Dictionary

mockumentary en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌmɔk-/ (US)
• /ˌmɑkjuˈmɛn(t)əɹi/ (US)
• (US) audio

Etymology

Blend of mock + documentary.

Meanings

1. A film or television programme presented as if it were a documentary but that is not factual and often a parody or satire.
   • Perlman devised a format inspired by the seminal mockumentary Spinal Tap, where the spot started with an ESPN announcer speaking to camera in a serious, straight voice, framing the story as “real” documentary. 2010, Douglas Holt, Douglas Cameron, Cultural Strategy: Using Innovative Ideologies to Build Breakthrough Brands, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 345:
   • The resonances between This is Spinal Tap and other documentary and mockumentary texts is pervasive, […] 2018, Richard Wallace, Mockumentary Comedy: Performing Authenticity, Springer, →ISBN, page 87:
   • In the 2004 film A Day Without a Mexican, Sergio Arau imagines, in mockumentary style, what would happen to California if its entire Mexican-immigrant population vanished. With so many housekeepers and farmworkers, teachers and gardeners, line cooks and police gone, the state seizes up. 2021 October 5, Ian Bogost, “A Day Without Facebook”, in The Atlantic:
   • “This Is Spinal Tap” is one of the most famous mockumentaries.

Forms

Relateds

documentarylike

Synonyms

fictional documentary · false documentary

Translations (14)

fr mockumentaire (programme) · fr documenteur (programme) · pt pseudodocumentário (programme) · hu kitalálmentum (programme) · cmn 偽紀錄片 /伪纪录片 (programme) · de Mockumentary (programme) · fi tekodokumentti (programme) · pl mockument (programme) · hu áldokumentumfilm (programme) · fr faux documentaire (programme) · pt falso documentário (programme) · fi mukadokumentti (programme) · id mokumenter (programme) · ru мокументальный фильм (programme)