What do we consider important in our lives? Why are these things important to us, is their a deeper meaning to these things? What makes things become easily forgotten which seem like they could be important and memorable? The world in which we live in is filled with tragedy, love, sadness, and stories which are passed on from generation to generation. What I find interesting though is how as people we determine what stories are important and are remembered for years, and other stories are forgotten in days.
In my opinion I feel as if the stories which we seem to remember are those which touch a majority of us personally. What I mean by this is a story which most people cannot relate too is probably more easily forgotten than a story which thousands of people relate too. Most documentaries you see are about things which people come in contact with at least once in their lives, and the other documentaries which we see are about things that we may never come in contact with, stuff that might be occurring on the other side of the planet.
I have seen a fair amount of documentaries in my life and for the most part they deal with issues which I have either seen or heard about and issues which effect the world that I live in. One documentary I remember watching quite long ago was a Michael Moore documentary which was called “Bowling for Columbine”. The documentary talked about the Columbine shootings which occurred at a high school and talked a lot about the issue of bullying. All the shooters in the Columbine incident all had a previous history of being bullied and picked on which in turn lead them to snap.
This documentary most likely hit home for a lot of people who have children who have been bullied or who know people who have been in a school shooting incident like this one. I think what makes a good documentary is not only can the viewer relate to some of the issues which are being brought to hand but most documentaries also have some sort of shock value which really makes the audience think. This shock value helps people remember the documentary and makes it more memorable than something which seemed normal or average.
All in all I feel as if people remember what they feel is important and it differentiates depending on a persons personality and morals. Certain documentaries effect certain people one way, and that same documentary might have a total different effect on another person.
