A Discusion of Two Documentaries, Awaiting for Men and...

This essay attempts to discuss on two documentaries, Awaiting for Men (2007) and Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (1997), on their reconstruction of truth and reality with particular emphasis on cinematic language and representation. With documentary becoming more diverse and diffused due to advanced technology such as the Internet, the realism of first-hand experience and facts may be exaggerated and even fictional. This is achieved through a bombast proximity and truth which has caused a blurred definition to term documentary. With the understanding that documentary is a form of factual representation, the aim for ‘truth’ in the presentation of ‘reality’ may be impossible (Chapman, 2009). Hence by comparing with reference to Awaiting for Men (2007) and Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (1997), it would provide a deeper analysis in distinguishing whether the two documentaries were able to represent the ‘t ruth’ of the reality. Firstly, one need to be aware the reality of the society that each of the documentaries have constructed in order to gain a better insight to why these documentaries were produced. Awaiting for Men (2007) presented the life of three strong and independent African women; an intimate conversation with the women focusing mainly on their timeline as a woman in Africa – from a young adult woman to a married life. In Africa, it is perceived to the world that African women are conserved, dependent on men and