A bibliography of useful sources for mockumentary
This is a basic list of key literature on mockumentary (culled from the bibliography
for Television Mockumentary:
reflexivity, satire and play in televisual space. There are also a large number of more shorter and more specific sources, especially journal articles and magazine stories which describe and analyse inidividual mockumentary texts.
- Mockumentary bibliography from the Media Resources Center at UC Berkeley - an excellent resource combining details about specific films and academic references (some online, some only accessible to UC Berkeley students), includes a link to an extensive bibliography of writing on Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
- Doherty, T. (2003) 'The Sincerest form of flattery: a brief history
of the mockumentary', Cineaste, 28:4, pp. 22-4 - slim but comprehensive introduction to the early decades of mockumentary
- de Siefe, E. (N.D.) History of the Mockumentary: the Treachery
of Images, available at http://www.spinaltapfan.com/articles/seife/seife1.html
- interesting overview of the history of mockumentary, this is a detailed
piece from the key This
is Spinal Tap fansite
- Juhasz, A. and J. Lerner (eds) (2006) F Is For Phony: Fake Documentary
and Truth's Undoing, Visible Evidence Series. Minneapolis, University
of Minnesota Press. (details from University
of Minnesota Press) - provides excellent academic pieces on especially
the more avant-garde end of mockumentary
- Rhodes, G. D. and J. P. Springer (eds) (2005) Docufictions: Essays
On the Intersection of Documentary and Fictional Filmmaking, Jefferson,
North Carolina, MC Farland & Company - chapters cover mockumentary as
a part of a wide-ranging discussion of fact-fiction forms
- Miller, C (ed.) (2009) 'Mockumentaries', a special issue of Post
Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities, Volume 28, Number 3
- a number of detailed studies of specific film and television mockumentaries
and related texts
- Ward, P. (2005) Documentary: The Margins of Reality, London,
Wallflower Press - includes an interesting chapter in documentary and
comedy, positioning mockumentary as another 'mode' of documentary comedy
- Mills, B. (2004) 'Comedy verité: contemporary sitcom form', Screen,
45:1, pp. 63-78 - an excellent approach toward the British version of
The Office,
positioning the series within broader trends within innovative sitcom
(although Mills never uses the term mockumentary)
- Jacobs, D. (2000) Revisioning Film Traditions: The Pseudo-Documentary
and the NeoWestern, Lewiston, The Edwin Mellen Press - early effort
at analysing mockumentary, focusing especially on the feature films
David Holzman's
Diary, Bob
Roberts and Zelig
- Caldwell, J. (2002) 'Prime-time fiction theorizes the docu-real',
in Friedman (ed.) Reality Squared, pp 259-92 - covers a key
pattern within television that overlaps with mockumentary
- Cantril, H. (1940) The Invasion From Mars: A Study in the Psychology
of Panic, Princeton, Princeton University Press - a classic study
of the War of
the Worlds radio hoax that was a key precursor to audio-visual mockumentary
- de Siefe, E. (2007) This is Spinal Tap, London, Wallflower
Press - excellent popular account of the making of This
is Spinal Tap, and its fan base
- Plantinga, C. (1998) 'Gender, power and a cucumber: satirizing masculinity
in This is Spinal Tap', in B. K. Grant and J. Sloniowski (eds) Documenting
the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video,
Detroit, Wayne State University Press, pp. 318-32 - excellent piece
on This is Spinal
Tap, outlining its combination of satirical and parodic approaches
toward heavy metal and rockumentary respectively
- Muir, J. K. (2004) Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest
and Company, New York, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books - popular biography and overview of the career of Guest
- McClure, K. R. and L. L. McClure (2001) 'Postmodern parody: Zelig and
the rhetorical subversion of documentary form', Communication Quarterly,
49:2, pp. 81-8 - an application of postmodern theory to a classic early
mockumentary, Woody Allen's Zelig
- Walters, B. (2005) The Office, London, British Film Institute
- excellent detailed analysis of the British version of The
Office
- Wisnewski, J. J. (ed.) (2008) The Office and Philosophy: Scenes
from the Unexamined Life, Malden, Blackwell Publishing Ltd - hit
and miss, but some detailed musings on the British
and American
versions of the series, as part of the popular philosophy series from
Blackwell
- Higley, S. L. and J. A. Weinstock (eds) (2004) Nothing That Is:
Millennial Cinema and the Blair Witch Controversies, Contemporary
Approaches to Film and Television Studies, Detroit, Wayne State University
Press - a variety of academic analyses of The
Blair Witch Project
- McDowell, S. D. (2001) 'Method filmmaking: an interview with Daniel
Myrick, co-director of The Blair Witch Project', Journal of Film
and Video, 53:2/3, pp. 140-7 - one among many articles on the film , but useful for background information
- Roscoe, J. (1997) 'Man Bites Dog: deconstructing the documentary look',
Metro Education, 13, pp. 7-12
- Roscoe, J. (2000) 'The Blair Witch Project: mock-documentary goes
mainstream', Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, 43,
pp. 3-8. (available at Jump
Cut online)
- Torchin, L. (2008) 'Cultural Learnings of Borat Make for Benefit of
Glorious Study of Documentary', Film & History, 38:1, pp. 53-63
- excellent analysis of Borat:
Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
including its mixture of documentary and mockumentary approaches
- Steinberg, S. R.(2007) special issue of Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education
looking at Borat:
Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Volume XI, Number 1 - detailed discussions on the film and its impact
- Jauregui, C. G. (2004) "Eat it alive and swallow it whole!" Resavoring
Cannibal Holocaust as a Mockumentary. Invisible Culture, 7,
available at http://www.rochester.edu/in_visible_culture/Issue_7/Jauregui/jauregui.html
- this defines Cannibal
Holocaust as a mockumentary (it incorporates mockumentary, but not
throughout its entire length) but is a useful analysis of a precursor
to more well-known mockumentary horror
- Russo, J. L. (2005) 'Inside Out: Television on Television', available
as a PDF download from http://www.j-l-r.org/docs/jlr_tvontv.pdf-
a detailed discussion of the mockumentary episode 'Access' from The
West Wing,
- Holt, J., (ed.) (2007) The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments
of Zen in the Art of Fake News, Malden, Blackwell Publishing -
some perceptive pieces on the satirical approach of The
Daily Show, from Blackwell's popular philosophy series
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