Documentary Film as Policy Analysis: The Impact of Yes, In My Backyard on Activists, Agendas, and Policy

Abstract

The production and distribution of social-issue documentaries can have a wide range of significant impact on community organizations, educational institutions, citizens, and policy makers. What this article seeks to demonstrate, using the example of Tracy Huling's Yes, In My Backyard, is the utility of an “issue-centered model” that allows a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the full range of political impact, including impact on producers, activists, and policymakers. Much of the way Yes, In My Backyard “worked” within the rural prison issue network parallels the way that policy analysis can affect public agendas and public policy. Although many documentaries can be regarded as “implicit” pieces of policy analysis, Huling's is the most explicit, and her measure of success is how well her work can alter the agenda of activists and policy makers, stimulate research to support policy change, and then help implement that change.

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David Whiteman

David Whiteman (Ph.D., University of North Carolina, 1981) is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina and is also affiliated with the Film Studies Program and the School of Environment. His primary research interest is the role of film and video in contemporary social movements, and he is currently completing a book entitled “Unleashing the Power of Social-Issue Documentaries: Outreach Strategies for Political Impact.”