MovieChat Forums > Dreams of a Life (2012) Discussion > A documentary like this raises ethical q...

A documentary like this raises ethical questions about dead subjects.

posted 11 years ago by whistal
7 replies | jump to latest

I'm writing as someone who identifies with Joyce in that maybe no one would look for me if I died. I have work friends, but the "real" friendships that are lifelong friendships are few and far between and even then, distance and time sometimes separates just by default. I've moved around a lot, I tend to cut off, I tend to be secretive. That being said, the idea of this documentary frightens me beyond belief.

Everyone has to die... no one knows if your death will be notable or not. Maybe I spontaneously combust while scuba diving? Maybe I get eaten by my dog while I'm still alive and I just can't swat her away fast enough. Maybe I am the victim of something horrible. Who knows! Can never say for sure what will happen. I think privacy is a form of dignity. I can only value and respect Joyce's family decision to not participate in the film... I think they would've known that Joyce would not have wanted this at all.

A movie like this where it's interviewing people that presumably she may not have had an extremely close tie to (though Martin had one to her, he seemed to be the only one, but who knows how requited it was)... it's in bad taste because anything could be said about her. At times, it just felt tacky, because we're hearing about a woman and all of her aspects from 3rd parties who may have meant little to Joyce. We all have good things, we all have dumb things we wish weren't true about ourselves... but I think I die at the idea of being dissected by randoms. Even sometimes my close friends don't know everything... they just know how they perceive things... sometimes you love your friends, but sometimes they wouldn't understand so you just don't talk to them about everything. Just the way it is sometimes.

Anyway, I'm rambling. But legally speaking, is there anything I can do while I'm still alive to make sure no one ever makes an incredibly speculative and exposing (while simultaneously not being deep) documentary about my ordinary life that could become un-ordinary upon death?

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Have a heart. Please spay and neuter your pets.

[–] manco82 10 years ago

What difference does it make? The dead don't care!

[–] whistal 10 years ago

That is a really disturbing perspective, sir.

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Have a heart. Please spay and neuter your pets.

[–] burpingaway 10 years ago

You have very few legal rights after death. Also, the chances of this happening are very slim so I wouldn't worry about it.

[–] andyd-1 10 years ago

the film was a bit kind to her. It looked to me that they had found a few genuine friends who believed in a good side to her, but I bet they could have found tons of dirt on her - she sounded like she was a bit of a user. she might well have had a personality disorder like sociopathy, so much of it fits, lying, flitting around, not having proper friends, superficial, promiscuity.

She had loads of jobs 'cos they moved her on, then when not young she had less looks to dazzle her way past cynical interviewers and ended up a cleaner.

Sorry I know too much

[–] ilykyu 9 years ago

I think this doc is like the antithesis of the doc Finding Vivian Maier, about another very solitudinous woman, but instead of having an eye opening death, she lived an exceptional life, one that absolutely no one was aware of until decades after her death when they found her amazing photographs. But that common thread, fame after a lonely life is over, is there.

It's always a mind boggler when people decide it's in the public's interest to expose in the most extreme way the lives of persons who were private, as if their likely more outgoing attention seeking personalities just cannot accept these people for what they were, in that they must have not been mentally normal, and the rest of us must be made aware, not to change things, only to marvel at or gawk at people like this as some type of other, and appreciate our own cushy lives. Or they think this fame was something the subject of these docs should have wanted, if only someone intervened and 'saved' them. Their actual motives may not even be as noble as that, rather they are just trying to piggy back upon an interesting feature of life they've been searching for to stand out from the pack, and these types of stories just happen to come along their path. I mean, how many of them have ever noticed someone, someone living, who seems a bit to themselves and tried to engage them?

Then again we live in a world were people rip an ancient king out the ground and parade him around the planet. If he can't get respect and dignity what do the erst of us expect.

"What is your major malfunction numbnuts?!!"

[–] explainmyself 9 years ago

I will have to look up the documentary Finding Vivian Maier, thank you for the heads up. I'm really interested in subjects about solitude. I'm in my own personal state of solitude right now, having recently quit my job and just living with a dog. I keep my phone in my car so I don't text anyone. I feel free and I feel a level of peace. Sometimes depression tries to creep in, but it doesn't stay for long. I'm going to be taking some long distance travels in a few weeks, and after reading the synopsis of that Finding Vivian Maier movie, it sounded like she could have easily been me. I love the idea of someone who lives on the fringe but is super passionate about life. These days it's still considered eccentric not to get married or have children, but of course it's certainly not as bad as the old days.

As for the ancient king -- I think if you were on the public stage in life, then perhaps biographers and documenters get a bit more leeway. But if you were a private, introverted, or just low key person, then exposing your life once you are dead becomes a little bit less fair game.

[–] cookiela2001 9 years ago

I don't think it raises very legit ethical questions....because to discourage other people from expressing THEIR interests, observations and relationships with the deceased is problematic. It infringes on how THEY personally want to live their lives (ie, talking to historians, documentary filmmakers, writing a book, etc.)

Just because Citizen A is inclined to be a private person doesn't trump Citizen B's right to share what has happened to, or influenced, them....even if Citizen A is the subject.

Basically, the world doesn't stop and revolve around one person's wishes.

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