Reality vs. Documentary -- Performance vs. Objectivity.

We've discussed the problem previously of categorizing "reality" movies in a filmic genre. The IMDB calls JACKASS: THE MOVIE a documentary. However, this would put it in the same category as SPELLBOUND or CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS -- which makes some blanche. The problem is not so much gnomic as, as much as audiences may be attracted to the "reality" genre of explosive bowel movements, false love affairs, and

A proposed solution: the former is a "performance" documentary -- done as performance, for the benefit of the camera, and the events depicted would not otherwise happen. The latter are "objective" documentaries -- depicting events which occur unaffected by the presence of the camera.

Another distinction: TV shows where a prize is involved (SURVIVOR, THE BACHELOR) are game shows -- not reality. There is nothing real about getting a million bucks because you could live in an enclosed house all summer.

Even so -- performance vs. objective raises the problem of authenticity. Would Nick and Jessica be leading separate lives were it not for the camera, or did the camera catch what would otherwise have unfolded? Who doesn't believe the Osbornes really are all that strange, even as they seem to be projecting with crisp diction so that the boom mic can pick them up.

Nonetheless, it keeps JACKASS out of the column where FAHRENHEIT 9/11 is.