Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a
genre of
television and
film, which features
dramatized
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
re-enactments of actual events.
It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event".
Docudramas typically strive to adhere to known historical facts, while allowing some degree of
dramatic license
Artistic license (alongside more contextually-specific derivative terms such as poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It can include the alterat ...
in peripheral details, such as when there are gaps in the historical record.
Dialogue may, or may not, include the actual words of
real-life
Real life is a phrase used originally in literature to distinguish between the real world and fictional, virtual or idealized worlds, and in acting to distinguish between actors and the characters they portray. It has become a popular term on the ...
people, as recorded in
historical document
Historical documents are original documents that contain important historical information about a person, place, or event and can thus serve as primary sources as important ingredients of the historical methodology.
Significant historical docume ...
s. Docudrama producers sometimes choose to film their reconstructed events in the actual locations in which the historical events occurred.
A docudrama, in which historical fidelity is the keynote, is generally distinguished from a film merely "
based on true events", a term which implies a greater degree of dramatic license; and from the concept of "
historical drama
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and sw ...
", a broader category which may also encompass entirely fictionalized action taking place in historical settings or against the backdrop of historical events.
As a
portmanteau, ''docudrama'' is sometimes confused with ''
docufiction''. However, unlike docufiction—which is essentially a
documentary filmed in
real time, incorporating some fictional elements—docudrama is filmed at a time subsequent to the events portrayed.
Characteristics
The docudrama genre is a reenactment of actual historical events.
However it makes no promise of being entirely accurate in its interpretation.
It blends fact and fiction for its recreation and its quality depends on factors like budget and production time. The filmmaker
Leslie Woodhead
James Leslie John Woodhead, OBE (born 1937) is a British documentary filmmaker.
For his National Service commencing in 1956, he served in Fife at the Joint Services School for Linguists where he was taught Russian. He was posted to West Berli ...
presents the docudrama dilemma in the following manner:
Docudramas producers use literary and narrative techniques to flesh out the bare facts of an event in history to tell a story. Some degree of license is often taken with minor historical facts for the sake of enhancing the drama. Docudramas are distinct from historical fiction, in which the historical setting is a mere backdrop for a plot involving fictional characters.
The scholar Steven N. Lipkin considers docudrama as a form of performance through recollection which in turn shapes our collective memory of past events. It is a mode of representation. Educator Benicia D’sa maintained that docudramas are heavily impacted by filmmakers’ own perspectives and understanding of history.
History
The impulse to incorporate historical material into literary texts has been an intermittent feature of literature in the west since its earliest days.
Aristotle's theory of art is based on the use of putatively historical events and characters. Especially after the development of modern mass-produced literature, there have been genres that relied on history or then-current events for material. English
Renaissance drama, for example, developed subgenres specifically devoted to dramatizing recent murders and notorious cases of
witchcraft
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...
.
However, docudrama as a separate category belongs to the second half of the twentieth century.
Louis de Rochemont
Louis Clark de Rochemont (January 13, 1899 – December 23, 1978) was an American film maker known for creating, along with Roy E. Larsen, the monthly theatrically shown newsreels ''The March of Time''. His brother, Richard, was also a pro ...
, creator of ''
The March of Time'', became a producer at
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...
in 1943.
There he brought the
newsreel aesthetic to films, producing a series of movies based upon real events using a realistic style that became known as
semidocumentary
A semidocumentary is a form of book, film, or television program presenting a fictional story that incorporates many factual details or actual events, or which is presented in a manner similar to a documentary.
Characteristics
Stylistically, it ...
. The films (''
The House on 92nd Street
''The House on 92nd Street'' is a 1945 black-and-white American spy film directed by Henry Hathaway. The movie, shot mostly in New York City, was released shortly after the end of World War II. ''The House on 92nd Street'' was made with the ful ...
'', ''
Boomerang
A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...
'', ''
13 Rue Madeleine
''13 Rue Madeleine'' is a 1947 American World War II spy film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring James Cagney, Annabella, Richard Conte and Frank Latimore. Allied volunteers are trained as spies in the leadup to the invasion of Europe, ...
'') were imitated,
and the style soon became used even for completely-fictional stories, such as ''
The Naked City
''The Naked City'' (aka ''Naked City'') is a 1948 American film noir directed by Jules Dassin, starring Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart and Don Taylor. The film, shot almost entirely on location in New York City, depicts the poli ...
''. Perhaps the most significant of the semidocumentary films was ''
He Walked by Night
''He Walked by Night'' is a 1948 American police procedural film noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and an uncredited Anthony Mann. The film, shot in semidocumentary tone, was loosely based on newspaper accounts of the real-life actions of Erwin ...
'' (1948), based upon an
actual case.
Jack Webb had a supporting role in the movie and struck up a friendship with the
LAPD
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along t ...
consultant, Sergeant Marty Wynn. The film and his relationship with Wynn inspired Webb to create ''
Dragnet'', one of the most famous docudramas in history.
The particular
portmanteau term "docudrama" was coined in 1957 by Philip C. Lewis (1904-1979), of
Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly () is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 census the borough had a population of 15,409, , a former
vaudevillian and stage actor turned playwright and author, in connection with a production he wrote, in response to the defeat of a local school-funding referendum, for the Tenafly Citizens' Education Council addressing "the development of education and its significance in American life." Lewis trademarked the term "DocuDrama" in 1967 (expired, 1992) for a production company of the same name.
The influence of
New Journalism
New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non ...
tended to create a license for authors to treat with literary techniques material that might in an earlier age have been approached in a purely journalistic way. Both
Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
and
Norman Mailer
Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...
were influenced by this movement, and Capote's ''
In Cold Blood'' is arguably the most famous example of the genre.
American television
Some docudrama examples for
American television
Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. , household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. ...
include ''
Brian's Song
''Brian's Song'' is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the life of Brian Piccolo (James Caan), a Chicago Bears football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro in 1965, told through his friendship with teammate Gale Saye ...
'' (1971), and ''
Roots
A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients.
Root or roots may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...
'' (1977). ''Brian's Song'' is the biography of
Brian Piccolo
Louis Brian Piccolo (October 31, 1943 – June 16, 1970) was an American professional football player, a halfback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) for four years. He died at age 26 from embryonal cell carcinoma, an a ...
, a Chicago Bears football player who died at a young age after battling cancer. ''Roots'' depicts the life of a slave and his family.
Examples
This list is ordered by release date.
Radio
* ''
The March of Time'' (1931–45)
* ''The Fifth Horseman'' (radio series) (1946)
Film
Television
See also
*
Docufiction
*
Mockumentary
*
Pseudo-documentary
*
Semidocumentary
A semidocumentary is a form of book, film, or television program presenting a fictional story that incorporates many factual details or actual events, or which is presented in a manner similar to a documentary.
Characteristics
Stylistically, it ...
*
Dramality
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
*
Ethnofiction
Ethnofiction refers to a subfield of ethnography which produces works that introduces art, in the form of storytelling, "thick descriptions and conversational narratives", and even first-person autobiographical accounts, into peer-reviewed academi ...
*
Fly on the wall
Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in film and television production. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them. In the purest form of fly-on-the-wall documentary-making, t ...
*
Factual television
Factual television is a genre of non-fiction television programming that documents actual events and people. These types of programs are also described as observational documentary, fly on the wall, docudrama, and reality television. The genre ...
*
Reality television
*
Peter Watkins
Peter Watkins (born 29 October 1935) is an English film and television director. He was born in Norbiton, Surrey, lived in Sweden, Canada and Lithuania for many years, and now lives in France. He is one of the pioneers of docudrama. His films ...
, a pioneer of docudrama
*
List of historical drama films
*
List of Asian historical drama films
Historical or period drama is a film genre in which stories are based on historical events and famous persons. Some historical dramas attempt to accurately portray a historical event or biography, to the degree that the available historical researc ...
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
*
*
* Goodwin, Andrew, et al. ''Drama-Documentary''. London: British Film Institute, 1983.
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External links
British Film Institute paper on British drama-documentaryDocudrama: the real (his)toryby Çiçek Coşkun (Middle East Technical University, Department of Sociology): unpublished academic paper
Docudramaat BookRags
{{Film genres
Documentary film genres
Drama genres
Film genres
Non-fiction genres
Television genres
Docudrama