DogTown

Do you feel this is an ethnographic study, a work of entertainment, both? Explain your answer.

I believe that it is both. It’s an ethnographic study because they are examining the skateboarding and surfing scene. It is also interesting to see from a skateboarder or surfers perspective how they see the life.
Who are the interview subjects and why are they important? What roles do the interviews play? Do they move the story along? Lend a perspective on the subculture?
The interview subjects are skaters and surfer from dogtown back when the culture was just starting. They basically started the revolution. The interviews give the perspective of the revolutionaries.

What are some of the attitudes, beliefs, rituals, artifacts, etc. that make this group a subculture?

The way they dress, long hair, the laid-back kind of style of the way they talk. They wanted it to be locals only, they did whatever possible to disallow outsiders from coming and surfing.

What is the structure of the piece? How is it organized? Does this help or inhibit your understanding of the subculture?

It is structured with clips of people skating with the interviews audio patched over it. It is not very organized but it gives you the feel of the culture more that way.

What were some of the stereotypes you held about skateboarders before watching this? Do those stereotypes still hold true? If so, why? If not, what changed your perspective?

I had believed that they were for the most part a whole separate cliche from everyone else and that they were kind of individualistic. My view changed by finding out that many more people used to skateboard and how surfing and skateboarding are correlated.

The rhetorical triangle (ethos – do we trust what the creator of this is telling us…? What if you knew the filmmaker was also one of the skaters? Pathos – what emotional response did you have and why? Logos – how was the piece constructed?)

I believe the creator is an outsider who is interviewing insiders directly from the source. He has some sort of connections to be able to access the people he is interviewing. I would consider the documentary to be bias if the creator was an insider but not to an extent to where I wouldn’t believe in the documentary. The documentary made me more interested in the skateboarding culture. The piece was structured with clips of what was happening and the interviews taped over them with the people being interviewed explaining what was going on at that time.