Comedy Analysis: Mockumentary

This is practically a mockumentary

Mockumentary is a portmanteau word from “to mock” and “documentary”. It is therefore a mocking documentary. Generally the mockumentary will follow fictional events and show them as in a documentary, thus creating a parody.

In a mockumentary some care if usually taken to create the atmosphere and 'feel' of a real documentary.  This means there is usually no laugh-track, a lot of (semi-) improvised lines and 'reconstructions'. All this helps to create a true documentary feel.

One of the most famous, recent examples of mockumentary film is Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. This film presents itself as a documentary, but is in reality a spoof, with little informative value. Is is funny though.

Mockumentaries are closely linked to pseudo-documentaries, although they are not the same. The main difference being a mockumentary is always a parody and therefore always funny. A pseudo-

The Office is a mockumentary

documentary is not necessarily funny, although it can lead to laughable results. A prime example of this is Orson Welles' War of the Worlds which was aired on radio styled as a news bulletin. This was so realistically done, that people believed the world to be under alien attack and it caused massive outbreaks of panic. Although the intent of the broadcast wasn't comedy, the results were without a doubt hilarious.

Mockumentaries are becoming more common and more popular every day. With series like The Office crossing the Atlantic and finding success on both sides, Arrested Development is still popular, years after the original television broadcasts and Come Fly With Me was the most-watched British comedy of 2010 with over 10 million viewers every episode. For a 6 episode series, this is impressive. Mockumentaries are a refreshing way of looking at comedy and because they're not too common it would seem it's going to stay that way for a while.