The second part of this book dives into epistemological principles and analytical mechanisms. I begin with an explanation of Foucault's discourse theory to clarify my viewpoint both on socialization, which is also reflected in the perspective on time regimes, and the access to my material. In operationalizing Foucault's theory, I have opted for Siegfried Jäger's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), whose ultimate goal of social criticism I share. I then weave the medium of documentary film as a distinct thread of discourse into the framework of the CDA. I thereby argue that the consideration of documentary films can provide particular insight for discourse analysis. I take up this thread in the next subchapter, in which I deal with the narrative and pictorial dimensions of social communication based on my material. Here, I discuss narratological approaches in general and more specifically concerning discourse. I also make this connection in relation to imagery and link visuals in documentary films with social-symbolic imaginations. To this end, I consult Jürgen Link’s discourse analytical take on collective symbols and Cornelius Castoriadis’ concept of social imaginary and synthesize these approaches into the notion of the motif, which serves me as an analytical tool. Finally, in the last sub-chapter of this section, I delve deeper into narrative composition. With Albrecht Koschorke, I argue for the special consideration of the final scenes of documentary films as the points of narration in which the relation to the future is crystallized in the transgressive effect that bridges the story to the extra-diegetic world.