TED talk questions

1) What does Deborah Scranton mean by the “disconnect” she hopes to “bridge” with her documentary?

Deborah Scranton is referring to the disconnect between the people at home and the soldiers who are in the line of duty. She hopes to bridge that gap by showing exactly what it's like to be in the army by giving them the cameras. This will give the public a much better idea of what it's like to be in the war. She is posting the raw footage, and connecting that with the emotional toll the soldiers feel. The emotional toll is shown through various methods: the soldiers' reading their diaries', the soldiers' calling home, and even showing how they adjust to normal life when they get back from the war.

2) How does media (television, news, documentaries, film) contribute to creating this disconnect?

The news contributes to creating this disconnect via their reporting. It's not that it's bad reporting, but the grisly images that they show create this idea that Iraq is a dystopian wasteland, so when soldiers first arrive in Iraq, this is what the expect. It also gives the public this idea, and they will tend to act differently towards war veterans. This definitely adds to the disconnect between the soldiers and the public.

3) How can a documentary like "War Tapes" help remedy or bridge this disconnect?

It can help through the raw footage. This will show the public just what it's like in the war. It should show that these soldiers won't always change all that much. Most of the time the reason soldiers act stranger when they return from the war is only because that everyone else is acting so much stranger to them