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61). If made today, his work would not be called journalism at all, but would
fall under the category of experimental documentary. Today's journalists cloak
themselves in objectivity, intentionally distancing themselves from their sub-
jects of inquiry. This technique has been instantiated throughout the media
apparatus such that “news” is now universally presented as unquestioned truth,
having no relationship to the person or corporate entity charged with its telling.
Te rmi na l Time
further explores the notion of cinema-truth by creating an
endless set of possible truths, all stemming from the expressed desires of the
audience, who in this case are charged with choosing how the “truth” is told.
Esfir Schub's meticulous inter-cutting of footage of war, strikes, and other
contemporary images of human suffering and struggle with home movies
shot for Tsar Nicholas II instilled the home movies with new meaning. Im-
ages of the opulent lifestyle of the Romanovs were transformed and revolu-
tionized through visual contrast. Barnouw credits Schub's editing work, in
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty
(
Padeniye Dinasti Romanovikh
1927) and
two subsequent pieces, with advancing the genre of newsreel compilations
(Barnouw 1983: 66). Shub also demonstrated that, original intentions notwith-
standing, documentary film footage could be manipulated and its meaning
re-contextualized to create powerful, alternative readings of history.
Te rmi na l
Time
is clearly indebted to Schub's work, as re-contextualization of historical
materials is central to our endeavor.
Although Sergei Eisenstein's work was in historical fiction as opposed to
historical documentary, he wrote extensively about the key role of montage in
building film meaning and the power of film over perception. He stated that
montage should be seen “as a means before all else of revealing the ideologi-
cal conception [of the film]” (Eisenstein 1949: 244). In operationalizing Eisen-
stein's ideas,
Te rmi na l Time
intendstoexposetotheaudiencehowmontage
functions in this “revealing,” thereby creating new perceptions of the world
based on awareness of ideological conception.
Corporate media dominance
The media experience of today is primarily in the living room, as opposed to
the theater or public arena of early Soviet times. The television is the screen. As
Lenin realized eighty years ago, the moving image is a powerful tool for propa-
ganda and political control. In today's world of television, he who controls the
screen controls the content and form of the programming. While Americans
and the U.S. political education system may interpret Lenin's interest in film
and the power of mass media in light of his attempts to control the minds of
