Textual Analysis

'The Most Hated Family in America', Directed by Geoffrey O'Connor; Produced, Written and Presented by Louis Theroux (2007).

Louis Theroux is an interactive documentary filmmaker. He documented 'The Most Hated Family in America' who are at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church. The main subjects of the documentary are the church (as a group) itself, Shirley's family, and individuals. The church's community believes that God is USA's terrorist and homosexuals are morally wrong. They picket at soldiers’ funerals, which raises many political interests and issues.

Many themes run throughout the documentary, such as religion, US politics, family, humanity, spiritualism, and interpretation. Religion is the main theme of the documentary, it's all about the church community's beliefs and the effect it has on others. Due to how strongly they feel about homosexuality being wrong, the children grow up thinking it's normal and have no real friends outside of the community they live in. The family does not get treated respectfully, although they don't deserve to be, their humanity is still intact when it comes down to the safety of their family. It's a very controversial subject.

Theroux's crew gives the impression it is a two-man crew. The reason for it being this small is because he is an interactive documentary filmmaker, this means he doesn't have space or time for a big crew with high tech equipment, he simply needs a cameraman and that is it. Also, there would not be enough space for a large crew as Theroux goes around with the family to see their routine and church activities. This makes it more personal and informal which is a good way to get the truth out. Although being informal does work for Theroux's interview techniques, he can come across too forward sometimes. For instance, he began to slightly push the boundaries when questioning the daughters about boyfriends and their sins. His opinions were too strong which meant he wasn't being as open minded as he should have been when asking personal questions. Although you can begin to understand his interview techniques because you realise how dominant his interviews are and he improvises his questions to the current situation or previous answer. He was to achieve the emotional response from the audience as well as the subject.

It is clear what Theroux wants to achieve in the documentary, and that is the truth and understanding of the family at Westboro Baptist Church. He wants everyone to know the truth of what they do and how they act as well as understanding why they do the most disrespectful actions to others. You can tell it’s difficult to acknowledge their lifestyle, but Theroux shows that there are different people who live different lifestyles and have their own freedom of speech.

I believe that he wants the audience to react with strong opinions, anger, and an open mind. This is because of the language and interview techniques that he uses. Nearer the end of the documentary, Theroux begins to show impatience and aggression when talking to mum, Shirley, about her boundaries set for her children. Although this is how he might want the audience to react, it most likely won’t be the case. The audience would react with anger and rage because it’s not a lifestyle they have ever experienced or witnessed before. Although this is for most people, there are a few that may already know about the Westboro Baptist Church and will still react with strong opinions. It’s a controversial subject that you can’t help but get frustrated about when watching, purely because of how much you disagree and how disrespectful they’re being to every other human being around them.

I would describe ‘The Most Hated Family in America’ as a participatory documentary. The crew interacts with the subject and the filmmaker, Louis Theroux, is visible to the entire audience. Having a hand-held camera makes it more personal and easier to watch because it creates the feeling of actually being a part of the audience. There is also location footage, which creates the reality of the documentary and being told about different places to add more history to the document.