Film Studies Librarian
Lucinda M. Hall
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Getting started
Locating Library Resources for Mockumentaries.
The word "mockumentary" is not used in the online catalog. The official subject heading used is "documentary-style films."
- documentary-style filmsThis is the subject used for mockumentaries. See the separate tab above.
Introductory readings
From the Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications:
Docufictions: essays on the intersection of documentary and fictional filmmaking by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .D62 D63 2006ISBN: 9780786421848Through most of the 20th century, the distinction between the fictional narrative film and the documentary was vigorously maintained. The documentary tradition developed side by side with, but in the shadow of, the more commercially successful feature film. In the latter part of the century, however, the two forms merged on occasion, and mockumentaries (fictional works in a documentary format) and docudramas (reality-based works in a fictional format) became part of the film and television landscape. The 18 essays here examine the relationships between narrative fiction films and documentary filmmaking, focusing on how each influenced the other and how the two were merged in such diverse films and shows as Citizen Kane, M*A*S*H, This Is Spinal Tap, and Destination Moon. ...
Encyclopedia of the documentary film by Call Number: Baker-Berry Ref. PN 1995.9 .D6 E53 2006 v.1-3ISBN: 9780415976398This encyclopedia examines individual films and the careers of individual film makers, it also provides overview articles of national and regional documentary film history. It explains concepts and themes in the study of documentary film, the techniques used in making films, and the institutions that support their production.
Faking it: mock-documentary and the subversion of factuality by Call Number: Baker-BerryISBN: 9780719056413The first major study of mock-documentary - one of a number of screen forms that play with the assumed boundaries between 'fact' and 'fiction'. Examines mock-documentary through the specific relationship which the form has with documentary. Part of a wider discussion of the increasingly fragile association between factual codes and conventions and the discourses which underpin the documentary genre. ...
F is for phony: fake documentary and truth's undoing by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .D62 F3 2006ISBN: 9780816642519Fake documentaries mimic documentary genre expectations, unraveling the documentary's authority and dismantling understandings of identity, history, and nation. The interdisciplinary essays in F Is for Phony discuss a broad scope of works and explore issues raised by "fake docs" such as the fiction/documentary divide, the ethics of reality-based manipulation, and whether documentariness derives from form or reception. ...
Too bold for the box office: the mockumentary from big screen to small by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780810885196Although considered a relatively new genre, the mockumentary has existed nearly as long as filmmaking itself and has become one of the most common forms of film and television comedy today. In order to better understand the larger cultural truths artfully woven into their deception, these works demonstrate just how tenuous and problematic our collective understandings of our social worlds can be. In Too Bold for the Box Office: The Mockumentary from Big Screen to Small, Cynthia J. Miller has assembled essays by scholars and filmmakers who examine this unique cinematic form. ...
Other library resource(s)
Documentary film from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286Since the 1990s, there has been a veritable explosion of documentary films and digital media productions accompanied by a correspondingly large number of books and articles dedicated to contextualizing and interpreting them. The documentary film form itself is not new, of course. It dates from the 1920s, cinema’s fourth decade, and has long been a realist form associated with state education and political communication. ...
Finding scholarly articles & journals
Articles and other writings about movies can be found in many publications. You can use Film & Television Literature Index to find articles about mockumentaries.
Studies in documentary filmCall Number: Electronic journalThis journal provides information about the history, theory, criticism and practice of documentary film.
Film & television literature index by Call Number: Electronic resourceUse this index to find articles about this genre.
Web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
A selected list of documentary-style films
Find more mockumentaries in the collections.
Aro Tolbukhin: en la mente del asesino by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #3650A faux documentary about the fictional Hungarian Aro Tolbukhin who in 1981 was arrested for having burned alive seven people in the infirmary of Guatemala's Misión del Divino Redentor. In detention Tolbukhin also confessed to having killed a number of other victims in the years leading up to the 1981 crime. After he is condemned to death, before his execution, two French documentarians interview him. The film examines these incidents and his background, and looks for reasons for his behavior.
My crasy life by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #1959Documentary and scripted drama meet in this intense, introspective, and expectation-shredding treatment of the lives of Samoan street gang members in Long Beach.
This Is Spinal Tap by Call Number: Jones Media video tape #885ISBN: 9780879103774In 1984, four comedians Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Rob Reiner, and Harry Shearer unleashed This Is Spinal Tap, the world's first "mock-rockumentary" and a joke that has lasted into the 21st century and inspired a generation of imitations. Now, John Kenneth Muir escorts the reader through a quarter-century of heavy metal laughs, offering a detailed history of the film's genesis and an up-close look at the reasons why this beloved rock-and-roll movie comedy has endured for so long, and even met acceptance in the rock-and-roll culture it lampoons. ...
WR--mysteries of the organism by Call Number: Jones Media DVD # 6158ISBN: 9781934121580This documentary-fiction film begins as an investigation into the life and work of controversial psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and then explodes into a free-form narrative of a beautiful young Slavic girl's sexual liberation. Banned upon its release in the director's homeland, this art-house smash is both whimsical and bold in its blending of politics and sexuality.
Zelig by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #4200ISBN: 9780792851301This spoof of documentary films stars Woody Allen as Leonard Zelig, the famous "Chameleon Man" of the 1920's, whose personality was so vague he would assume the characteristics of whomever he came into contact with. Filmed in black-and-white, the movie simulates the look of a newsreel, complete with stentorian narration.
Internet resource(s)
- DocumentaryFilms.netThis site provides documentary film information and resources to both viewers and filmmakers.
- Full Frame Documentary Film FestivalThe Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema. The Festival takes place in Durham, North Carolina.
- International Documentary Association (IDA)The mission of the International Documentary Association is to promote nonfiction film and video around the world by supporting and recognizing the efforts of documentary film and video makers; ...
- Mockumentary from Wikipedia
A mockumentary (a portmanteau of mock and documentary) is one type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a documentary which in itself is a subset of a faux-documentary style of film-making.[1] ...
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.