Epilogue

Abstract

In the two concluding chapters of this book, I have explored the emotions of hope and nostalgia. The two different investigations work equally well as concluding topics. In some respects, they provide a double ending: one chapter explores what is at stake for subjectivity in the documentary expression of hope and futurity, and one looks back through the lens of nostalgia to that which is perceived to have been lost. In closing, I’ve chosen to return to a meditation on hope and documentary. While this offers an optimistic tone to finish on, more importantly it acknowledges an emotion that is key to the practice of non-fiction film-making — hope. This is an emotion that also shapes the representation of documentary subjects — when individuals are shown in hopeless situations, they subtly tell us that conditions could be different or, in the historical documentary, that situations cannot be repeated. These representations draw on the power of what can be accomplished if wishing, aspiring and having faith in possibility are widely maintained.

I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it life is not worth living.

Harvey Milk, The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)