Documentary functions: the uses of documents in non-fictional texts. Issue 1 (1st January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: González, Rayco; Serra, Marcello
• Is Part Of: Visual studies. Volume 36:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 63
• Page End: 69
• Publication Date: 2021-01-01
• Subjects: Visual perception -- Periodicals; Visual anthropology -- Periodicals; Visual sociology -- Periodicals; 301
• DOI: 10.1080/1472586X.2020.1746195
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1472-586X

Abstract

Abstract : Among the phenomena that define the spirit of our times, there is a growing tendency towards the registration and storage of data. Included within this phenomenon that some theorists call documentary inflation, the current spotlight on non-fictional narratives gives intelligibility to data and documents. Using some examples taken from documentary cinema as its basis, this article proposes a typology of the uses (or functions) of documents. Four different documentary functions are defined and articulated starting from the logical opposition between syntagmatic and paradigmatic: narrative, referential, systemic and revealing.