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Origins of the Term For the Mockumentary Genre

“Mockumentary” is the term used for “mock documentary” shot and edited to resemble a real documentary.

This term entered to popular lexicon after the theatrical distribution of  This Is Spinal Tap (1984) which followed a fictional rock band in documentary style (Rob Reiner who directed and acted on the film, described it as a “rockumentary”).

With its subtle humor and cleverly improvised acting, and actual musicians playing the roles, Spinal Tap actually fooled a lot of people into thinking they were a real band.

Woody Allen directed and starred in Zelig (1983) a historical mockumentary (shot one year before Spinal Tap, and the term became popularized) about a chameleon-like character with the freakish ability to transform himself to be just like whoever he happened to be with.

Christopher Guest, one of the stars of This is Spinal Tap went on to co-write(along with Eugene Levy), directed and starred in mockumentary Best in Show (2000) that lampoons dog show competitions and their participating players.

In the year 2003, Christopher Guest co-wrote (along with Eugene Levy) A Mighty Wind a documentary-style spoof of a folk band from the Sixties who reunite several decades later. While it was mock documentary the actors in A Mighty Wind displayed professionalism as musicans.

When Were the First Mockumentaries Shot?

While the term is recent, mockumentaries date back several decades and most likely more, including a British production called “Swiss Spaghetti Harvest” shot in the fifties about people harvesting spaghetti from trees.

Monty Python’s Flying circus, a British TV show from the seventies featuring unique and bizarre skits, often had episodes that resembled documentaries but were clearly too outlandish to be real.

Recent Mockumentaries

More recent examples of popularly know mockumentaries are “Borat” and Bruno,” two creations of actor/writer Sasha Cohen Barat.

Borat features a clueless and inadvertently rude “official” from Kazakhstan (not even remotely resembling Kazakh people and the country of Kazakstan), shot like a hybrid of the Candid Camera TV show (that filmed practical jokes on unknowing victims) and the improvised style of Spinal Tap.

Bruno mockumentary of similar genre. It features a gay fashion designer from Austria, apparently a fictional creation, but with some speculation that he was inspired by actual personalities.

Corked (2009), is a mockumentary that wittily pokes great fun at California’s wine-making culture, “documenting” what goes on with various wineries, their dramas, conflicts, interrelationships as they complete to win a celebrity wine-tasters prestigious favor.

What is the Future of Mockumentaries?

While the word “mockumentary” may not have been popularized until the mid-eighties, mockumentary-style productions have manifested since the mid-fifties and likely earlier.

Nowadays, the ready availability of high quality video cameras the exponentially increasing popularilyt of YouTube and dozens of other video sharing sites, make mockumentaries an obvious genre for people to play with.

The popularity of recent theatrically released mockumentaries such as Bruno, suggests they have a great future indeed.