Amockumentary (aportmanteau ofmock anddocumentary) is a type of film or television programme depicting fictional events, but presented as adocumentary.[1] Mockumentaries are often used to analyse or comment oncurrent events and issues in a satirical way by using a fictional setting, or to parody the documentary form itself.[2] The term originated in the 1960s but was popularised in the mid-1990s whenThis Is Spinal Tap directorRob Reiner used it in interviews to describe that film.[3][4][5]
While mockumentaries arecomedic,pseudo-documentaries are their dramatic equivalents.[citation needed] Pseudo-documentary should not be confused withdocudrama, a fictionalgenre in which dramatic techniques are combined with documentary elements to depict real events. Nor should either of those be confused withdocufiction, a genre in which documentaries are contaminated with fictional elements.[6]
Mockumentaries are often presented as historical documentaries, withB roll andtalking heads discussing past events, or ascinéma vérité pieces following people as they go through various events. Examples emerged during the 1950s when archival film footage became available.[2] A very early example was a short piece on the "Swiss spaghetti harvest" that appeared as anApril Fools' prank on the British television programPanorama in 1957.[citation needed]
Mockumentaries can be partly or whollyimprovised.
Early work, includingLuis Buñuel's 1933Land Without Bread,[7]Orson Welles's 1938 radio broadcast ofThe War of the Worlds, variousApril Fools' Day news reports, andvérité-style film and television during the 1960s and 1970s, served as precursor to the genre.[3] Early examples of mock-documentaries include various films byPeter Watkins, such asThe War Game (1965),Privilege (1967), and thedystopicPunishment Park (1971).[8]
Further examples areThe Connection (1961),David Holzman's Diary (1967),Pat Paulsen for President (1968),Take the Money and Run (1969),The Clowns (1970) byFederico Fellini (a peculiarhybrid ofdocumentary andfiction, a docufiction),Smile (1975),Carlos Mayolo'sThe Vampires of Poverty (1977) andAll You Need Is Cash (1978).Albert Brooks was also an early popularizer of the mockumentary style with his filmReal Life, 1979, a spoof of the 1973reality television seriesAn American Family.Woody Allen'sTake 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.[9]Jackson Beck, who used to narrate documentaries in the 1940s, provides the voice-over narration. Fictional interviews are inter-spliced throughout, especially those of Starkwell's parents who wearGroucho Marx noses and mustaches. The style of this film was widely appropriated by others and revisited by Allen himself in films such asMen of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story (1971),Zelig (1983) andSweet and Lowdown (1999).[9]
Early use of the mockumentary format in television comedy can be seen in several sketches fromMonty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974), such as "Hell's Grannies", "Piranha Brothers", and "The Funniest Joke in the World".The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour (1970–1971) also featured mockumentary pieces that interspersed both scripted and real-life man-in-the-street interviews, the most famous likely being "The Puck Crisis" in which hockey pucks were claimed to have become infected with a form ofDutch elm disease.
All You Need Is Cash, developed from an early series of sketches in the comedy seriesRutland Weekend Television, is a 1978 television film in mockumentary style aboutThe Rutles, a fictional band that parodiesThe Beatles. The Beatles' own 1964 feature film debut,A Hard Day's Night, was itself filmed in mockumentary style; it ostensibly documents a few typical (and highly fictionalized) days in the life of the band as they travel from Liverpool to London for a television appearance.
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Since the beginning of the 1980s, the mockumentary format has gained considerable attention. The 1980South African filmThe Gods Must be Crazy (along with its1989 sequel) is presented in the manner of anature documentary, with documentary narratorPaddy O'Byrne describing the events of the film in the manner of a biologist or anthropologist presenting scientific knowledge to viewers.The Atomic Cafe (1983) is a Cold-War era American "mockumentary" film that made use of archival government footage from the 1950s.[10][11] Woody Allen's 1983 filmZelig stars Allen as a curiously nondescript enigma who is discovered for his remarkable ability to transform himself to resemble anyone he is near, and Allen is edited into historical archive footage.[9] In 1984,Christopher Guest co-wrote and starred in the mockumentaryThis Is Spinal Tap, directed byRob Reiner. Guest went on to write and direct other mockumentaries includingWaiting for Guffman,Best in Show, andA Mighty Wind, all written with costarEugene Levy.[9]
In Central Europe, the first time that viewers were exposed to mockumentary was in 1988 when the Czechoslovak short filmOil Gobblers was shown. For two weeks, TV viewers believed that the oil-eating animals really existed.[12]
Tim Robbins' 1992 filmBob Roberts was a mockumentary centered around the senatorial campaign of a right-wing stock trader and folksinger, and the unsavory connections and dirty tricks used to defeat a long-term liberal incumbent played byGore Vidal.Man Bites Dog is a 1992Belgianblack comedy crime mockumentary written, produced, and directed byRémy Belvaux,André Bonzel, andBenoît Poelvoorde. In 1995,Peter Jackson andCosta Botes directedForgotten Silver, which claimedNew Zealand "director" Colin McKenzie was a pioneer in filmmaking.[13] When the film was later revealed to be a mockumentary, Jackson received criticism for tricking viewers.[14]
Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan from 2006, and its 2020 sequelBorat Subsequent Moviefilm, are two controversial yet successful films that use this style, as doesBrüno, a similar film from 2009 also starringSacha Baron Cohen.Sony Pictures Animation released their second animated feature,Surf's Up in 2007, which was the first of its kind to incorporate the mockumentary style into animation.REC, a 2007 Spanish film by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, uses journalism aesthetics to approach a horror universe set up in a real building inBarcelona. The film wasremade in theUnited States as the 2008 filmQuarantine.[15]
Ivo Raza's 2020 mockumentaryReboot Camp is a comedy about a fake cult that uses an ensemble cast of celebrities from the film (David Koechner,Eric Roberts,Chaz Bono,Ed Begley Jr.), performing arts (Ja Rule,Billy Morrison), and TV (Lindsey Shaw,Pierson Fode,Johnny Bananas) to play fictional versions of themselves.[16]
In television, the most notable mockumentaries in the 2000s have beenABC Australia'sThe Games (1998–2000), the Canadian seriesTrailer Park Boys (1999–present), the British showsMarion and Geoff (2000),Twenty Twelve (2011–2012) (which follows the fictional Olympic Deliverance Commission in the run-up to the2012 Summer Olympics), andW1A, which follows the main characters ofTwenty Twelve as they start work at the BBC, as well asThe Office (2001) and itsmany international offshoots, andCome Fly with Me (2010), which follows the activity at a fictional airport and its variety of staff and passengers. British comedy duoJennifer Saunders andDawn French often presented short mockumentaries as extended sketches in their TV showFrench & Saunders. Discovery Channel opened its annual Shark Week on 4 Aug 2013 withMegalodon: The Monster Shark Lives, a mockumentary about the survival of themegalodon. The Canadian seriesTrailer Park Boys and its films (1998–present) were one of the first mainstream examples of Canadian mockumentaries. Popular examples in the United States include sitcomsThe Office (2005–2013),Parks and Recreation (2009–2015), andModern Family (2009–2020); the American improv comedyReno 911! (2003–2009);Derek (2012–2014); the comedy seriesThe Muppets (2015);People Just Do Nothing (2011–2018) and the AustralianChris Lilley showsAngry Boys,Summer Heights High,We Can Be Heroes: Finding the Australian of the Year,Ja'mie: Private School Girl,Jonah from Tonga andLunatics. Shows currently running in this format includeWhat We Do in the Shadows (2019–2024),Abbott Elementary (2021–present), andSt. Denis Medical (2024–present). Strictly speaking, a mockumentary refers to films, while the term "comedy verite" refers to TV series, though term is widely used here.[17]
The seriesDocumentary Now! (2015–present) onIFC, created bySaturday Night Live alumniBill Hader,Fred Armisen, andSeth Meyers, spoofs celebrateddocumentary films by parodying the style and subject of each documentary. Hight argues that television is a natural medium for a mockumentary, as it provides for "extraordinarily rich sources of appropriation and commentary".[18]
In 2018, theBBC released the seriesCunk on Britain created byCharlie Brooker and starringDiane Morgan about British history with Philomena Cunk, an extremely dim-witted and ill-informed interviewer, asking various experts ridiculous questions. The follow-upCunk on Earth featuring a similar plot was released byBBC Two in 2022 and is available onNetflix.
TheBBC seriesPeople Like Us was first produced for radio in 1995 before a television version was made in 1999.Kay Stonham'sAudio Diaries was a similarly short tenured radio mockumentary that premiered the year afterPeople Like Us's run on Radio 4 ended.
Straddling the fence between surrealism and pop culture is this eccentric "mockumentary," subsumed entirely by stock footage from the height of the Cold War. "The Atomic Café" is pieced together with a certain clairvoyant vision that captivates and inspires as the seamless fluency of the film builds to a denouement. In the same neighborhood as "Dr. Strangelove," this cynically festive mock-serious piece /../ Because the documentary is just that, fashioned entirely out of a seamless montage of newsreel footage, government archives, and military training films, the movie itself is just a deadpan reflection of history's charade executed with an assertive wry humor that makes us question the sanity of Cold War politics.
