ABSTRACT In this paper, I examine contemporary observational filmmaking and its efforts to reconfigure the themes and style of direct cinema for a present-day actuality. I begin by revisiting the earliest works of American direct cinema, but I resituate their overriding preoccupation with self-realizing figures (musicians, actors, politicians) as a determined investigation of labour and workers. These documentaries, I argue, implicitly establish models and narrowly framed prescriptions for modern work; having been conceived within the individualized terms of direct cinema’s obsession with self-expression, the classic observational films inevitably highlight a self-directed, autonomous form of labour. As a result, the original exemplars of American direct cinema have created a durable site for the figuration of such work, and their familiar observational approach is purposely deployed in recent films such as American Movie (1999), Beauty Day (2011), and Weiner (2016). These documentaries, I maintain, provide distinctive analyses of precarious producers; or rather, they transform direct cinema’s emphasis on self-realization into a preoccupation with today’s precarious, autonomous work and its significant conundrums. In short, these films recognize the utility of an observational approach to the task of representing present-day work, and together they chronicle the grim fate of today’s new model worker.

中文翻译：

---

当今观察纪录片中不稳定劳动的悖论

摘要在本文中，我研究了当代观察电影的制作及其在当今现实中如何重构直接电影的主题和风格的努力。首先，我回顾了美国直接电影的最早作品，但我将他们的压倒一切放在了自我实现的人物（音乐家，演员，政治人物）的身上，以此作为对劳动者和工人的坚定调查。我认为这些纪录片隐含地建立了现代工作的模型和狭义的处方。在直接的电影迷对自我表现的痴迷中，经典的观察电影不可避免地要强调自我指导，自主的劳动形式。结果，美国直接电影的原始范例为这类作品的制作创造了一个坚固的场所，他们熟悉的观察方法专门用于最近的电影中，例如《美国电影》（1999），《美丽的一天》（2011）和《韦纳》（2016）。我认为，这些纪录片对不稳定的制作人进行了独特的分析。确切地说，他们将直接电影院对自我实现的重视转变为对当今不稳定，自主的工作及其重大难题的关注。简而言之，这些电影认识到观察性方法在代表当今工作中的作用，并共同记载了当今新劳动模范的严峻命运。他们将直接电影院对自我实现的重视转变为对当今不稳定，自治的工作及其重大难题的关注。简而言之，这些电影认识到观察性方法在代表当今工作中的作用，并共同记载了当今新劳动模范的严峻命运。他们将直接电影院对自我实现的重视转变为对当今不稳定，自治的工作及其重大难题的关注。简而言之，这些电影认识到观察性方法在代表当今工作中的作用，并共同记载了当今新劳动模范的严峻命运。