‘Round and ‘Round We Go

I’ve never really heard much about coal, or cared much for that matter. Being raised in Michigan, the coal industry never came onto the local news and never played a large factor in my life. However, after watching this mere seven minute documentary, “Born into Coal”, I am widely opened to a world that is much different than my own.  I feel as if I too had been sitting in West Virginia on a kitchen countertop, eating a sandwich and talking to these people about their lives and occupations. This documentary seemed to be a mix of both the narrative style and human interest. It combined the overall wide-range topic of coal alongside a classic narrative plot, in which the documentary begins with a contestant in a beauty pageant and ends with her inevitably winning the pageant. The whole documentary isn’t based off of this narrative style pageant and climatic event, but instead, the human interest of coal mining is subtly incorporated within. In my opinion, this was a wise choice because it really brought together this overall lifestyle and was able to successfully compile it into a movie lasting only seven minutes.

One shot that really stood out to me was towards the beginning of the documentary, when Arianna is established in a bright pool with the dreary poverty of West Virginia encompassing her. Right before this shot, there was a close up of her in the pool, and you did not get a sense of what was surrounding her.  At this moment, you are able to finally see what environment Arianna is growing up in; one of miners and mountains. You visually are able to see that she is spinning in a pool of water with nowhere to go. I think the fact that she is spiraling around in essence is symbolic of the cycle of working class life in West Virginia, and the repetition of stereotypes that this encompasses. The main reason this shot really stood out to me was not only the overwhelming contrast in color, but the establishment of an underprivileged, beaten down environment. This works in context of the film as a whole in establishing the way of life for these people on a broader spectrum, and the inevitable continuation of such a small community lifestyle. For my documentary, I would like to re-create a shot similar to this, which is able to incorporate the overall environment of Keenland in relation to something more intimate or contrasting. This will allow people to see a broader picture of the lifestyle of these people either attending the races, or the jockey’s themselves. This shot in “Born into Coal” gives of a broader sense of an idea that is much larger than the actual shot in itself, and I hope to do the same within my documentary.