DOCUMENTARY AESTHETICS AS A FACTOR IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ROAD MOVIE GENRE IN “NOMADLAND”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31392/cult.alm.2026.2.53Keywords:
road movie, documentary aesthetics, genre conventions, audiovisual system, authorial film directionAbstract
Purpose of the study. This article examines Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland as a hybrid system in which documentary aesthetics, combined with authorial direction, transforms the genre conventions of the road movie. The central question of the article is how documentary-oriented modes of organizing the viewer’s experience interact with the film’s audiovisual system. Methodology. The methodological basis of the study combines general theoretical methods of analysis and synthesis with culturological methods, including morphological, cultural-typological, semiotic, and comparative approaches. This makes it possible to consider Nomadland as a hybrid audiovisual system, identify the transformation of the road movie genre conventions, and describe the functioning of genre oppositions and visual motifs. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the research lies in analyzing Nomadland not as a fiction film with a number of documentary elements, but as a hybrid system where the documentary organization of the viewer’s experience restructures the very functioning of genre conventions. Conclusions. The analysis demonstrates that Nomadland transforms the opposition of «road / home» and changes the logic of constructing the protagonist: instead of an individual adventure, the film creates a space of collective experience and memory. It is argued that documentary aesthetics in the film changes not only its visual style but also the very mode of functioning of the road movie genre.
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