On the ethical issues in the creation of social-humanistic documentaries in Chinese higher educations

Abstract
Social-humanities documentary ethics focuses on managing the relationships between creators, subjects, and relevant social groups during the filming and dissemination process. Ethical fulfillment is the moral bottom line and basic obligation of documentary creators. In the teaching practice of social humanities documentaries in Chinese universities, students, limited by social experience, often encounter difficulties in ethical understanding and fulfillment. These mainly include utilitarian-driven creation, unequal relationships during filming, and a lack of emphasis on the subsequent impact of filming. Based on the unique artistic features of documentaries and the cognitive characteristics of undergraduate students, Chinese universities should enhance the cultivation of students' ethical awareness, emphasize the social benefit orientation of documentary creation, and establish appropriate full process documentary ethics supervision system. These measures are expected to strengthen students' ability to fulfill documentary ethics.

Keywords
documentary, ethics, higher education, filmmaking

Cite this paper
Jifeng Huang, On the ethical issues in the creation of social-humanistic documentaries in Chinese higher educations , SCIREA Journal of Education. Volume 11, Issue 4, August 2026 | PP. 98-110. 10.54647/education880677

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