Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore and Climate Change

 An Inconvenient Truth (2006) won two Academy Awards, and turned former Vice President of the United States Al Gore into an international celebrity. More importantly, it brought climate change and global warming to the forefront of our collective consciousness. Drawing on his own research, our guest Dr James Lyons shows how director Davis Guggenheim uses performance to dramatically animate risk in the film. In doing so, does he change the focus? Do the camera lights instead shine more brightly on the former senator from Tennessee, rather than the existential threat facing our planet?  Time Stamps: 00:58 – Introducing the guest and our topic: the animation of risk in modern documentary film 01:45 – Dr James Lyons’ background and work 04:40 – What documentary performance and risk research is about 06:04 – Two documentary films we will be looking at today and why James chose them 08:37 – Synopses of Inconvenient Truth and an Inconvenient Sequel 10:45 – Commentary on Al Gore and his performance as a presidential candidate in 2000 11:50 – Watching the first clip from Inconvenient Truth on climate change 13:10 – Why James chose this clip 15:40 – How the trailers for both films present the risk of climate change 18:40 – Watching the clip from Inconvenient Sequel on the terrorist attack in Paris in 2015 22:00 – James’ commentary on the clip and why he chose it 25:50 – How Inconvenient Truth is actually about Al Gore and not climate change 27:50 – Trying to keep a documentary on topic, and the influence of performance and risk 30:00 – The beginning of a successful wave of independent documentary filmmaking in America 36:45 – Commentary on James Lyons’ interactive documentary Risk Taker’s Guide 39:20 – Commentary on James’ book and different categories of risk Resources: An Inconvenient Truth (2006) An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power (2017) The Risk Takers Survival Guide Documentary, Performance and Risk, a book by James Lyons Free Solo (2018) Roger And Me (1989) Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) Factual America Ep #03: Alex Gibney’s Theranos Scandal Documentary Connect with Factual America:FacebookInstagram Twitter Connect with Matthew Sherwood:FacebookLinkedInTwitter