Mockumentary

The Blackfish documentary was made by Gabriela Cowperthwaite in 2013. In order to show that Blackfish is propaganda against SeaWorld, their claims about Tilikum and the accidents surrounding him as well as how he was introduced to SeaWorld, its claims about how SeaWorld functioned based on information from ex-employees some of whom haven’t worked there for over twenty years, incidents such as deaths and injuries occurring on and off of SeaWorld property, the claims and sequences where science…

An Envied Middle Class What does it mean to be middle class in America today? Although there is still no set academic or literary definition, the U.S Department of Commerce Economic and Statistics Administration found the most common characteristic of self proclaimed middle class Americans to be the focus they place on aspirations such as: “economic stability, a better life for one’s children, and a current lifestyle that allows for a few creature comforts” (DOC 13). Even though so many U.S.…

Like Taxi and Are you Being Served?, it is set within a workplace. However this office is the subject of a documentatry (or mockumentary) of the inner workings of a paper supply company and its employees. Each episode is filed with hand held camera shots and the concept of the fourth wall is completely disregarded. The same techniques are utilised within the ‘The American Office’…

Title Television is a universal idea, for decades it has brought family, friends, and all sorts of relationships to come together. However, television can vary from country to country. What may be popular in one part of the world, might not even be aired on another. America and Britain are usually paired with one another when discussing ideas about the world, because they contain so many similarities. Throughout the course of my time here, I have discovered, although that is not the case when it…

What word comes to mind when you hear mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, and uncle? When most people hear these words they think of their family, but what really makes a family? The common image that comes to mind when thinking about family is a mom and dad and their children. Nowadays that is not always and families are coming in all shapes and sizes. There are, “... single-parent families, stepfamilies, cohabitating families- those with unmarried domestic partners-…,” (McCaffrey, 2013, p.…

Traditionally, femininity is associated with a particular set of personality traits and behaviours, which are deemed acceptable for women to perform by the most influential institutions of the dominant culture. The teen makeover movie is a visual medium that reinforces these expectations through the types of female characters they present. Gender stereotypes reveal a distinct correlation between performances of idealized femininity and the distribution of female power in their high school…

The Office is a well-known television comedy that presents a group of strange but hilarious, everyday workers in a Dunder Mifflin Paper Company office building. It not only influenced many comedy TV shows today, but it started the popularity of mockumentaries, the single-camera setup, and “confessionals”. One of the amazing features and unique things about the show is that it has no laugh track or studio audience. The cast of this show was incredible, with different personalities that provide…

Exactly what political climate allows men that use manipulation and the exploitation of prejudices to ascend to power? This is a question which is addressed in the novel Plot Against America by Philip Roth and the mockumentary Bob Roberts starring, directed by, and written by Tim Collins. These works of art explore the nature behind demagogues and populist candidates and how they rise to political prominence. Philip Roth’s fictional representation of Charles Lindbergh and Tim Collins fictional…

"The Office" is a mockumentary-style sitcom that aired on NBC which is network television from 2005 to 2013, capturing the mundane yet hilariously absurd dynamics of office life at the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Adapted from the British series of the same name created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, (making it a pastiche) the American version quickly established its own identity and became a beloved staple of television comedy. Set in a mundane…