Arts & Culture
The Mockumentary's Narrative Structure and Its Blurring of Reality
Quick fact
The 1957 BBC April Fools' hoax 'Spaghetti Tree Harvest,' presented as a real documentary, convinced thousands of viewers that spaghetti grew on trees—proving that the documentary form alone can lend credibility to even the most absurd fiction.
Why this is interesting
We all know a documentary when we see one—grainy footage, serious narrator, talking heads. So why do we still get fooled by mockumentaries even when we know the story is fictional?