Page - 69 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/02

Film, Parable, Reciprocity | 69www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/2, 69–98 Alyda Faber Film, Parable, Reciprocity Frederick Wiseman’s “Reality Fictions” and Social Change My attitude toward him is an attitude towards a soul. I am not of the opinion that he has a soul. Ludwig Wittgenstein About suffering they were never wrong, The old Masters: how well they understood Its human position: how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; W. H. Auden ABSTRACT This essay argues that social criticism may be an effect of Frederick Wiseman’s “re- ality fiction” films only if that effect is understood as analogous to that of parable, an awakened responsiveness to the unknown and the unresolved. The irresolution witnessed repeatedly in his films is the reality of “radical inequality” within institu- tions in democracy, with domination ranging from explicit exploitative relations to subtle aural and bodily cues. Within those relations, Wiseman opens up the space of parable as a vision and practice of reciprocity and more-than-reciprocity through, among others, filmic strategies of “lyric portraiture” and expressive “democratic noise”. Furthermore, Wiseman’s camera extends more-than-reciprocity to animals in a filmic style that shows human and animal relations as visceral markers of what otherwise might remain unseen in human-to-human relations. KEYWORDS parable, reciprocity, Frederick Wiseman, documentary, social change BIOGRAPHY Dr. Alyda Faber is an Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Ethics at Atlantic School of Theology. Her first poetry collection, Dust or Fire (Goose Lane Editions/Icehouse) appeared this year, and includes an 18 part poem entitled “Berlinale Erotik: Berlin Film Festival”.