--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think we need to make documentaries…" description: "\"I think we need to make documentaries about fantasy and storytelling. I think I just started to scratch the surface of a method that allows us to do th..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce5/joshua-oppenheimer-24024_disbelief_i-think-we-need-to-make-documentaries-ab_2274146.jpg" --- # I think we need to make documentaries about fantasy and… ![“I think we need to make documentaries about fantasy and storytelling. I think I just started to scratch the surface of a method that allows us to do that. We want to be sucked into the events, suspend our disbelief and imagine that this is a fiction, but actually putting onscreen the gap between…” quote by Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce5/joshua-oppenheimer-24024_disbelief_i-think-we-need-to-make-documentaries-ab_2274146.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce5/joshua-oppenheimer-24024_disbelief_i-think-we-need-to-make-documentaries-ab_2274146.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce5/joshua-oppenheimer-24024_disbelief_i-think-we-need-to-make-documentaries-ab_2274146.jpg) > “I think we need to make documentaries about fantasy and storytelling. I think I just started to scratch the surface of a method that allows us to do that. We want to be sucked into the events, suspend our disbelief and imagine that this is a fiction, but actually putting onscreen the gap between who the people are and who they want to be and therefore opening the question about why they want to be this person.” [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker proposes using documentary style to explore fantasy narratives, blurring reality and imagination to reveal personal aspirations. **In simple terms:** Use documentaries to explore fantasy and reveal true desires. Key Takeaway Blend reality with imagination to uncover motivations. Themes storytelling identity media psychology Mood curious inquisitive Type conceptual exploratory When to use this quote - film workshops - creative writing - psychology classes - media analysis Key Concepts documentary filmmaking fantasy immersion Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance factual truth with imaginative storytelling? - What ethical lines exist when portraying personal aspirations? A Different Perspective May oversimplify complex identities or mislead audiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Disbelief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disbelief/) [Documentaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/documentaries/) [Fantasy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fantasy/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [I only ever wanted to do history, and make documentaries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-olusoga/i-only-ever-wanted-to-do-history-and-make-documentaries/) [David Olusoga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-olusoga/) > [People who make documentaries have to be faithful to the facts. But when you are making a drama, a fiction based on the life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milos-forman/people-who-make-documentaries-have-to-be-faithful-to-the-facts-but/) [Milos Forman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milos-forman/) > [You make documentaries because you love doing it; it's the only sane reason to make documentaries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morgan-neville/you-make-documentaries-because-you-love-doing-it-it-s-the-only-sane/) [Morgan Neville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morgan-neville/) > [I don't think there's so much difference between making documentaries and feature films. I think it's even harder to make documentaries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danis-tanovic/i-don-t-think-there-s-so-much-difference-between-making-documentaries/) [Danis Tanovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danis-tanovic/) > [All the great novels, all the great films, all the great dramas are fictions that actually tell us the truth about us or about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-northam/all-the-great-novels-all-the-great-films-all-the-great-dramas-are/) [Jeremy Northam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-northam/) > [I would make documentaries if it was a worthy cause. I have a lot of respect for people who put themselves in harm's way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliot-sumner/i-would-make-documentaries-if-it-was-a-worthy-cause-i-have-a-lot-of/) [Eliot Sumner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliot-sumner/) > [I make documentaries. I attend film festivals. I don't have time to sit at cafes taking selfies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shweta-basu-prasad/i-make-documentaries-i-attend-film-festivals-i-don-t-have-time-to-sit/) [Shweta Basu Prasad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shweta-basu-prasad/) > [Stories, as we're taught in journalism school early on, are told through people. Those stories make our documentaries powerful. You can explore someone's culture,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soledad-o-brien/stories-as-we-re-taught-in-journalism-school-early-on-are-told/) [Soledad O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soledad-o-brien/) > [I'd like to make documentaries. Way-out documentaries. I'd like to do one on a tour of the U.S.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-clark/i-d-like-to-make-documentaries-way-out-documentaries-i-d-like-to-do/) [Dave Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-clark/) > [Because in this business, as you know, you don't get that many bites at the apple, so I make documentaries for HBO and that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandra-c-pelosi/because-in-this-business-as-you-know-you-don-t-get-that-many-bites-at/) [Alexandra C. Pelosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandra-c-pelosi/) > [When you make documentaries or short films, you have to have eyes and ears in the back of your head and on the sides…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-weber/when-you-make-documentaries-or-short-films-you-have-to-have-eyes-and/) [Bruce Weber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-weber/) > [I decided to make myself a little less precious with my storytelling. I think you can see from the first three pieces in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-corin/i-decided-to-make-myself-a-little-less-precious-with-my-storytelling/) [Lucy Corin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-corin/) > [History is ultimately storytelling. I think the more stories you write in life - and I've written a lot of screenplays, a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-chandrasekhar/history-is-ultimately-storytelling-i-think-the-more-stories-you-write/) [Jay Chandrasekhar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-chandrasekhar/) > [I connect to the tradition of Irish storytelling. And I think there is something - I can't put my finger on it - something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-connelly/i-connect-to-the-tradition-of-irish-storytelling-and-i-think-there-is/) [Michael Connelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-connelly/) > [“So that’s why I’m such a big fan of storytelling. I think the most important thing is empathy. And it’s less about ‘those people’.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-walls/so-that-s-why-i-m-such-a-big-fan-of-storytelling-i-think-the-most/) Jeanette Walls ## More by Joshua Oppenheimer > [There's a tradition of reenactment in documentary which is about sort of illustrating what the past might have been like.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/there-s-a-tradition-of-reenactment-in-documentary-which-is-about-sort/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [I always have said, you know it's not for me to forgive or to condemn, I'm a filmmaker.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/i-always-have-said-you-know-it-s-not-for-me-to-forgive-or-to-condemn/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [I think we create our world through stories. We use storytelling to escape or protect ourselves from the unimaginable and the horrible - from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/i-think-we-create-our-world-through-stories-we-use-storytelling-to/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [We can distance ourselves from the reality of what we did through storytelling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/we-can-distance-ourselves-from-the-reality-of-what-we-did-through/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [In a fiction film, we know at some level we've suspended disbelief. In a documentary, we know that we're watching a drama unfold in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/in-a-fiction-film-we-know-at-some-level-we-ve-suspended-disbelief-in/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [I really believe that the past is beyond our grasp and what is essential about the past is something unspeakable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/i-really-believe-that-the-past-is-beyond-our-grasp-and-what-is/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [Films can't change the society, they can simply open the space for the discussion which can lead to social change and can start new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/films-can-t-change-the-society-they-can-simply-open-the-space-for-the/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [I see myself as an explorer more than a storyteller.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/i-see-myself-as-an-explorer-more-than-a-storyteller/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [A podium is something you walk up to, you say what you want to say and when you're finished, you leave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/a-podium-is-something-you-walk-up-to-you-say-what-you-want-to-say-and/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [Each and every perpetrator was boastful, usually they would invite me to the places where they killed and I would of course accept those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/each-and-every-perpetrator-was-boastful-usually-they-would-invite-me/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [After the Dutch left Indonesia, after the Indonesians got loose in 1945, the freemen were not as widely used, but then they went through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/after-the-dutch-left-indonesia-after-the-indonesians-got-loose-in/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [The whole tradition of cinema is dominated, really, by films about good guys versus bad guys, good versus evil. But we have very few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/the-whole-tradition-of-cinema-is-dominated-really-by-films-about-good/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [I need to trust myself and go where my instincts tell me, and to be as wild and free as possible in my creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/i-need-to-trust-myself-and-go-where-my-instincts-tell-me-and-to-be-as/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [Performance is always oriented towards a spectator, towards an imagined audience and I was thinking who is their imagined audience?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/performance-is-always-oriented-towards-a-spectator-towards-an/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) > [I've become more forgiving, even though I have no patience at all for denial, justification of wrong, rationalization. I've become virtually a pacifist, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-oppenheimer/i-ve-become-more-forgiving-even-though-i-have-no-patience-at-all-for/) [Joshua Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) [Explore all 25 Joshua Oppenheimer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-oppenheimer/) ## More Disbelief quotes > [“Blaming therapy, social work and other caring professions for the confabulation of testimony of 'satanic ritual abuse' legitimated a programme of political and social…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-salter/blaming-therapy-social-work-and-other-caring-professions-for-the/) [Michael Salter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-salter/) > [No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/no-sadder-proof-can-be-given-by-a-man-of-his-own-littleness-than/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [There are, after all, atheists who say they wish the fable were true but are unable to suspend the requisite disbelief, or who have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/there-are-after-all-atheists-who-say-they-wish-the-fable-were-true/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“(Marlowe's) Faustus stubbornly reverts to his atheistic beliefs and continues his elementary pagan re-education ~ the inferno to him is a 'place' invented by men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-a-bucchianeri/marlowe-s-faustus-stubbornly-reverts-to-his-atheistic-beliefs-and/) [E.A. Bucchianeri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-a-bucchianeri/) > [So little is actually worthy of belief or disbelief. Better to strive to coexist than seek to disapprove . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/so-little-is-actually-worthy-of-belief-or-disbelief-better-to-strive/) [David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/) > [In Lullabies, I wanted to capture what I remembered of the drunken babbling of unfortunate twelve-year-olds: their illusions, their ludicrously bad choices, their lack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-o-neill/in-lullabies-i-wanted-to-capture-what-i-remembered-of-the-drunken/) [Heather O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-o-neill/) > [“on page 96 of my hero Peter Medawar’s book The Limits of Science: ‘I regret my disbelief in God and religious answers generally, for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/on-page-96-of-my-hero-peter-medawar-s-book-the-limits-of-science-i/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“The devil's best defense is a person's disbelief in his existence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-kent-krueger/the-devil-s-best-defense-is-a-person-s-disbelief-in-his-existence/) [William Kent Krueger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-kent-krueger/) > [As long as God does not intervene in the contemporary universe in such a way as to violate physical laws, science has no way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/as-long-as-god-does-not-intervene-in-the-contemporary-universe-in/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [Whenever you're writing a book or creating a movie or a game, your first task is to get the reader to suspend disbelief, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-a-salvatore-2/whenever-you-re-writing-a-book-or-creating-a-movie-or-a-game-your/) [R. A. Salvatore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-a-salvatore-2/) > [The decline of witch-belief was . . . entirely the product of religious skepticism. . . . The Catholic Church did not reform itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-t-joshi-2/the-decline-of-witch-belief-was-entirely-the-product-of-religious/) [S. T. Joshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-t-joshi-2/) > [Musicals are, by nature, theatrical, meaning poetic, meaning having to move the audience's imagination and create a suspension of disbelief, by which I mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-sondheim/musicals-are-by-nature-theatrical-meaning-poetic-meaning-having-to/) [Stephen Sondheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-sondheim/) > [For once, his vampire expression failed him. His response was right there on his face, in full view and easily read. He went from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keri-arthur/for-once-his-vampire-expression-failed-him-his-response-was-right/) [Keri Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keri-arthur/) > [For any true stickler, you see, the sight of the plural word “Book’s” with an apostrophe in it will trigger a ghastly private emotional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-truss/for-any-true-stickler-you-see-the-sight-of-the-plural-word-book-s/) [Lynne Truss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-truss/) > [“Some readers may find it a curious or even unscientific endeavour to craft a criminological model of organised abuse based on the testimony of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-salter/some-readers-may-find-it-a-curious-or-even-unscientific-endeavour-to/) [Michael Salter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-salter/) [Browse all 431 Disbelief quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disbelief/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think we need to make documentaries about fantasy and storytelling. 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