Representation Vs Mediation

Representation assumes that there is some imitiation or mimesis of an original object/person/idea. This is a specific type of mediation, where the representation is what mediates the original object/person/idea. An example of this would be an object which is represented by a drawing which could then be represented by a painting or a sculpture etc (with each representation relying on imitation). In contrast, mediation is a much broader category which does not necessarily have to take the form of mimesis. In fact, I would argue that mediation could just as easily take on the opposite form (as a kind of abstraction, deviation, or negation of the original).

Issues of Narration and Perspective

With respect to the video clip "If By Chance We Meet Again" (from This American Life), I wish to raise a couple of questions. What would this documentary be like if there were no narration from Ira Glass? More importantly, what would this documentary look like if all the narration had been provided by the owners of Chance? What if these cattle ranchers knew how to use and edit video and decided to make a documentary of their own about their experiences with Chance? If this were the case, how would the content, style, and presentation of the video change?

Perhaps...
1. There would be no scenes showing or talking about how Second Chance almost killed his owner.
2. The video would lack any scenes which negatively portrayed Chance. It would probably be just the opposite.
3. The majority of the footage would be simply of the cow. The majority of the audio would be of the owners talking about their cow's greatness.

In fact, I wonder how the owners felt about the actual video and how their story was presented (including the narration by Ira Glass).

Perspective is powerful.