ABSTRACT
Too often in the past two decades, the announcement has been made, “The documentary is
dead.” But stubbornly, it has held on. The reason, principally, is the documentary’s flexibility. Associated so long with educational and political goals, the documentary has more recently
aggressively embraced the entertainment impulse that has swept through broadcast news and
reality programming. Less obvious but no less important is the documentary’s hold on past generations. Its affiliation with political, social, and educational goals has given the docu-
mentary a gravitas or weight that is deeply meaningful. The form consequently has not lost
its audience as so many other story forms have. Whatever the reason, the announcement that the documentary is dead has been an empty one. The documentary is alive and evolving. In
this chapter, we will address a number of its innovations: the changes in the personal docu-
mentary, the expansion in the use of narration in a fashion differing from earlier uses, and the interface between documentary and drama. First, we turn to the shifts in the personal
documentary.
