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I don't understand how the national review writer could write this and not realize the documentary was unethical. Why is "carceral system" in scare quotes? By t

I don't understand how the national review writer could write this and not realize the documentary was unethical. Why is "carceral system" in scare quotes? By their own description the facility obviously meets the definition. Yes, it's impossible to know for sure to what extent and how the men might have been threatened. That doesn't mean you throw up your hands and say "whatever, I now have no moral obligations". > The accusation was rooted in the question of free consent: Even if the men signed release forms — which they did — they might have done so only because they were under the control of a “carceral system.” If that were true, though, it could be equally true that the men were forced to criticize the film and affirm the claims in CAGE’s letter. Either way, the idea that Smaker had coerced her subjects into cooperating and put them at risk became a doc-world trope that was impossible to disprove, because, by order of the Saudi state, the men were prohibited from communicating with anyone outside the country without permission.

leot 4y ago
By your logic, any documentary that interviews prison inmates would be unethical. Smaker asked ~150 inmates to participate, and only a tiny handful agreed.
- iudqnolq 4y ago
  > By your logic, any documentary that interviews prison inmates would be unethical. All ethical filmmakers carefully consider ethics in situations where people might feel compelled to participate. Prison is one such situation. I'm not saying it's impossible to ethically film inmates, but it is very worrying she brushes off the possibility she might need to carefully consider it. It's (almost always) unethical to interview inmates held in repressive dictatorships because there are so many different ways you can violate their rights and put them at risk.
2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
If you keep reading … Smaker, who had already been cleared for contact, was in touch with three of the men throughout the months after Sundance. None of them ever brought up issues raised in the CAGE letter, and one even called recently to say — in a voicemail — that he missed her and wanted to know when she was coming back to Saudi Arabia for a visit. Even on the face of it, a white woman in Saudi Arabia, probably isn’t running around a rehab centre without authorities knowing what she was up to.
- daniel-cussen 4y ago
- iudqnolq 4y ago
  > None of them ever brought up issues raised in the CAGE letter, and one even called recently to say The article acknowledges these men are being held captive until the Saudi government decides they're properly reformed, and restricts what they're allowed to say. How can you trust they're genuinely consenting in that environment. > Even on the face of it, a white woman in Saudi Arabia, probably isn’t running around a rehab centre without authorities knowing what she was up to. You've got the problem completely backwards: I'm not worried she's sneaking behind the government's back, I'm worried because she let the Saudi government puppet her into making propaganda for them.

leot 4y ago

By your logic, any documentary that interviews prison inmates would be unethical. Smaker asked ~150 inmates to participate, and only a tiny handful agreed.

iudqnolq 4y ago
> By your logic, any documentary that interviews prison inmates would be unethical. All ethical filmmakers carefully consider ethics in situations where people might feel compelled to participate. Prison is one such situation. I'm not saying it's impossible to ethically film inmates, but it is very worrying she brushes off the possibility she might need to carefully consider it. It's (almost always) unethical to interview inmates held in repressive dictatorships because there are so many different ways you can violate their rights and put them at risk.

2muchcoffeeman 4y ago

If you keep reading … Smaker, who had already been cleared for contact, was in touch with three of the men throughout the months after Sundance. None of them ever brought up issues raised in the CAGE letter, and one even called recently to say — in a voicemail — that he missed her and wanted to know when she was coming back to Saudi Arabia for a visit. Even on the face of it, a white woman in Saudi Arabia, probably isn’t running around a rehab centre without authorities knowing what she was up to.

daniel-cussen 4y ago
iudqnolq 4y ago
> None of them ever brought up issues raised in the CAGE letter, and one even called recently to say The article acknowledges these men are being held captive until the Saudi government decides they're properly reformed, and restricts what they're allowed to say. How can you trust they're genuinely consenting in that environment. > Even on the face of it, a white woman in Saudi Arabia, probably isn’t running around a rehab centre without authorities knowing what she was up to. You've got the problem completely backwards: I'm not worried she's sneaking behind the government's back, I'm worried because she let the Saudi government puppet her into making propaganda for them.