Yes, I said it. The nationally presented and highly education documentary Through a Blue Lens cannot be trusted. This is not due to inaccurate facts, statistics, falsely edited images, or the malicious intent to deceive on behalf of the police officers. Rather, Through a Blue Lens‘ cannot be considered an autobiography of any of the drug addicts portrayed in the film.
Why not, you may ask?
First off, the autobiography wasn’t written by them, so at the very least, the film would be better labeled as a biography (but I don’t think it could be called that either). However, if you are familiar with Dave Eggers’ What is the What, an autobiography of former Sudanese Lost Boy Valentino Achak Deng, you may ask why I would not outright deny its rights as an autobiography/biography. For What is the What, although we must be careful to consider Dave Eggers’ possible biases or motive to gain a wider readership, there is no explicit disclaimer that What is the What was written to serve some ulterior motive other than to tell Deng’s story and raise awareness for the Lost Boys.
Through a Blue Lens, on the other hand, explicitly states its purpose. At the very beginning of the film, several police officers reiterate that the point of the images shown in the film is to discourage kids from getting into drugs. The camera cuts to some students looking horrified by the effects of six months of crystal meth on a woman’s face.
However, as the film rolls on, the possibility of another motive starts to make itself known. As the camera continues to focus on the shocking and sobering effects of drug addiction, the benevolence and heroic efforts of the police officers and paramedics also come into view. After saving a couple of addicts’ lives, the officers go around and give gifts to some of the long-time addicts at Christmas time. Near the end of the film, one officer states that you “can’t help but feel compassion for them”.
After all the talk about police inefficiency, as shown in Jiwani and Young’s article “Missing and Murdered Women: Reproducing Marginality in News Discourse”, I can’t help but wonder if Through a Blue Lens was a counterargument for it. What do you think?
Allison,
I agree with your point that Through A Blue Lens could definitely serve as an argument for Jiwani and Young’s point about police inefficiency. I’ve also thought about is as a counterargument for Jiwani and Young’s point about stereotypes about aboriginals in the Downtown Eastside as Through A Blue Lens highlights “white” drug addicts.
However, I think it is important to note the inauthenticity of some of the scenes showed; it’s important to think that there are some biases. I think there were a couple of hidden motives in this documentary: one of these motives is to show that some policemen actually established relationships with these drug addicts. But this is only one side of the story. We don’t know if all policemen are like this, so Jiwani and Young’s point about police inefficiency may still be valid if you consider all aspects of it.
Allison and Margot,
Very interesting point about Through A Blue Lens’ authenticity as an autobiography! I wonder if perhaps because of the films clear purpose as a drug-awareness campaign for youth, that perhaps the film can not be considered an autobiography at all. However, despite the film’s clear intent or purpose not to be autobiographical, we know that in reality the film does use multiple story-telling approaches and is very autobiographical in its execution. Perhaps we could call the film a kind of pseudo-autobiography? Thus, I think it is more productive to analysis why the film takes on an autobiographical role and to what effects this has on the creators, drug-addicts, and audience. Is the technique actually more effective in preventing youth from getting involved in drugs? Despite not being an entirely accurate portrayal of the drug addicts lives, is the humanizing the film achieves beneficial at all the drug-addicits? Or ultimately have a negative effect on their lives? Or none at all?
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Awesome article stay safe will see you on the next article
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