The Reality Effect

by Joel Black

It used to be only movies were on film; now the whole world is. The most intimate and most banal moments of our lives are constantly recorded for public consumption. In The Reality Effect, Joel Black argues that the desire to make visible every aspect of our lives is an impulse derived from cinema- one that has made life both more graphic and less "real." He approaches film as a documentary medium that has obscured-if not obliterated- the line between reality and fiction. To illustrate this effect, Black traces the uncanny interplay between movies and real-life events through a series of comparative analyses-from Lolita and the murder of JonBenét Ramsey to Wag the Dog and the Clinton scandal to Crash and Princess Diana's violent death.

Genres: Film

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book might deserve a more positive review....I am really drawn to the ideas and arguments he puts forth, as far as the constructed divides between fiction and non-fiction. However, I think that a lot of the subject matter - Wag The Dog, the Clinton scandal, etc - while good is a tad dated at this point, and the ideas are more examined in this day and age than when the book was written. (Yes, it hasn't even been 20 years and I say "this day and age". It's not my fault our age(s) are strapped to a runaway train.)