As dozens of cameras clicked away, costumed protesters marched down the streets of New York City. But the media shots of women posed as the Statue of Liberty, men festooned in psychedelic Uncle Sam costumes and others covered by gas masks did not reflect the mood of the entire crowd gathered outside the 2004 Republican National Convention — or so two Northwestern students suggest in a feature-length documentary.
The film, “The Whole World is Watching,” from director Emir Eralp, a RTVF senior, and producer Miki Johnson, a Medill senior and former PLAY editor, premieres at the Block Museum tomorrow at 7 and 9 p.m. It offers audiences a critique of the mainstream media’s coverage of the protests.
But the documentary criticizes the media heyday with the wacky outfits and police violence as much as it questions the protesters’ ability to express a clear and coherent message.
“On the streets you see people out of every fairy tale you can imagine,” Eralp says. “I found it hard to make anything effective out of that chaotic environment.”
A main goal of the film is not to instruct viewers how to think about the issues, Johnson says. Instead, she and Eralp strive to present the various protests as they experienced them, so the audience can draw its own conclusions.
“What we are saying is, ‘Here is what (the media) do, not why they are doing it,'” Johnson says. “We are trying to present as many questions as we do answers.”
The film shows 10 different demonstrations of varying sizes. The United for Peace and Justice protest, one of the larger gatherings, drew some 400,000 people. The Fox News Shut-up-a-thon brought 1,000 people clad in masks of Bill O’Reilly, the infamous host who tells guests that disagree with him to “shut up.” While there were hundreds of people arrested throughout the week, the film shows the media misreporting facts.
The sheer size of some protests made it difficult to gauge the protesters’ message and the extent of police activity on the grounds, Eralp says.
“Variety helps and detracts from their message,” he explains. “That’s the dichotomy I’m trying to point out in the film. It’s hard to achieve balance.”
Despite the bouts of chaos, the film captures several powerful images of people coming together to express themselves.
But the documentary is not just criticism — it captures a moment in history. Eralp’s fascination with the 1960s generation of war protests inspired him to make the film. He also had never participated in a protest prior to last summer.
Johnson says she hopes the film educates people on the modern phenomenon of protest.
“I would love for people who have never been involved in a protest to see it and know that it is not a historic relic from our parents time,” she says. “I want for them to see how much the protest culture is still alive.”
David Reid, an Evanston resident who protested the Vietnam War as a young man, agrees that demonstrations are an important form of expression that are not going out of style.
“(They are) a time-honored democratic tradition for otherwise everyday people to make their point and feel heard,” Reid says. “Governments have to take notice when people rise up in a mass and say they do not like what they are doing.”
Eralp and Johnson first planned to make the documentary while sitting outside of Unicorn Caf
