Ethics of Documentary: Bangkok Girl
It is perhaps inevitable that tragedies will occur when anyone can now buy a video camera, get some bucks together, and make a documentary. Taking courses on the many aspects of documentary film making is not necessary these days, it seems. But one of the things that is often discussed in classes, or should be, is the ethics of documentary film making.
Jordan Clark's film, "Bangkok Girl" (2005) was broadcast on the CBC last night (October 3rd). From the beginning I was horrified, not only by the obvious elements of the exploitation and sad social conditions of the girls of Bangkok but by Jordan Clark's unbelievable naiveté regarding the danger he was obviously placing his subject in. By publicly filming Pla in the streets of Bangkok, surely he must have realized that over time her employers and the men who depend on the sex trade at all levels from bar owners to the corrupt police and politicians (the trade is one of Thailand's main sources of income) would find out that this film was being made and that it was taking a negative and critical view of the sex trade. He also seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that these girls are completely expendable; there is an inexhaustible supply of them. Was Pla was murdered as soon as Jordan Clark left the country to serve as an example to any other girl who might participate in a foreign film critical of Thailand and its multi-million dollar sex industry? Did Jordan's choice to publicly film Pla sign her death warrant? Did he really expect that there would be no response from the powerful criminals who exploit these young women? Such ignorance is the result of turning young film makers loose on the world without sufficient training in the ethics of their trade. There are many potential circumstances in which subjects' lives can be endangered by participation with western filmmakers or journalists. Most journalists know that they must protect the identity of their sources. Jordan Clark failed to do this, even while he was trying to do good. Young film makers must think about the possible dangers that their subjects might find themselves in if exposed to those forces that might feel threatened by such an activity. Clark should have interviewed Pla in secret and kept her identity secret, not in plain view in the streets of Bangkok where information flows freely. In both his earnestness and vanity, Jordan Clark may well have caused the death of his subject in his attempt to "save" her. When Clark reveals Pla's death to us at the end of the film, he exploits the requisite pathos for dramatic purposes, but fails to address the obvious question of WHY she was murdered.
As the documentary boom continues and more young would-be filmmakers are travelling the world in search of the popular "subjected peoples" and "social injustice" genres, the ethical and practical problems of documentary filmmaking, especially in foreign countries, must be debated in the open so as to make everyone aware of the potentially disasterous consequences. The camera can kill.