The Mockumentary: Cinema’s Best Kept Secret

By: Rustycat | in: Movies |

I’ve just finished watching Christopher Guest’s ‘For Your Consideration’. It’s a perfect Mockumentary about Hollywood’s awards frenzy. I think its due time that we acknowledge one of cinema’s most daring and intelligent genres.

Larry David

For those who are not familiar with the term, a Mockumentary is quite simply a fake documentary that is commonly used in TV and cinema as a medium for expressing extreme satire or parody.

Woody Allen

Back in the 80’s the perfect example was Woody Allen’s ‘Zelig’, a “documentary” about a man who can look and act like whoever he’s around, and meets various famous people. It was hilarious abd one of Woody’s best. Then came another favorite of mine - ‘This is Spinal Tap’. Directed by Rob Reiner and written by Christopher Guest, the film followed one of the world’s leading heavy metal bands in what would turn out to be a fatal tour. The film became a cult classic.

Spinal Tap

Today we find the Mockumentary genre more common. Larry David took it to the next level on TV when he came up with ‘Curb your Enthusiasm’, the TV show that followed his seemingly purposeless life. Then came the British ‘Office’ and the amazing Ricky Gervais, yes yes I know ‘The Office’ is a huge hit in the states as well… You see my point now?!
We don’t find many films each year competing for the ‘Mockumentary of the year’, but at rare occasions we do see a crazy guy from Britain who calls himself Borat from Kazakhstan, dress up like an idiot and film himself coming to America to screw Pamela Anderson. It’s true people, Borat is actually more of a Mockumentary than a simple comedy and I think that’s what made it so genius and appealing to the mass.

Borat

I think the Comedy genre could use a lot more diversity and some more Mockumentary films. Even though they haven’t often proved very popular, we can still see that films like Borat and This is Spinal Tap can gain mass appeal.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to ask Microsoft to add the word Mockumentary to the Office dictionary. Please stop making me doubt my spelling all the time…no, I don’t want to correct it to “documentary”… 

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Posted on March 7, 2007

Comments

5 Responses to “The Mockumentary: Cinema’s Best Kept Secret”

HMTKSteve on March 8th, 2007 4:14 pm

You know what? This is one of your best posts yet. I love mockumentaries!

I still remember the scene from This is Spinal Tap with the amp that went up to 11. Didn’t someone actually make them as a gag?

Charbarred on March 8th, 2007 5:12 pm

One of the first amps I bought as a kid was called Quantum (a bass amp). All the buttons went up to 11. It was a crap amp, but I’m kinda sorry I sold it.

Webomatica on March 9th, 2007 9:34 pm

Some other Christopher Guest ones: Best In Show (The dog one), Waiting For Guffman (small town does a musical) and A Mighty Wind (folk musicians). My fave is Best in Show.