Through most of the 20th century, the distinction between the fictional narrative film and the documentary was vigorously maintained. The documentary tradition developed side by side with, but in the shadow of, the more commercially successful feature film. In the latter part of the century, however, the two forms merged on occasion, and mockumentaries (fictional works in a documentary format) and docudramas (reality-based works in a fictional format) became part of the film and television landscape.
The 18 essays here examine the relationships between narrative fiction films and documentary filmmaking, focusing on how each influenced the other and how the two were merged in such diverse films and shows as Citizen Kane, M*A*S*H, This Is Spinal Tap, and Destination Moon. Topics include the docudrama in early cinema, the industrial film as faux documentary, the fear evoked in 1950s science fiction films, the selling of "reality" in mockumentaries, and reality television and documentary forms. The essays provide a foundation for significant rethinking of film history and criticism, offering the first significant discussion of two emerging and increasingly important genres.
Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Docudrama and Mock-Documentary: Defining Terms, Proposing Canons
Steven N. Lipkin, Derek Paget and Jane Roscoe 11
2. The Newspaper Meets the Dime Novel: Docudrama in Early Cinema
John Parris Springer 27
3. On the Edges of Fiction: Silent Actualités, City Symphonies and Early SF Movies
Mark Bould 43
4. This Reality Which Is Not One: Flaherty, Buñuel and the Irrealism of Documentary Cinema
Jared F. Green 64
5. Reconstructing Reality: The Industrial Film as Faux Documentary
Donald Levin 88
6. "Documenting" Communist Subversion: The Case of I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. (1951)
Reynold Humphries 102
7. Teaching Fear in 1950s Science Fiction Films
Michael Lee 124
8. Mondo Barnum
Doug Bentin 144
9. In Search of Questions, or, A New Age Film Odyssey
Gary D. Rhodes 154
10. Artifice and Artificiality in Mockumentaries
Gerd Bayer 164
11. "It Ain't the Movies! It's Real Life!" Cinematic Alchemy in Woody Allen's "Woody Allen" D(M)oc(k)umentary Oeuvre
Robert Sickels 179
12. "That's Really the Title?" Deconstructing Deconstruction in The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993) and Real Life (1978)
Harvey O'Brien 191
13. Man Bites Dog: Deconstructing the Documentary Look
Jane Roscoe 205
14. Stanley Kwan's Centre Stage (1992): Postmodern Reflections of the Mirror Within the Mirror
Wayne Stein 216
15. Fool's Gold: New Zealand's Forgotten Silver, Myth and National Identity
Ian Conrich and Roy Smith 230
16. Before Big Brother, There Was Blair Witch: The Selling of "Reality"
Fincina Hopgood 237
17. Chasing the Real: Reality Television and Documentary Forms
Leigh H. Edwards 253
18. The Future of Documentary? "Conditional Tense" Documentary and the Historical Record
Paul Ward 270
About the Contributors
Index
