B2: Manufacturing Consent

For a critique of the media, Manufacturing Consent was highly mediated. Most notably (to my eyes) it seemed contrived to give the impression of being behind the scenes and outside of the media. Shots of Chomsky on television or radio shows invariably gave viewers a glimpse of the cameras, microphones, and other equipment. The pre-show instructions given by interviewers were often emphasized, especially the one in which a host asked Chomsky to listen without interrupting so they could have a shot of Chomsky listening to the host. Clips of interviews alternated between the view that was shown on television (often over the shoulder of the host) and the view of the documentarians' camera, generally positioned off to one side - again, in such a way as to display the other cameras and equipment in the room. All of these techniques that emphasized the cameras, the recording equipment, the pre-show planning, and other forms of media production served to impress upon the viewer the idea that everything we see on television (and, by association, through other sources) is mediated and prepared. The interviews appeared rigged and unrealistic, reinforcing Chomsky's insistence that owners of the mass media control what the public sees and hears, while simultaneously implying that the makers of the documentary took us behind the scenes of the traditional media outlets and gave us an "unmediated" view of the goings-on. In actuality, of course, the documentary was as mediated as any of the shows on which it went "behind the scenes" (and perhaps more so, since it probably underwent a great deal of editing after the film was shot). The visual effects employed by the producers, however, implied that this was not that case, and that only other producers of mass media used such techniques to control their viewers.