The Growth Of The Mockumentary

By Mattie Knight


Mockumentaries are known to be a documentaries that are completely fictional but would actually cover real events. Basically, a mockumentary is actually just a parody that would make use of an entire fictional story with a setting and characters that are not real but seem real. These shows are actually widely watched by viewers since this is a fictional type of story that would be presented like it was real so it is something different.

Now for those who are not familiar with this type of show, there are actually two kinds that exist. These two types would be the comedic type which is the most common and the dramatic one. These are the only two kinds of mockumentaries one can see on television.

The most common would be the comedic one because the mockumentaries that would be shown on television would want to mock a certain issue in a very funny way so that it is light to the viewers. The nature of the comedic types would be that it would appear to be serious on the surface but there are dialogues and actions that are clearly for laughs. Also, unlike the sitcoms or the funny movies, there would be no laugh track at all to make it really seem like a real documentary.

The second type which is the drama type is actually a more serious one that would usually try to depict some sort of message. This would also show a certain issue or a story of a person with a lot of dramatization just like a movie except that it is presented to look like it is real. Of course the setting, characters, and story plot are all fictional.

Of course like in a real documentary, there would be some sort of time line or outline of events that these mockumentaries would show. The same thing would happen if this documentary is about a person and the past events that have happened in his life. There would be some sort of sequence that would tell the date of the event and the video depiction of what happened.

Now the only time when the term was actually coined was when a director by the name of Rob Reiner told reporters about his film This is Spinal Tap in an interview. Of course because of this little show, mockumentaries really took off as people enjoyed watching them. There were actually a lot of them that turned into real movies that were shown in cinemas.

One of the most popular mockumentaries in the comedic genre is the one about Borat which depicts cultural differences. Another very popular one is Bruno which now tackles the issue of gay men in a funny way. Many more out there would include Confetti and Im Still Here.

Of course in the drama genre, there would be the Blair Witch Project which hit the cinemas after it was shown. In the horror genre, many others followed with Paranormal Activity being one of the most popular. For action, there would be films like Cloverfield and Into the Storm.




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