searching for sugar man
Stage 1 English Text Response
Searching for Sugarman is a carefully constructed documentary by director Malik Bendjelloul, which recounts the search for a supposedly dead folk-rock performer from the 1970’s known as Rodriguez. In an attempt to create intrigue and a sympathetic feeling towards the artist the director manipulates the delivery of information to the audience. For much of the documentary several versions the idea that Rodriguez met a horrific death during a public performance, was key to creating the image of an enigmatic artist. Key musical and visual backdrops were employed to stories of a lone drifter whose poetry was equated with prophetic insight by one of the films narrators. Further clever manipulation by Bendjelloul invites the audience to rejoice when the artist is ‘amazingly’ discovered to be alive in Detroit and his career is seemingly resurrected. The clever use of plot, setting contrasts between the cities of Detroit and Cape Town, and the notion that Rodriguez was the lost poet for the apartheid generation work to manipulate audience sympathy. The following will explore this argument in further detail.
Through the sentimental recount delivered by Steven Segerman “Sugarman,” the director manipulates the delivery of information to the audience to create a nostalgic, mystic feeling for a lost golden era and intrigue about the down and out poet-songwriter Rodriguez . At the beginning of the documentary Segerman talks about Rodriguez in the past tense saying, “we found out that he had committed suicide. He set himself alight and burned to death in front of the audience…it was probably the most grotesque suicide in rock history.” At face value this sets the audience up to feel sympathy and creates a dark aura of intrigue about Rodriguez. One might well ask, “who was this guy who died for his art?” However, it’s all a clever ploy. By withholding facts at the beginning, the audience sentiments are at the mercy of the director.
Powerful
Searching for Sugarman is a carefully constructed documentary by director Malik Bendjelloul, which recounts the search for a supposedly dead folk-rock performer from the 1970’s known as Rodriguez. In an attempt to create intrigue and a sympathetic feeling towards the artist the director manipulates the delivery of information to the audience. For much of the documentary several versions the idea that Rodriguez met a horrific death during a public performance, was key to creating the image of an enigmatic artist. Key musical and visual backdrops were employed to stories of a lone drifter whose poetry was equated with prophetic insight by one of the films narrators. Further clever manipulation by Bendjelloul invites the audience to rejoice when the artist is ‘amazingly’ discovered to be alive in Detroit and his career is seemingly resurrected. The clever use of plot, setting contrasts between the cities of Detroit and Cape Town, and the notion that Rodriguez was the lost poet for the apartheid generation work to manipulate audience sympathy. The following will explore this argument in further detail.
Through the sentimental recount delivered by Steven Segerman “Sugarman,” the director manipulates the delivery of information to the audience to create a nostalgic, mystic feeling for a lost golden era and intrigue about the down and out poet-songwriter Rodriguez . At the beginning of the documentary Segerman talks about Rodriguez in the past tense saying, “we found out that he had committed suicide. He set himself alight and burned to death in front of the audience…it was probably the most grotesque suicide in rock history.” At face value this sets the audience up to feel sympathy and creates a dark aura of intrigue about Rodriguez. One might well ask, “who was this guy who died for his art?” However, it’s all a clever ploy. By withholding facts at the beginning, the audience sentiments are at the mercy of the director.
Powerful
Bibliography: Bendjelloul, M (2013), Searching for Sugar Man, Red Box Films Publication, UK.