S. L. FULLER
Staff Writer
I’m a fan of documentaries; they’re my favorite thing to watch on Netflix. But when I heard that I would be reporting on a documentary about gum, I wasn’t expecting much. I don’t care about gum. I’m not even a regular chewer of gum. So I went to McEwen G24 and sat with the small crowd who seemed to feel the same way as me and watched “A Sticky Situation.” It turned out, however, to be way more than a viewing of a documentary.
Andrew Nisker, from Canada, makes documentaries professionally. Some of his works include “Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home,” which you can find on Netflix, “Chemercial” and his newest documentary, the one that we viewed. His documentaries are based around raising awareness of environmental threats. “A Sticky Situation” is about gum and how it affects the environment and the human body.
The exciting parts were that it featured SUNY Fredonia associate professor of chemistry Sherri (Sam) Mason who hosted the viewing and the fact that it hasn’t been released yet.
Hasn’t been released yet! We were a test audience at the initial screening of a real documentary that will probably end up on my beloved Netflix. Mason handed out questionnaires before the viewing because Nisker and his team wanted our feedback.
This was even Mason’s first viewing of the film. I had never been in an audience that important before. I’d only ever seen test audiences in the special features section on DVDs or commercials on TV.
“[Nisker] said, ‘Oh, would you be willing to do a test screening?’ And I was like ‘That would be awesome!’” said Mason. After filming the documentary, Nisker and Mason have become good friends.
Mason was contacted by Nisker’s team of researchers because of her work on Lake Erie researching plastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems. Since one of the main components of gum is plastic (which the film teaches about extensively), Mason was the perfect person to interview.
“It was a lot of fun,” Mason said about filming her part in the documentary with Nisker. She went on to say how all her viewpoints were portrayed correctly and nothing was taken out of context — which is something I was skeptical about. Except for the moment in the film when he said Mason was from Ithaca, New York. This is Fredonia!
Mason said she would contact Nisker and tell him about that error but things like that made the viewing fun. The film wasn’t finished. In fact, at one point in the documentary there is a study held to estimate how much discarded gum was stuck to the sidewalks in Toronto. Instead of telling the audience the resulting number there was a black screen that said “RESULT OF THE TEST (GOES HERE).” I still wanted to know the result!
There were three screenings of the film at different times in the hopes of drawing more people to give more feedback. Mason even hoped that community members will participate. At the initial viewing, there seemed to be a very diverse crowd. Maybe it was due to the fact that some teachers offered attending the viewing as extra credit.
Freshman audio/radio production major Sean Edelman and junior media management major Rachel Breese both attended the viewing because it was extra credit for their Mass Media and Society class.
“I think she just figured it was a documentary so it which is a form of mass media,” said Breese about why she thought this film was extra credit. She didn’t know anything about the film prior to the viewing. Edelman didn’t either, joking that he thought it was about how gum “destroys the Earth.”
“It’s different,” said Edelman about the documentary. “I think it’s going to be strange, but I like strange things.”
The documentary was not as disinteresting as I thought it would be. I learned a lot about gum, and contrary to what I thought going into the film, now care about it too. The image of millions of specks of used gum on New York City sidewalks will stay with me for life. Nisker not only created the film but also narrated and starred in it and he was very charismatic on screen. Come April, everyone in Fredonia will have the chance to see if he’s as charismatic in person.
Nisker will be on campus for Earth Week. A documentary of his will be shown and there will be a panel after. No solid plans have been made yet but the committee might choose to show the finished version of “A Sticky Situation.” Maybe then I can find out the result of that one test.