Comparative Analysis of Documentaries on Chinese Miners

-- "Behemoth" and "Miners, Horsekeeper, and Pneumoconiosis" as Examples

Abstract

Against the backdrop that the issue of Chinese miners' pneumoconiosis has been presented in diverse narrative ways in documentaries, this paper aims to conduct a comparative analysis of narrative perspective, visual expression, sound design, and ethical distance in Behemoth (2015) and Miners, Horsekeeper, and Pneumoconiosis (2019). The core findings reveal that Behemoth constructs a macro-narrative of urban development at the cost of ecology and human lives through stylized post-industrial aesthetics, framing miners as silent victims in the context of Ordos' "ghost town" resulting from rapid urbanization. In contrast, Miners, Horsekeeper, and Pneumoconiosis presents the micro-level suffering of families afflicted by pneumoconiosis with raw realism, exposing the personal devastation caused by the disease through long-term tracking of relatives. This study reflects on the systemic invisibility of miners’ suffering and prompts critical reflection on the ethical implications of China’s development model.