The Cinematic Essay: Argumentative Essay and Documentary Film

The cinematic essay, also known as the essay film, is an extension of the documentary genre which replaces the impossible task of objectivity with a more subjective, argumentative approach. Until the recent growth in digital technology, which has decreased the financial burden associated with the cost of film stock and other aspects of production, essayistic cinema was mostly created by professional filmmakers, who approach thesis-driven arguments through a visual medium to achieve what documentary pioneer John Grierson described as “the creative treatment of actuality” (Winston, 19). Yet in recent years the development of digital cameras and editing equipment has made it possible for amateur filmmakers, including those involved in academia, to craft essay films with the same efficiency and quality of their professional predecessors.