I just got done watching 'Storytelling' for the second time, and I think I finally got it...
Solondz is a filmmaker who puts HEAVY, HEAVY emphasis on dialogue, especially the last words of a scene or act. The only other film of his I've seen is 'Welcome to the Dollhouse', and it looks like he's still using the same techniques he was 6 years ago. For reference, try to recall the last scene between Dawn and her brother in the kitchen ("Highschool's not much different...").
The last words of "Fiction", slightly paraphrased, were "I don't know what really happened, but the moment it's down on paper, it all becomes fiction." What I assume, the instructor meant by this was that once you take on the responsibility of telling a story, those characters become your responsibility, too, and it is your duty to tweak them to be whomever you need them to be in order to make your story more compelling, even if you are using reality as a basis for your work.
The last words of "Nonfiction" were spoken by Scooby, shortly after returning from a screening of his life, distorted and twisted to form a more entertaining tale. "Don't be sorry," he says to Toby, "the movie's a hit". Although within the context of the movie, Scooby misunderstood what Toby was apologizing for, Solondz's message is clear. Toby was just doing his job as a storyteller. Being a documentary filmmaker, he just happened to exploit an innocent boy's life for the expense of his work.
If you need any more evidence, listen to the song that rolls during the credits, as well. Put on the subtitles if you need to. The entire thing, although cleverly disguised with a nursery rhyme tune, is a summary of the point the movie was trying to make.
In short, I think Solondz may be trying to make one of two points:
1) In order to make a story interesting, its teller must be able to manipulate/exploit/torture/emotionally pry the characters to make the story as dramatic as possible. You can't simply expect a project to fly because it was 'based on a true story'. In "Fiction", Vi lacked this ability, and trusted her paper to be of quality just because it was a true story. Yet, as her classmates so crassly pointed out, it did not contain the elements necessary for a good story, elements that they perceived to be tact, political correctness, groundbreaking plotlines, and a changed person by the last line of the paper. Obviously, her classmates were pitifully mistaken on 'the elements' a story must include, yet they did bring up a valid point, which her instructor elaborated on... "the moment it's down on paper, it all becomes fiction." It is the storyteller's responsibility to tell the best story they can, even if it must stray from he reality of the matter.
In "Nonfiction", Toby did exactly this. He cut out the footage he saw unnecessary and edited together the footage he liked in order to create a compelling tale of a boy's struggle to get into to college, although there were obviously many more things in Scooby's life that Toby as a filmmaker chose to leave out. As a result, he produced an entertaining and meaningful work of art, although it did not portray Scooby 100% as he was.
But as Scooby himself says, Toby shouldn't be sorry; the movie was a hit with its screening audience. His goal as both a filmmaker and a storyteller was accomplished.
2) When you DO use reality as a basis for your work, people are always going to get hurt or exploited. Unfortunately, as Solondz points out, this is the inevitable case in such genres as documentary filmmaking and creative writing where you need to be on such a personal level with your subject, you have to use a real life situation, either from your own personal experiences or someone else's with whom you are intimately familiar. This is the aspect of such mediums of work that make them so tragic and beautiful at the same time. Toby is obviously a caricature of Solondz himself, as towards the beginning of his career, he too made a small number of documentary films. Perhaps this is why he chose to follow a narrative format for his later features.
IN AN EVEN TIGHTER NUTSHELL: In order to make a good story, you have to twist and mold your characters to make them as interesting as possible, even if these newly formed 'characters' are not always true to their reallife counterparts. Unfortunately, someone is always bound to get hurt by this exploitation.
Sorry it took so long to say this.... I guess I was just trying to figure this out for myself at the same time, as well.
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