What Cameras Mean

My friend Dan is planning on making a documentary about the American perception of poverty in Africa. He's planning on interviewing many high-ranking officials and intellectuals in America and Africa and getting their perspective of what is really at the root of the issue of poverty. On his list are authors like Thomas L. Friedman and men like Desmond Tutu. When asked how he's going to get these interviews, he said plainly "You can do anything with a video camera."

This got me thinking about what a camera means in today's world. In the book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman talks about what seeing things through a camera lens does to our perception of things - versus learning about things through print.

In crime dramas, you always know the suspect is in trouble when they are taken into interrogation room and they remark suspiciously "There are no cameras in here."

To my friend Dan cameras represent power. People let him interview them - people who wouldn't let him otherwise - because the camera represents the possibility that whatever they say into the camera will go past Dan and be communicated to countless other people, to an audience of infinite number.

To the suspect being interrogated, cameras represent accountability. Whatever happens in that room will be seen by someone else - someone who might be able to give that information to someone who could help him if something goes wrong. In this situation, the camera provides a sense of comfort.