Editing Mockumentary (section)

{{Short description|Film genre}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}

A '''mockumentary''' (a [[portmanteau]] of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a [[Documentary film|documentary]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mockumentary|title=the definition of mockumentary|website=Dictionary.com|access-date=2017-01-15}}</ref> Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on [[current events]] and issues in a satirical way by using a fictional setting, or to parody the documentary form itself.<ref name="Campbell">{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=Miranda |year=2007 |title=The mocking mockumentary and the ethics of irony |journal=Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=53–62 |url=http://freireproject.org/files/Taboo2007BoratIssue.pdf#page=52 |access-date=26 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726065500/http://freireproject.org/files/Taboo2007BoratIssue.pdf#page=52 |archive-date=26 July 2011 }}</ref> The term originated in the 1960s but was popularized in the mid-1990s when ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' director [[Rob Reiner]] used it in interviews to describe that film.<ref name="Roscoe">{{Cite book |last=Roscoe |first=Jane |title=Faking it: Mock-documentary and the Subversion of Factuality |author2=Craig Hight |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-7190-5641-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2010 |title=mockumentary, ''n''. |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/mockumentary |access-date=1 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201213717/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/mockumentary |archive-date=1 December 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Don Giller |date=26 December 2015 |title=Paul Shaffer on Late Night, March 20, 1994 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lT-ONdy2ck&t=1m |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211103/1lT-ONdy2ck |archive-date=2021-11-03 |access-date=17 October 2017 |via=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> 

While mockumentaries are  [[comedy|comedic]], [[pseudo-documentary|pseudo-documentaries]] are their dramatic equivalents. However, [[pseudo-documentary]] should not be confused with [[docudrama]], a fictional [[genre]] in which dramatic techniques are combined with documentary elements to depict real events. Nor should either of those be confused with [[docufiction]], a genre in which documentaries are contaminated with fictional elements.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

Mockumentaries are often presented as historical documentaries, with [[B roll]] and [[Pundit|talking heads]] discussing past events, or as ''[[cinéma vérité]]'' pieces following people as they go through various events. Examples emerged during the 1950s when archival film footage became available.<ref name=Campbell/> A very early example was a short piece on the "[[Spaghetti tree|Swiss spaghetti harvest]]" that appeared as an [[April Fools' Day|April Fools' prank]] on the British television program ''[[Panorama (TV series)|Panorama]]'' in 1957.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024|reason=And/or add to "Early examples" with a source.}}

Mockumentaries can be partly or wholly [[improvisational theatre|improvised]].