Documentary Analysis - Fighting the Power: Britain After George Floyd

Documentary Analysis - Fighting the Power: Britain After George Floyd

"Fighting the Power: Britain After George Floyd" (BBC 3, 2020), directed by Eddie Hutton-Mills, is an emotionally challenging and thought provoking documentary that looks at the protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd, the protest organisers, and the Black Lives Matter movement (BBC 3, 2020). It is the voice and story of black people and the racism that they endure daily. 

The subject of our documentary that was decided upon, was Protesting: Where Would We Be Without It? "Fighting the Power: Britain After George Floyd" (BBC 3, 2020) is relevant to this subject as the documentary is centred around the Black Lives Matter Movement and the protests that occurred over the summer of 2020 as a result of racism and the death and murder of George Floyd. A timeline

Throughout the documentary, graphics, which hold quotes, statements, and/or statistics on them, were used. The colours used in the graphics were black, white and yellow, which are the colours used on the Black Lives Matter Movement's website and the colours often displayed in support of the movement (Black Lives Matter, 2021). These specific colours were chosen for the graphics as the contents of the documentary is solely with regards to the Black Lives Matter Movement and the protests that occurred in response to the murder of George Floyd. The colours are also bold, making it stand out and confront the audience head on, which is in line with BBC 3's Commissioning Brief that looks for the 'potential to standout, so bold titling and iconic imagery' (Campbell, 2021). The use of these graphics, makes you, as an audience member, really think about the information that you are confronted with and problems that have been and still are occurring within society. The fact that the graphics were bold and confronting, made us realise that these could be useful within our documentary, particularly as our documentary looks at protesting and its impact. 

Interviews were a key aspect of this documentary. The documentary tended to focus on interviews with young (fitting in with the BBC 3 demographic) organisers of some of the Black Lives Matter protests in London, key organisations like the police, and vox pops with members of the public, mostly occurring at protests. These interviews were primarily led by the people/contributors and told the story through their eyes rather than have the audience be told by the presenter. In addition to this, the presenter, Daniel Henry, appears to have built a good rapport with the contributors and gets involved with every aspect of the documentary. This evokes a greater sense of emotion and empathy amongst the audience. Daniel Henry is also a person of colour himself, which ensures that the story being told isn't that of someone else's through a white person's eyes, which is important as white person could never understand what people of colour experience. After watching "Fighting the Power: Britain After George Floyd" (BBC 3, 2020), we decided to use interviews and vox pops as the basis of our documentary, trying to ensure that the contributors were leading them. 

With impartiality being "the cornerstone of priniciples of public service broadcasting at the BBC and other broadcasters modelled on it" (Wahl-Jorgensen et al., 2016), the documentary ensures that there is an aspect of balance and that both sides of the story are being heard. For example, as well as the voices of those advocating for black lives matter, the police are also able to give their views, particularly regarding their response to the black lives matter protests and their previous and current treatment of people of colour, which is often controversial. When making our documentary, we will try to ensure that it maintains a balanced view. 

There are multiple ways in which "Fighting the Power: Britain After George Floyd" (BBC 3, 2020) is relevant to BBC 3's target audience of "16-24 year-olds" and a "young, diverse, UK-wide audience". One way is the use of the rapper, Wretch 32. On 9th June 2020, Wretch 32 shared a video on Twitter of his father being tasered (PA Media, 2020), which subsequently was "viewed more than 500,000 times" (PA Media, 2020).  It is highly likely that some of those watching will have viewed and/or will be aware of Wretch 32's video. Also, Wretch 32 is a well-known rapper, who is the younger generation are likely to be familiar with. This is likely to increase the appeal of the documentary to the audience and increase the relativity. In addition to this, the contributors were often younger people, making it more relatable to a younger audience. 

Another way of making the documentary more relevant to BBC 3's target audience is the use of mobile phone footage throughout the documentary. We are living in an age where the "population, particularly the younger generation, are "tethered to their mobile devices primarily through social networking apps" (Mihailidis, 2013). Using mobile phone footage adds to the sense of intimacy within the documentary as the audience is seeing it through the eyes of someone directly experiencing it/participating in it, thus making it more engaging. In order to gain footage of protests, we are looking into using mobile phone footage/footage from social media, which was an idea partially gained from watching this documentary.

There is an increase in tension throughout the documentary until the last five or so minutes, particularly when it comes to the right wing's involvement within the documentary whether that be archive footage or footage of the right wing protests in response to the Black Lives Matter protests. The tension is eased within the last five minutes as it shifts, whilst remaining on topic, to the change that people can create through supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and the need for people to come together to create the change, leaving the audience to think about the role that they play and the sense of community. 

To conclude, the documentary was incredibly effective, evoked strong emotions and made you, as an audience member, think. The documentary also held a sense of community, which brought some light heartedness to the incredibly important and serious topic at hand. The documentary left me angry and  frustrated at the racism people of colour face on a daily basis as well as the issues we have within the systems of society. 

Bibliography:

Black Lives Matter. (2021) Black Lives Matter. At: https://blacklivesmatter.com/ (Accessed 15/05/2021)

Campbell, F. (2021) BBC 3 Commissioning. At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/bbc-three (Accessed 15/05/2021)

Fighting the Power: Britain After George Floyd  (2020) [Television Programme] BBC 3 22/07/2020. At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p08hvwsl/fighting-the-power-britain-after-george-floyd (Accessed 15/05/2021)

Mihailidis, P. (2013) 'A tethered generation: Exploring the role of mobile phones in the daily life of young people' In: Sage Journals 2 (1) pp.58-72. (Accessed 15/05/2021)

PA Media. (2020) 'Rapper Wretch 32 shares video of police Tasering his father' In: The Guardian 10/06/2020. At: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/10/rapper-wretch-32-shares-video-of-police-tasering-his-father (Accessed 15/05/2021)

Wahl-Jorgensen et al. (2016) 'Rethinking balance and impartiality in journalism? How the BBC attempted and failed to change the paradigm' In: Sage Journals 18 (7) pp. 781-800. (Accessed 15/05/2021)