Documentaries are visual texts that on the surface appear to be revealing the truth but really are just created to position the viewers to accept a particular way of seeing the world. The elements of narrative are employed by the creator to persuade the audience to agree with what the documentary is claiming to be true. The documentary Culture jam - Hijacking Commercial Culture by Jill Sharpe aims to show the readers what culture jamming is and to position viewers to see through the deceiving advertisements and see the corporate giants for what they really condone. Culture Jam makes use of various narrative techniques such as filming codes, language and structure in order to convince the audience that the version of reality that it presents is in fact true.
Filming codes are used quite effectively in Culture Jam to position the viewers to see eye to eye with the creators and to make viewers see the world of advertising in a whole new light. Firstly the use of cinema verite or realism is a key element in persuading the audience that the constructed reality of the documentary is in fact actual reality. When footage of Reverend Billy being arrested is shown very near the start the message given to viewers straight away is that the
Camera angles are also used to convert the audiences views to those of the jammers. The low camera angle that is used when the camera shows the diversity and high population of advertisements within the city of New York , makes the advertisements look large and powerful, which is what the creator wants. The audience sees this power and will agree with what the jammers say in that the city is grossly over commercialised.
The structure of Culture Jam is important to the understanding of the documentary as well as being an important part of the reader positioning. The layout of the documentary follows the general pattern of what and how. The jammers will first say what their purpose is and what they do, which will begin to change the views of the audience but as they say actions speak louder than words so the next scene would cut to a live display of a culture jam in progress or perhaps a scene that clearly demonstrated what the jammers had claimed to be true in the previous scene. For example in one scene the jammers make the claim that the city is over commercialised as a product of corporate greed. The viewers may begin to believe that what the jammers say has some merit but when the next scene comes on with the apparent proof of the claim the viewers will completely believe that what the jammers have said is true, even if it is not. The fact remains that documentary films are a construction of reality and have
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