Sunday, March 15, 2009

Memoir ≠ Some Lies

According to the dictionary, a memoir is defined as “a record of events written by a person having intimate knowledge of them and based on personal [experience].” Therefore, if a book is labelled as a “memoir” the author or memoirist must stick true to his/her words and write the truth. When readers decided to pick up non-fiction books they expect raw stories with unbiased facts.

After reading the short passage from the Glassco’s memoir I wonder what the significance of the short story was. Why lie? That’s what I would like to know.

Furthermore, the situation with ‘LonelyGirl15’ is much similar to the Glassco’s actions. In both cases, Glassco and all the individuals involved in production of ‘LonleyGirl15’ have deceived the audience and viewers. The only difference between the two is the form of media. ‘LonelyGirl 15’ used what is most popular today – the’ vlogger’ –another term used as a video blogger. As audiences, may people assume what the bloggers are blogging about are based on accurate facts. However, ‘LonelyGirl15’ has proven that is not that case because they use scripts and fictional character which ultimately ruins the meaning of video blog.

In addition, this reminds me of the situation of James Frey the author of “A Million Little Pieces” whose book was labelled under "a memoir" and later on admits some of the characters and stories in the book was altered. (The following link is a small clip of James Frey confronted by Oprah: http://www.truveo.com/Oprah-confronts-Frey-about-Pieces/id/311221772)

In general, when someone commits to writing nonfiction or making a video blog they must abide without any modification and tell the truth based on truthful knowledge. (At least in my opinion.)

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