“Isn’t writing obituaries depressing?” is one of the first questions asked in Obit, a documentary by Vanessa Gould (Between the Folds) about the writing staff of the obituary pages of the New York Times. It’s a question the staff probably gets a lot. However, as Obituaries Senior Writer Margalit Fox points out, only one or two sentences of an obituary is about the person’s death, while the vast majority of the hundreds of words is about the life of that person and how much impact he or she had on the world. Obit explores the fascinating process behind arguably the most famous obituary page in an English publication, and while it’s a bit overlong in its 93 minutes, it’s a subject that we all can relate to.
The obituary pages was once a dumping ground for aging journalists or journalists who couldn’t write well, but that is not the case at the New York Times. Some of the paper’s best writers tackle all kinds of subjects while writing about the recently deceased — everyone from world leaders to creators of pop culture artifacts like toys and commercial jingles.
There are many challenges to writing an obituary — first is the selection process for the limited space — whether this particular person famous enough or having an interesting enough “hook” to warrant an obituary. Second is deciding the length, content, and significance of the article. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the time pressure, since obituaries need to be published shortly after the demise of their subject. One example noted is how the staff had just four hours to write Michael Jackson’s obituary, and because Jackson died relatively young they did not have any advance material prepared as they would have for an aging and/or ailing head of state. The staff confront these challenges with mostly dry senses of humor and a dedication to do right by the deceased. Of course, mistakes are often made, and the writers also discuss the frustration of being told that their obituaries had errors in them — often the result of short turnaround time — especially by the loved ones of the person who had just died.
There are some fascinating glimpses into why the Times obituary page operates the way it does. The Times insists on listing a cause of death for the person — this stems back to an incident several decades before when the Times incorrectly reported the death of a very much alive dancer — and also insists on using the word “died” or “dies” instead of an euphemism.
The most entertaining parts of Obit focus on Jeff Roth, the Times Archive Manager who oversees “the morgue,” the massive archives of the Times. Roth insists that the archive room — filled with dozens and dozens of filing cabinets — is very well organized, only to prove several times that the room is almost impossible to navigate without his own extensive knowledge. While Roth proves his worth to the obituary writers by uncovering material from the past — particularly photographs — it’s certainly a daunting enterprise.
Where Obit misses the mark is when it attempts to say something all-encompassing about life and the way we remember people who have died — a subject that is a bit too grand for this film. The film ends with a montage of famous dead figures and other faded pop culture clips, which is a generic way to end an otherwise very interesting film. These journalists might spend a lot of time writing about dead people, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have the final word on death — which is pretty much what most of them say, anyway.
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