When Marion Stokes passed away in 2012, her death made the news briefly due to one odd quirk: She had obsessively recorded TV on VCRs for 32 years, virtually around the clock, amassing a collection of some 72,000 videocassettes*.
Director Matt Wolf tries to, somewhat successfully, dig behind the odd news story and find out more about Stokes and her unusual 'project'. We find out that Stokes was an adopted child and a Librarian. She became a Socialist, and briefly, a Communist. She married another leftist, Melvin Metelits, a white teacher. Their mixed race son, Melvin, is interviewed extensively in the Doc. Other than her posthumous fame as a Videotape archivist, Stokes' only public fame was a Philadelphia public affairs program which she co-Produced and co-Hosted in the late 60s. It was there that she met her then future husband, John Stokes Jr, a white married man of means. Both shared progressive viewpoints.
But, it was introduction of VCRs in the mid- to late-70s that changed her life. She started recording TV programs, but it was two twin events that really sparked her future lifelong compulsion: 1979's Iran Hostage Crisis (particularly ABC's Nightline coverage) and the launch of CNN in 1980. Stokes was compelled to 'document' how the News covered events. She also, correctly it turns out, believed that the various Networks and Local TV networks would do a poor job of keeping their broadcasts for posterity. So, for the rest of her life, she recorded and recorded and recorded, enlisting her Husband, Son and basically anybody who was around to help change the tapes out. We also see snippets of some of the recordings that Stokes made.
All of this is quite fascinating, but, it makes up only about a third of the Documentary. West spends most of his time trying to get at who Stokes was. Unfortunately, she was a very private woman. Outside of the three years of her television show, she didn't leave much of a record. Her first Husband, Melvin, can only speak to the events of her young adult life. Her second, John, passed away 13 years ago. And, her son, Melvin, confesses that he spent many years estranged from his mother, and even when they were in contact, the relationship was frayed. So, it's left to three personal assistants to tell the story, but, they hardly give much insight. And, for an ex-librarian, Stokes did a very poor job of archiving her recordings. Mostly, she would just slap on a post-it note with the date of the recording and the channel recorded. Other than having her assistants put on proper labels, there is no testimony that she ever bothered to even watch the tapes, let alone catalog their contents.
It all makes for a rather confounding viewing experience. Director Wolf's montages of Stokes' footage isn't fully satisfactory, either. Mostly, just a few excerpts of the 'greatest news hits' of the era - Iran/Contra, Clinton's Impeachment, 9/11 and, finally, the Sandy Hook school shooting. Worse, Owen Pallet's droning score over the clips steps all over them. It's not until towards the end when the Internet Archive's Roger Macdonald tries to put the importance of the 'Project' in perspective. A more thoughtful and deeper dive into the recordings would have helped make RECORDER more than just a curio.
* Stokes also horded books and magazines (not surprising), but also Apple Computers (the most valuable part of the collection)!
