system acted in this case? Were they 'just doing their job' or were they reckless? What is your opinion on the death penalty? Why was it not ok for the court to convict Harris just because he was only 16? Do you think the court suspected that Harris actually did it, but didn't want to believe it because he was so young? How do you feel about the reenactments in the film? Is it less truthful with the reenactments?
New Terminology:
epistemological:The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and limits of knowledge. What is knowledge? How do we get it? And how do we know what we know?!