How the Subjective Perspectives in ‘Chernobyl’ Served to Engage the Audience on a More Personal Level

In his fascinating video series around the HBO show Chernobyl, video essayist Thomas Flight examines how the use of changing subjective perspectives serves to engage the audience on a more personal level. By experiencing the horrific event through the eyes of an involved individual -a witness, a worker, a scientist or a victim – the scope of the disaster becomes much more realistic and far more terrifying.

Chernobyl chooses a more subjective approach to telling its story using the perspective of individuals in a lot of scenes. Subjective here doesn’t mean less factual, just that the goal is to tell the story as those characters experienced it instead of trying to give the clearest possible account. …humans are more likely to empathize with individuals than wit groups so focusing the story on an individual allows for maximum emotional impact