Beauty Knows No Pain

1971 film about the Kilgore Rangerettes made by Elliot Erwitt.

Erwitt uses selection of shots, camera angles music and interview to project an image of the Rangerettes that probably struck most of the film's intended audience as humorous.

Of course, Erwitt does say something "true" about the Rangerettes.  The scenes in the film really did take place and undoubtedly some of the participants in the film would find it accurate.  In fact, Gussy Nell Davis (1906-1993), the founder and then director of the Rangerettes was said to have liked the film (though she had to defend it).

Despite this, Erwitt clearly finds the Rangerettes humorous and wants his audience to as well.  The choice of shots, cuts, narration, wild and synchronized sound combine to produce a negative view of the Rangerettes.  It is easy to imagine how shots taken during the same two week period as the film could be edited to produce a much more positive view of the Rangerettes.  Of course, that positive view would not be any more "true" than the view presented by Erwitt.