Mockumentary
Encyclopedia
A mockumentary is a type
of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format
. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself. They may be either comedic
or dramatic
in form, although comedic mockumentaries are more common. A dramatic mockumentary (sometimes referred to as docufiction
) should not be confused with docudrama
, a fictional genre
in which dramatic techniques are combined with documentary
elements to depict real events.
Mockumentaries are often presented as historical documentaries, with b roll and talking heads discussing past events, or as cinéma vérité
pieces following people as they go through various events. Though the precise origins of the genre are not known, examples emerged during the 1950s, when archival film footage became relatively easy to locate. A very early example was a short piece on the "Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
" that appeared as an April fools'
joke on the British television program Panorama
in 1957.
The term "mockumentary" is thought to have been popularized in the mid-1980s when This Is Spinal Tap
director Rob Reiner
used it in interviews to describe that film. It is not known with certainty when the term "mock-documentary" was first used, but the Oxford English Dictionary
notes appearances of "mockumentary" from 1965.
Mockumentaries are often partly or wholly improvised
, as an unscripted style of acting helps to maintain the pretense of reality. Comedic mockumentaries rarely have laugh track
s, also to sustain the atmosphere, although there are exceptions - for example, Operation Good Guys
had a laugh track from its second series onwards.
Early examples of mock-documentaries include David Holzman's Diary
(1967), Pat Paulsen For President (1968), Take the Money and Run
(1969), and All You Need is Cash
(1978). Earlier work, including Luis Buñuel
's 1933 Land Without Bread, Orson Welles
's 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds
, various April Fool's Day news reports, and vérité style film and television during the 1960s and 1970s, served as precursor to the genre.
A Hard Day's Night
(1964), written by Alun Owen
, and purporting to describe a couple of days in the lives of The Beatles
, was possibly the first feature film that could be characterized as a "mockumentary".
Woody Allen
's Take the Money and Run is presented in documentary-style with Allen playing a fictional criminal, Virgil Starkwell, whose crime exploits are "explored" throughout the film. Jackson Beck
, who used to narrate documentaries in the 1940s, provides the voice-over narration. Fictional interviews are interspliced throughout, especially those of Starkwell's parents who wear Groucho Marx
noses and moustaches.
Early use of the mockumentary format in television comedy may be seen in several sketches from Monty Python's Flying Circus
(1969–1974), such as "Hell's Grannies", "Piranha Brothers
", and "The Funniest Joke in the World
".
. Films such as Best in Show
, Waiting for Guffman
, and A Mighty Wind
, penned by Guest and co-star Eugene Levy
, were critical successes.
Zelig
was a 1983 American mockumentary film written and directed by Woody Allen
, and starring Allen and Mia Farrow
. Allen plays Zelig, a curiously nondescript enigma who is discovered for his remarkable ability to transform himself to resemble anyone he's near.
In 1995 Forgotten Silver
, claimed New Zealand filmmaker Colin McKenzie was a pioneer of most aspects of filmmaking. When it was revealed to be a mockumentary, director Peter Jackson
received much abuse for tricking the nation.
Borat
is a successful film from the 2000's which uses this style, and the 2007 film, Surf's Up
, is an example of an animated mockumentary.
(2000), The Office
(2001) and its many international offshoots
, the Little Britain
spin-off Come Fly with Me
(2010), which follows the activity at a fictional airport and its variety of staff and passengers.
Other successful television mockumentaries include the American sitcoms Parks and Recreation
(which debuted in 2009), and Modern Family
(which also debuted in 2009); the Australian shows Angry Boys
, Summer Heights High
, and We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year
; and the Canadian series Trailer Park Boys
.
-----------
Definitions
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself. They may be either comedic
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
or dramatic
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
in form, although comedic mockumentaries are more common. A dramatic mockumentary (sometimes referred to as docufiction
Docufiction
Docufiction is a neologism which refers to the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction. More precisely, it is a documentary contaminated with fictional elements, in real time, filmed when the events take place, and in which someone - the character - plays his own role in real life...
) should not be confused with docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
, a fictional genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
in which dramatic techniques are combined with documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
elements to depict real events.
Mockumentaries are often presented as historical documentaries, with b roll and talking heads discussing past events, or as cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
pieces following people as they go through various events. Though the precise origins of the genre are not known, examples emerged during the 1950s, when archival film footage became relatively easy to locate. A very early example was a short piece on the "Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
Spaghetti tree
The spaghetti tree hoax is a famous 3-minute hoax report broadcast on April Fools' Day 1957 by the BBC current affairs programme Panorama. It told a tale of a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the fictitious spaghetti tree, broadcast at a time when this Italian dish was not...
" that appeared as an April fools'
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
joke on the British television program Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
in 1957.
The term "mockumentary" is thought to have been popularized in the mid-1980s when This Is Spinal Tap
This Is Spinal Tap
This Is Spinal Tap is an American 1984 rock musical mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner about the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap...
director Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
used it in interviews to describe that film. It is not known with certainty when the term "mock-documentary" was first used, but the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
notes appearances of "mockumentary" from 1965.
Mockumentaries are often partly or wholly improvised
Improvisational theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
, as an unscripted style of acting helps to maintain the pretense of reality. Comedic mockumentaries rarely have laugh track
Laugh track
A laugh track is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in...
s, also to sustain the atmosphere, although there are exceptions - for example, Operation Good Guys
Operation Good Guys
Operation Good Guys is a British mockumentary, a fly-on-the-wall documentary series about an elite police unit's bid to snare one of Britain's most powerful crime lords. It was first screened on BBC Two from 1997 - 2000. Blurring the line between fact and fiction, it witnesses, on camera, the total...
had a laugh track from its second series onwards.
Early examples
David Holzman's Diary
David Holzman's Diary is a 1967 American film, directed by Jim McBride, which spoofs the art of documentary-making.It tells the story of a young man making a documentary of his life, who discovers something important about himself while making the movie....
(1967), Pat Paulsen For President (1968), Take the Money and Run
Take the Money and Run
Take the Money and Run is a 1969 comedy film written by Woody Allen and Mickey Rose, and directed by and starring Woody Allen. It is an early mockumentary, chronicling the life of Virgil Starkwell, a bungling petty thief...
(1969), and All You Need is Cash
All You Need Is Cash
All You Need Is Cash is a 1978 television film that traces the career of a fictitious British rock group called The Rutles...
(1978). Earlier work, including Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
's 1933 Land Without Bread, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
's 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (radio)
The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker...
, various April Fool's Day news reports, and vérité style film and television during the 1960s and 1970s, served as precursor to the genre.
A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
(1964), written by Alun Owen
Alun Owen
Alun Owen was a British screenwriter, predominantly active in television, but best remembered by a wider audience for writing the screenplay of The Beatles' debut feature film A Hard Day's Night ....
, and purporting to describe a couple of days in the lives of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, was possibly the first feature film that could be characterized as a "mockumentary".
Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's Take the Money and Run is presented in documentary-style with Allen playing a fictional criminal, Virgil Starkwell, whose crime exploits are "explored" throughout the film. Jackson Beck
Jackson Beck
Jackson Beck was an American actor best known as the announcer on radio's The Adventures of Superman and the voice of Bluto in the Famous era Popeye theatrical shorts.-Career:...
, who used to narrate documentaries in the 1940s, provides the voice-over narration. Fictional interviews are interspliced throughout, especially those of Starkwell's parents who wear Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
noses and moustaches.
Early use of the mockumentary format in television comedy may be seen in several sketches from Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
(1969–1974), such as "Hell's Grannies", "Piranha Brothers
Piranha Brothers
"Piranha Brothers" is a Monty Python sketch, first seen in Series 2, Episode 1 of Monty Python's Flying Circus, originally transmitted on September 15, 1970...
", and "The Funniest Joke in the World
The Funniest Joke in the World
"The Funniest Joke in the World" is the title most frequently used for written references to a Monty Python's Flying Circus comedy sketch, which is also known by two other phrases that appear within it, "Joke Warfare" and "Killer Joke", the latter being the most commonly spoken title used to refer...
".
In film
Since the 1980s, the mockumentary format has enjoyed much attention, especially in the directorial work of Spinal Tap star Christopher GuestChristopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest , better known as Christopher Guest, is an American screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that...
. Films such as Best in Show
Best in Show (film)
Best in Show is a 2000 independent film that follows five entrants in a prestigious dog show. The film focuses on the slightly surreal interactions among the various owners and handlers as they travel to the show and compete. Much of the dialogue was improvised.Christopher Guest directed; he also...
, Waiting for Guffman
Waiting for Guffman
Waiting for Guffman is a mockumentary starring, co-written and directed by Christopher Guest that was released in 1997. Its cast included Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Parker Posey and others who would appear in several of the subsequent mockumentaries directed by Guest.The title of...
, and A Mighty Wind
A Mighty Wind
A Mighty Wind is a 2003 mockumentary about a folk music reunion concert in which three folk bands must reunite for a television performance for the first time in decades. It was directed by Christopher Guest...
, penned by Guest and co-star Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...
, were critical successes.
Zelig
Zelig
Zelig is a 1983 American mockumentary film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Allen and Mia Farrow. Allen plays Zelig, a curiously nondescript enigma who is discovered for his remarkable ability to transform himself to resemble anyone he's near.The film was shot almost entirely in...
was a 1983 American mockumentary film written and directed by Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
, and starring Allen and Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
. Allen plays Zelig, a curiously nondescript enigma who is discovered for his remarkable ability to transform himself to resemble anyone he's near.
In 1995 Forgotten Silver
Forgotten Silver
Forgotten Silver is a New Zealand film mockumentary that purports to tell the story of a pioneering New Zealand filmmaker. It was written and directed by Peter Jackson and Costa Botes, both of whom appear in the film in their roles as makers of the documentary.-Synopsis:Forgotten Silver purports...
, claimed New Zealand filmmaker Colin McKenzie was a pioneer of most aspects of filmmaking. When it was revealed to be a mockumentary, director Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
received much abuse for tricking the nation.
Borat
Borat
Borat Sagdiyev is a satirical fictional character invented and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen...
is a successful film from the 2000's which uses this style, and the 2007 film, Surf's Up
Surf's Up (film)
Surf's Up is a 2007 American computer-animated mockumentary family comedy film directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. It stars the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel and Jon Heder among others....
, is an example of an animated mockumentary.
In television
In television, the most notable mockumentaries in the 2000s have been: ABC Australia's The Games (Australian TV series) (1998-2000), the British shows Marion and GeoffMarion and Geoff
Marion and Geoff is a BBC television mockumentary, produced by Baby Cow Productions and screened on BBC Two in 2000, with a second series following in 2003. The series starred Rob Brydon as Keith Barret, a naïve taxicab driver going through a messy divorce from his wife, Marion, who, though he...
(2000), The Office
The Office
The Office is a popular mockumentary/situation comedy TV show that was first made in the UK and has now been re-made in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide. The original version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It...
(2001) and its many international offshoots
The Office
The Office is a popular mockumentary/situation comedy TV show that was first made in the UK and has now been re-made in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide. The original version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It...
, the Little Britain
Little Britain
Little Britain is a British character-based comedy sketch show which was first broadcast on BBC radio and then turned into a television show. It was written by comic duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas...
spin-off Come Fly with Me
Come Fly with Me (2010 TV series)
Come Fly with Me is a British mockumentary television comedy series created by and starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams. Narrated by Lindsay Duncan, the series launched on 25 December 2010 on BBC One and BBC One HD...
(2010), which follows the activity at a fictional airport and its variety of staff and passengers.
Other successful television mockumentaries include the American sitcoms Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
(which debuted in 2009), and Modern Family
Modern Family
Modern Family is an American television comedy series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, which debuted on ABC on September 23, 2009. Lloyd and Levitan serve as showrunner and executive producers, under their Levitan-Lloyd Productions label...
(which also debuted in 2009); the Australian shows Angry Boys
Angry Boys
Angry Boys is an Australian television mockumentary series written by and starring Chris Lilley. Continuing the mockumentary style of his previous series, the show explores the issues faced by young males in the 21st century – their influences, their pressures, their dreams and ambitions...
, Summer Heights High
Summer Heights High
Summer Heights High is a Logie Award-winning Australian television mockumentary series written by and starring Chris Lilley. It is a parody of high-school life epitomised by its three protagonists: effeminate and megalomaniacal "Director of Performing Arts" Mr G; self-absorbed, privileged teenager...
, and We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year
We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year
We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year is an Australian mockumentary TV series created, written and starring Chris Lilley and directed by Matthew Saville.It follows the story of five unique Australians, who have each made a large achievement...
; and the Canadian series Trailer Park Boys
Trailer Park Boys
Trailer Park Boys is a Canadian comedy mockumentary television series created and directed by Mike Clattenburg that focuses on the misadventures of a group of trailer park residents, some of whom are ex-convicts, living in the fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The...
.
See also
- DocudramaDocudramaIn film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
- DocufictionDocufictionDocufiction is a neologism which refers to the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction. More precisely, it is a documentary contaminated with fictional elements, in real time, filmed when the events take place, and in which someone - the character - plays his own role in real life...
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- Found footage (genre)Found footage (genre)Found footage is a genre of filmmaking, especially horror, in which all or a substantial part of a film is presented as discovered film or video recordings, often left behind by missing or dead protagonists. The events onscreen are seen through the camera of one or more of the characters involved,...
- List of mockumentaries
- Pat PaulsenPat PaulsenPatrick Layton "Pat" Paulsen was an American comedian and satirist notable for his roles on several of the Smothers Brothers TV shows, and for his campaigns for President of the United States in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1988, 1992, and 1996, which had primarily comedic rather than political objectives,...
Literature
- Cassady, Charles L 2005.: Videohounds Reality Check: Documentaries, Mockumentaries and Related Films.
- Rhodes, Gary D. (ed.) 2006: Docufictions. Essays on the intersection of documentary and fictional filmmaking. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
- Roscoe, Jane/Hight, Craig 2001: Faking it. Mock-documentary and the subversion of factuality. Manchester/New York.
External links
- Lists of Mockumentary at UC Berkeley Mockumentary Collection
- Mockumentary - Reflexivity, satire and a call to play
- What is a mockumentary? Mockumentary - Il regno dell'(in)verosimile
Definitions
- Mockumentary definition at Merriam-Webster
- Mockumentary definitions at Collins English Dictionary and Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon
- Mockumentary definition at Urban Dicitonary