Constructing Good Death: End-of-Life Issues in Documentaries

The research project “Constructing Good Death” studies the politics of representations of dying, end-of-life issues and hospice care in the Western documentary films. I analyze how and why the documentaries construct, normalize, and challenge cultural understandings of “good death,” a phrase, which most often is used to refer to meaningful and dignified death. The research material consists of Western documentaries dealing with end-of-life issues, interviews with documentary filmmakers and the screening of documentaries to the hospice care workers. I ask, do (or should) the documentaries emphasize a certain narrative of how it is culturally acceptable to die, or is (should) there a more varied understanding of dying? The aim is to discuss our cultural expectations for dying processes, end-of-life care, and their mediation in the Western societies.