The Power of the Mockumentary

Caroline Fortuna ‘19 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
The mockumentary genre has been around as early as 1938, when Orson Welles broadcast “War of the Worlds,” providing his audience satirical news that aliens had landed. Today, the genre has been established in television, boasting an impressive roster of shows like The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Modern Family. With the rise of the mockumentary, however, came some criticism about the “laziness” of filming and script writing when using this format. This criticism is extremely undeserved.

The format itself is a work art; utilizing a hand-held feel, timely zoom-ins, and talking heads to create a documentary-like atmosphere. The genre gets away from the stiff format of an orthodox sitcom, in which predictability has become its greatest downfall. Instead, the mockumentary opts for an authentic atmosphere of choreographed chaos.
The mockumentary both allows and requires the writers to push the envelope, and broadens the range that would otherwise be relatively limited in a sitcom format television show. The writers must account for dialogue amongst characters, but also for dialogue said during the talking heads. The lines that writers have come up with during these said talking heads boast the most creativity, especially when recognized that the lines are being judged directly by the audience in a somewhat interactive manner. The mockumentary genre in and of itself relies on the effectiveness of sarcasm, so the writers of mockumentary series have to wittily and cleverly balance sarcasm, character development, and sincerity. This is no easy feat but has been executed time and time again in shows like The Office and Parks and Rec.

In addition to the increased level of writing, the mockumentary enhances the delivery of the characters. The importance of character presence is honored by quick zoom-ins and spying shots. Telling looks to the camera solidify jokes or comical situations. It creates a relationship between the audience and character, as well as creates a sense of mockery and recognition of absurdities. As creative as the writing is in mockumentary-style television shows, beauty is often found in the silence that breaks up the dialogue. Many of the hardest laughs are contrived when an invasive camera shot meets the glaze of a character or captures the subtleties of a character interaction.  

One of perhaps the most important reasons that the mockumentary is one of the most useful TV genres is because of its social and political awareness. The use of sarcasm in generally dull settings (Paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Parks and Recreation Department in Pawnee, Indiana) provides the platform for social and political context. The word itself has “mock,” in it, and the shows often poke fun and sometimes critique political and social ignorance, oblivion, and incompetence. On the same note, we live in an era of reality television that seems to lack many values, so the mockumentary, therefore, is able to satirize this form of media into a program with cleverness, comedy, and intelligence.
The magic of comedy television is when the audience can marvel at the cleverness and craftsmanship before them, rather than “go through the motions” of monotonous and predictable sitcom jokes and staging. The mockumentary genre provides that cleverness, and, if recognized for its power, is a genre that will prevail.