For this week’s post I ventured a bit off the assignment and decided to focus on two documentaries centered around the same issue but on opposite sides of the coin: the Netflix film Audrie and Daisy and an episode of ESPN’s docuseries 30 for 30 entitled “Fantastic Lies”.

Audrie and Daisy details the stories of two young, high school girls sexually assaulted while under the influence and the effect that the experience has had on their lives. The film began with Audrie who was assaulted while unconscious at a party by a group of boys she had considered her friends. After word got around and pictures taken that night spread, she felt as though her reputation was ruined for good and killed herself shortly after. The two main perpetrators were actually interviewed in the film as part of their plea deal and while one seemed upset by what he had done, the other appeared wholly unconcerned. Next was Daisy’s story. When she was 14, Daisy and her friend Paige went to her older brother’s friend’s house drunk. Upon arriving, Paige was taken by one of the boys into a separate bedroom and assaulted while Daisy was pressured into drinking to the point of blacking out. While she was blacked out, the host of the gathering took her into the bedroom raped her as one of his friends filmed from a crack in the door. The boys later dumped Daisy on the front lawn of her house, completely incapacitated.  Due to bias in the legal system, the case was dropped and the perpetrators (aside from the young man who assaulted Paige and confessed) went free with a slap on the wrist. After this Daisy was called a liar and slut by virtually everyone around her and the family was all but run out of town. She has struggled for years with depression and blaming herself for what happened. But in spite of her hardships, she now works to raise awareness – to let other individuals going through this know that they are not alone. As pointed out at the end of the film, many of these instances never get reported out of shame, embarrassment, and/or fear of backlash, so someone coming forward and sharing their story is incredibly important.

As I was watching Audrie and Daisy, I was reminded of a program I had seen on TV a while back that had made a rather large impression on me and decided to re-watch it. That program was “Fantastic Lies”. On March 16, 2006 the Duke lacrosse team hosted a get together and hired two strippers to come to the house they were renting and perform. Many of the young men made vulgar comments so the women left after about five minutes. Later that evening, one of the women called the police and reported being raped by three of the players. The issue of class and race (the accused were upper class white males and the “victim” was African American and lower class) made this case especially explosive. The prosecuting attorney, due to the visibility of this case and his upcoming District Attorney re-election , wanted to win at all costs and went against procedure multiple times to do so. One example of this occurred after testing revealed that no DNA of any of the players was present on the woman’s body and he grew desperate. So, he created a line up including only team members that were present that night, instead of a mix. It was luck of the draw who got accused and who didn’t. Upon inspection of the final three chosen’s timelines – tracked through cellphone and computer use times of both them and the accuser – it became clear that there was no time during which the assault could have taken place. In the final trial, it came to light that the DNA expert and prosecuting attorney had entered into an agreement to omit any evidence that would hurt their case, including that there was in fact men’s DNA, but it did not match any of the players.  In the end the “victim” redacted her accusations and the DA removed from office and disbarred. But while the truth was finally got out, the lives of these young men were forever changed. Their once bright future will forever hold this stain and the team’s reputation will likely never get back to what it once was.

The first time I watched “Fantastic Lies”, I had never heard of the case and went in 100% sure that the players were guilty. Though the justice system is (supposed to be) based on innocent until proven guilty, much of public perception is based on the opposite – guilty until proven innocent.  The film showed a side of an issue not much talked about especially in more outspokenly liberal places such as Portland and college campuses in general. It’s almost considered blasphemous to ever doubt an accusation of sexual assault. This culture of snap judgments really just divides and dissolves trust in the justice system from both sides. As stated in the episode by Duke player Tony McDevitt “The lasting legacy of false accusations…its only gonna hurt the women who truly are raped”. Evidence of this is with Daisy’s case and how she was treated after the fact. People around her were so quick to dismiss her story as a lie or cry for attention due to the frequent occasions of when that actually is the case. On the flip side, the individuals being so dismissive of her attack – such as the sheriff’s department – paint any authority who judges in opposition to the alleged victim as corrupt or biased. So, in the end, victims don’t want to come forward out of fear that they won’t be believed and criminal justice workers don’t want to properly and fairly do their job out of fear of a tarnished reputation one way or another. If the frequent occurrence of false accusations weren’t so prominent in modern society, neither of these would be an issue.

In terms of measuring impact, I can only really assess how it impacted me. Of course there were elements of emotional manipulation with melancholy music and familial testimonials. I would say that between the two documentaries, Audrie and Daisy showed much more of a bias, especially in the way interviews were conducted and scenes were cut, while “Fantastic Lies” was more about fact based story telling than emotional tugging. The purpose of the first film seemed to be encouraging victims to come forward/seek help and for family and friends to stand by and support them. Meanwhile the 30 for 30 episode was more informative. Interestingly enough, I found “Fantastic Lies” to be the more impactful of the two (though this may be because I was not the target audience for Audrie and Daisy). It really forced a different viewpoint on the world and society. It forced me to confront myself and how quickly I decided I knew what was going on. It has also made me aware of the importance of knowing all the facts before you decide to support something. You never know who you may hurt otherwise.

I personally don’t think any documentary should be measured for impact. What would be the point? If it changes even just one person, its done its job. Expecting or demanding huge results is just evidence of either hubris or greed and redacts from any impression the film makers were trying make. It especially makes no sense for documentaries like the aforementioned pieces. Neither of them really have a quantifiable impact. In terms of using reality TV shows like Parts Unknown “Beruit” as journalism, I think it’s fine. Many people don’t like watching things simply for the informational factor and will be more drawn in by things like food or travel with informative bits mixed in. You can reach a larger audience in that fashion and it’s less daunting for the consumer.

Zenovich, M. (Director). (2016, March 20). Fantastic Lies [Television series episode]. In 30 for 30. ESPN.

Cohen, B., & Shenk, J. (Directors). (2016). Audrie and Daisy [Video file]. United States: Netflix. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://www.netflix.com/search?q=audrie and daisy