Transgressive Mockumentary as a Critique of Conventional Filmmaking Practices

Abstract

Mockumentary film is the parodic conjoint of fiction narrative with documentary-style narration, popularized since the 1980s with the release of the iconic This is Spinal Tap. While many mockumentaries take advantage of canonical documentary forms merely for comedic purposes, certain examples exploit their hybridism for critical purposes by the use of self-reflexive strategies. Certain critical mockumentaries instrumentalize the self reflexive narration to indicate opponent statements about the filmmaking codes and conventions beyond the subversion of the canons. Counter-cinematic particularities of these mockumentaries share similarities with the transgressive characteristics indicated by the Cinema of Transgression Manifesto such as counter-cultural, shocking, and humorous narratives, anti-structuralist and anti-conventional narrations, and anti authoritarian and independent filmmaking practices. Regarding the interdisciplinary use of the term transgressive, categorization of such critical mockumentaries as transgressive mockumentary is pertinent. Cinema of Transgression manifesto proposes a transformation through transgression that is liberating and transfiguring. Through parodical counter-practices on the margins of canonical forms and texts, the instrumentalization of self-reflexivity in transgressive mockumentaries raises a critique of conventional filmmaking practices. Their critique function as the unveiling of the illusionism and ideological and emotional imposition of conventional practices and is transformative for the spectator’s understanding of conventional film.