Craft
As a young kid, I had always been aware of the widescale spread of
corruption in the Philippines due to my mother havning been brought up
there. From having to bribe Policemen to avoid fines to paying people to
look the other way in certain circumstances, I have been exposed to
this kind of corruption in some shape or form. But being brought up in a
country where corruption is not that heard of, this contrast of the two
countries has always interested me.With my morals being set in a certain way due to my upbringing and various social factors, seeing these drastic moral choices in the Philippines questions my own morality.
One of the big illegal trades in the Philippines is illegal fishing, not just IUU (Illegal, unreported, undocumented) fishing but also the illegal methods of fishing. Having seeing illegal fishing first hand, these brutal and destructive methods of fishing are not sustainable and have a big impact on the environment and the local area.
Kholberg's Theory of Moral
During researching my documentary, I have founds various theorists from Kholberg's theory of moral to Erikson's theory of pshychosocial development all relevant to my documentary is some shape or form.
One of theories I looked at was Kholberg's theory of moral development. This theory looks into six stages within three different levels of moral development within the current social situation.
The different stages include:
Level 1. Preconventional Morality
- Stage 1 - Obiednce and Punishment
- Stage 2 - Individualism and Exchange
Level 2. Conventional Morality
- Stage 3 - Interpersonal Relationships
- Stage 4 - Maintaining Social Order
Level 3. Postconventional Morality
- Stage 5 - Social Contract and Individual Rights
- Stage 6 - Universal Principles
These 6 stages outline the different levels of a person's moral development, from first perceiving moral choices from an early age with obedience and punishment, all the way to morals taught through society and the acceptance of other peoples morals. These stages can differentiate greatly from country to country and from different upbringings. The moral upbringing of something who is born and raised in a third world country will vary considerably when compared to someone who has been brought up in a first world country. This can often lead to a person of a different moral background decisions and choices in life to be looked upon completely differently due to the differences in society. Morals take a huge role in politics as well, with the Philippines being a heavily corrupted country, the moral choices can be considerably different to what we would consider "normal". This leads to a rise in illegal activities and changes the countries perception of social morality so people view these moral choices as the norm.
This article published back in 2007 goes into detail about corruption in the Philippines, stating that in a survey done in 2006, 1476 expatriate executives in 13 countries in Asia, the Philippines scored 9.4 with 0 be the least corrupt and 10 the most. The country was also given a 9.06 for inefficiency of it's judicial system prosecuting and punishing individuals. This national acceptance of moral corruption means a rise in illegal activities.
Dangerous Fishing Methods
There are various fishing methods in the Philippines, but often the most used are the illegal methods. The two popular illegal methods are cyanide fishing, which essentially is poisoning of the fish to stun them, this method is quite popular in the aquarium pet fish trade where fish are captured and later sold. The other method is Dynamite fishing which uses an explosive to stun the fish and rupture their swim bladder making it impossible for them to swim and easier to capture. Both these methods have a devastating effect on coral reefs, destroy miles of coral reefs which the Philippines is famous for.
I have looked into various themes regarding my documentary, the main themes include the theme of cultural formation, how illegal fishing has become culturally acceptable in the Philippines. From a first world country, our views on illegal fishing may differ to someone from a third world.
I have also looked into themes of morality, and the moral choices of people in the Philippines and more specifically the local fishermen and why they choose to fish using illegal methods.
Documentary
There are various modes of documentary. When researching my documentary I wanted my documentary to fall into one of these modes to give it a certain style while filming. The different modes include:
Poetic Mode
Expository Mode
Observational Mode
Reflexive Mode
Performative Mode
The main mode I will be exploring is the Observational mode which lets me take a stand back and let the audience make a decision for thierselves without myself having an effect of them. This is due to the fact that I hope to explore both sides of illegal fishing, exploring why these fishermen choose to fish illegally and why they feel forced into doing it and both how it is illegal. Other documentaries like this include a lot of David Attenborough documentaries including Planet Earth. This clip below shows an observational documentary, note how the use of "voice of god" and how the narrator is very rarely shown on screen. This technique is used to distance the audience from the narrator, so they can form their own opinion.
