Collage or chaos? Music documentary and the art of audiovisual remediation in Moonage Daydream

Abstract

Upon its release in 2022, Brett Morgen’s documentary Moonage Daydream sparked vigorous debate among film reviewers and fans of David Bowie. Many criticisms appear to stem from unmet expectations about what a music documentary might be, along with a dearth of scholarly examination of how the film is situated in relation to experimental approaches to documentary filmmaking. While considering the discursive implications of public commentary about Moonage Daydream, audiovisual analysis is employed to examine the intersection of found footage and avant-garde assemblage strategies, audiovisual aesthetics, and animation. By contextualising Brett Morgen’s approach in relation to experimental approaches to documentary film, I explore Moonage Daydream in relation to the history of found footage film, music documentary, and avant-garde approaches to art. Through multimodal analysis of the film’s audiovisual construction, I explicate Morgen’s use of conceptually driven creative strategies – such as cut-up, bricolage, and remediation. I argue that these methods are not only consistent with the creative-critical agenda of found footage documentary filmmaking, but they also mirror Bowie's creative approach. While situating Moonage Daydream as a valuable example of remediation, contextually informed analysis reveals the creative-critical potential of found footage filmmaking and avant-garde approaches to audiovisual assemblage in music documentary.