Documentaries, Work, and Global Challenges

Abstract

Work and the living conditions and everyday lives of workers have been central themes for documentary film in Europe and the United States since the 1930s. The founding father of the British documentary movement, John Grierson, inspired a documentary form with a focus on improving the position of the working class in Britain. Historically, this project was connected with the nation-state and the move toward a welfare society with more equality and democracy. But in the post-1945 period, and especially with the increased globalization of nation-states and society in general, we see a new tendency in European and US documentaries addressing the various global challenges. The nation-state dimension is not disappearing as such, but a number of European documentaries take on a more global outlook in their approach to documenting work. These documentaries represent a broader global horizon and mentality in the modern European documentary movement. This chapter deals with European documentaries representing different stages in the treatment of work and workers before the advent of the welfare society, through an increasingly critical look at the modern welfare state and toward a globally oriented contextualization of this social project. The chapter illustrates how a global agenda is reflected in Western European documentaries made in a few countries, but representing a wider trend in other countries.