Television Genre And Style Of Mockumentaries Essay

Within the realm of television today, many of the more popular comedies have a very specific style of production and way of capturing scenes. This style is often referred to as the â€Å"Mockumentary† style and can be seen within examples like The Office and Park and Recreation. The popularity of these shows alone have inspired many other different spin-offs and takes on this specific style of comedy, but these shows shouldn’t be credited as the â€Å"founders† of the mockumentary style. In fact, for television shows the mockumentary’s history goes farther back by a couple of decades. This paper will attempt to discover the answers to three main questions regarding the television genre and style of mockumentaries. Firstly, the definition of a mockumentary and a general understanding of the stylistic similarities must be examined before the history of the mockumentary is to be explored. Next, the historical background will be considered as well as the cultu ral significance and impact of the shows that emulated this mockumentary style. Lastly, the paper will look to the current cultural contexts and the social impacts of the popular, modern day televisions shows that incorporate these styles. Through the analysis of the mockumentary style in the combination of the historical lens and the definitional lens, modern day shows that utilize this subgenre will be better understood as well as their impacts on society itself. According to Oxford Dictionary, a mockumentary can simply beShow MoreRelatedThe Narrative Of The New Zealand1495 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Shadows is unique in that it combines parody and cinematography, while also using a mixture of two genres, vampire and mockumentary, to comment on contemporary social formations and to challenge traditional cultural myths. 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