Blair Witch: Mock Documentary or Horror Film?
Michelle Rossman
“The Blair Witch: A Mock Documentary or A Horror Film?”
The film The Blair Witch Project is a story about three film students who mysteriously vanish in 1994 while hiking in the Black Hills in Burkitsville, Maryland, trying to film a documentary about the Blair Witch, a local legend. The audience is notified that the three students were never seen or heard from again. A year later, discovered by the police department, their video with most of the footage they shot and their sound equipment was found. What the viewer is watching is the recovered footage. The themes of isolation and realism capture the audience in the film The Blair Witch Project. The film shows the inevitable human descent into madness when faced with isolation. One example of this madness takes place when Mike decides to kick the map into the creek. The map was their one beacon of faith for survival. All three characters are already on edge from being lost and losing the map makes them all angrier. They had put all their trust and belief into the map being able to get them out of the woods, so when that was gone they had felt let down and began losing trust in each other. The loss of trust was making the characters turn on each other and lash out in anger. The idea of isolation led to the feeling of hopelessness and abandonment. The more negative the three became the less likely it was they would get out of the woods. This proved that negative thinking only leads to negative results. Isolation is a universal theme. It is not just people in the woods who feel isolated or deserted. Anyone watching the film could have related to the characters feeling of isolation. They can relate to the feeling of being let down by a person or a thing and how that affects their life. Someone who feels as if they have no one won’t have the direction or drive as someone who has support. This feeling can lead to a person committing crimes or getting into other kinds of trouble. It can lead
“The Blair Witch: A Mock Documentary or A Horror Film?”
The film The Blair Witch Project is a story about three film students who mysteriously vanish in 1994 while hiking in the Black Hills in Burkitsville, Maryland, trying to film a documentary about the Blair Witch, a local legend. The audience is notified that the three students were never seen or heard from again. A year later, discovered by the police department, their video with most of the footage they shot and their sound equipment was found. What the viewer is watching is the recovered footage. The themes of isolation and realism capture the audience in the film The Blair Witch Project. The film shows the inevitable human descent into madness when faced with isolation. One example of this madness takes place when Mike decides to kick the map into the creek. The map was their one beacon of faith for survival. All three characters are already on edge from being lost and losing the map makes them all angrier. They had put all their trust and belief into the map being able to get them out of the woods, so when that was gone they had felt let down and began losing trust in each other. The loss of trust was making the characters turn on each other and lash out in anger. The idea of isolation led to the feeling of hopelessness and abandonment. The more negative the three became the less likely it was they would get out of the woods. This proved that negative thinking only leads to negative results. Isolation is a universal theme. It is not just people in the woods who feel isolated or deserted. Anyone watching the film could have related to the characters feeling of isolation. They can relate to the feeling of being let down by a person or a thing and how that affects their life. Someone who feels as if they have no one won’t have the direction or drive as someone who has support. This feeling can lead to a person committing crimes or getting into other kinds of trouble. It can lead