Governing Visions of the Real : The National Film Unit and Griersonian Documentary Film in Aotearoa/New Zealand (Hardcover)

Governing Visions of the Real traces the emergence, development, practices, techniques and strategies of Griersonian documentary in the service of liberal democracy and socio-economic progress, focusing on non-fiction film production in New Zealand throughout the first half of the twentieth century and particularly film production by the National Film Unit (NFU) throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

By drawing on Michel Foucault’s concepts of the dispositive and governmentality, Weckbecker sets out to trace and discuss a shifting dispositive of “visions of the real”. Analysing reports, policies, arrangements, techniques, strategies and practices,  Governing Visions of the Real explores how New Zealand and its population came to be envisioned through NFU film. The projection of women, workers and Māori is given a specific focus.