Corruption of the Footage Archive: Archival Literature Review

This literature review explores the topic of filmmakers utilizing footage archives and alternative means of acquiring footage for their projects and proposes the potential for archival corruption from filmmakers creating faux archival footage in the internet age. Filmmaker, Oliver Stone, for his 1991 film JFK, builds potentially misleading stories around facts. Filmmaker, Robert Zemeckis, for his 1994 film Forrest Gump, manipulates and warps history. The work of these filmmakers raises the question, how can the footage archive retain its integrity? Artists such as Gustav Deutsch, Matthias Müller, and Christian Marclay have found ways to either struggle to work within the archive system for their video work or bypass the system entirely. Their work represents the power of creating with footage, but also the restrictions and obstacles.