The Rise of the Fakumentary

Abstract

Focusing on two recent films, I’m Still Here (2010) and Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010), this essay looks at the rise of a new cinematic subgenre: the fakumentary. The fakumentary is qualitatively different from the mockumentary because its satirical intentions are not made visible—on the surface, the fakumentary simulates a real documentary. Considering the rise of this particular style in the broader context of cinema, the essay examines how these recent films play with subjectivity through the use of doubles, masks, and anonymity, in order to pose some searching political questions about the nature of propaganda and the place of critical thought in modern democracy.