A Study of the Mockumentary Style; From Transformation of the Documentary Form to the Subversion of Claims of Representing Reality

Film studies theoreticians have always had different views and definitions of “documentary” form. Different cultural and social factors have contributed to the construction of different expectations regarding the documentary form and have had various effects on its development in different periods. These expectations have had different effects on the modes of representing reality in the documentary form and have problematized its representations. Mockumentary is one of these problematizing forms which has had a rise in popularity in cinema and television but has been studied less than the other forms. This study uses the findings of a research with descriptive-analytic method to answer the main question about the alterations that the mockumentary makes to documentary. Initially, we look at the definitions and presumptions about documentary in order to clarify the different interpretations of this concept, and then we examine the different elements of the mockumentary form. It looks like mockumentary uses tools like reflexivity and parody to subvert documentary representations of reality and to present reality in a different mold. The purpose of this study is to analyze the position of the documentary form and the contexts of the emergence of many presumptions regarding this film form and the subversions being made in representation of reality from the perspective of the mockumentary form. The study demonstrates the means by which mockumentary transforms and subverts the documentary representation of reality and builds its own way of representation of reality without the common deceiving methods used by the documentary form.