Louis Theroux Essay

How does Louis Theroux use documentary conventions to bring the genre into the mainstream?

 Louis Theroux isn’t afraid to convey his own opinions to the ‘characters’ and the audience in his documentaries, he actively says what he feels and usually what the audience most likely feels aswell. 

His interview with ‘Gramps’, the head of the Phelps family, contains a lot of tension with Theroux asking questions he knows will get his desired controversial reaction. 

The picketing so close to the funerals of the fallen soldiers creates a sense of awkwardness and anticipation, having built up the Phelps’ as the ‘most hated family in America’ and then they are doing something so disrespectful helps build the anticipation towards an expected confrontation.

Louis Theroux develops an audiences knowledge by presenting his documentaries from a side that most people wouldn’t normally see, in ‘The most hated family in America’ he documents the families everyday life, how life is for them in school and their local community, almost to build some sympathy towards them and present them as ‘normal’ people so the audience can relate to them, as well as their activities to do with the church. 

Theroux, while presenting these documentaries and getting involved in certain aspects, is generally less confrontational than someone like Michael Moore as he mainly watches from afar observing instead of being in the forefront of the ‘action’. Using such conventions like drama and suspense Theroux exacerbates certain situations to create tension and sometimes there is a sense of narrative in his documentaries making them aesthetically look like a drama program instead of an informative documentary, which I think brings it into the mainstream.


Louis Theroux Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Theroux