25 Years After This is Spinal Tap: Has the Mockumentary Become Too Ironic?

One of the greatest comedic genres of all time took some time to develop during the 1980's and 90's before hitting a peak. Whether you want to give credit to Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, all of the above from the Spinal Tap cast (or maybe another director beforehand) for inventing the mockumentary, there isn't any denying that those astute to subtle humor find this genre an absolute riot outside of true satire. And most people place the mockumentary under satire anyway where everything is played so straight, it's passed over many a perplexed head.

When "This is Spinal Tap" was released 25 years ago this last March, there were ultimately a number of viewers with no lightbulb on overhead who thought this true mockumentary was a real one. Long before the age of internet, some who didn't get the concept started hunting down who that obscure British band called Spinal Tap was.

As with general satire that's taken thousands of years of evolution for most people to finally understand, the mockumentary took over a decade in America to be accepted as a popular movie trend after "Spinal Tap" released. That film stood alone in the mainstream for a while and even pulled in $4 million by the early summer of '84. Arguably, it was more because of the curiosity over the band and the blurring of reality when Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer played and sung all the songs themselves. Also, the straight-faced ribbing of rockumentaries was too hard to resist for a certain audience who understood the vagaries of (British or not) rock bands.

Making only $4 million at the box office in 1984 was still considered to be small and ultimately branded "Spinal Tap" as a cult film. But in trying to solve the earlier-mentioned puzzle of who really created the mockumentary, it shouldn't surprise a single American that the British may have been the ones to take it to the highest art form before Americans got their hands on the concept. There's a special irony attached to the TV special "All You Need is Cash" due to its airing on American TV in 1978 before being shown on British TV not long after. Perhaps somewhat forgotten, this British mockumentary showcasing The Rutles as a take-off on The Beatles turned out to be the real inspiration for "This is Spinal Tap" without anybody noticing.

The reason for that is because nobody watched "All You Need is Cash" when it aired on NBC in March of 1978. When it aired in Britain about a week after the American debut, it was a smash and probably made one of its producers, Monty Python veteran Eric Idle, wonder why they just didn't debut it in the UK first.

Consider this then to be the first mockumentary that the masses could understand, or at least by the more comically-sophisticated British. America was still too used to obvious comedy and settings that the audience could understand as fiction. The only American directors daring enough to attempt the straight-faced form of the mockumentary long before "Spinal Tap" were Woody Allen and Albert Brooks. Those names shouldn't be any surprise considering their inventive and cerebral comedy that only attracted (and still only attract) a limited audience. Allen's 1969 "Take the Money and Run" was one of his earliest efforts, yet was already utilizing the mockumentary style that he later took to arguably the best representation of the genre before "Spinal Tap" was released. With Allen's black and white "Zelig" 14 years later, we probably have the most fully-formed example of the mockumentary done with such a straight and subtle expression that it's still not appreciated by many today. It was released a whole year before "Spinal Tap's" release.

Brooks' "Real Life" in 1979 was more or less done as a mockumentary of a documentary where a documentarian gets permission to film the daily lives of family for a number of months. Yes, it was predicting reality shows years in advance. It was ultimately a highly imperfect film if still setting up Brooks' comedic brilliance that still doesn't get enough respect.

It was when Christopher Guest brought "Waiting for Guffman" to the big screen 12 years after "Spinal Tap" that mockumentaries became a little too insightful of human nature. Then they made audiences squirm with blends of unintentional tragic drama with the guffaw-inducing comedy...
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As we've seen with all of Guest's mockumentaries, the insights into people of all stripes is not only uproarious, it's also full of tragedy in how people with pathetic existences manage to keep themselves sane with their respective hobbies. "Waiting for Guffman" showed us (to the dismay of some) what made small town citizens tick when trying to find their ticket to stardom. It was no different with Guest's follow-up "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind." Then he went right for the jugular with "For Your Consideration" that took us away from has-beens and wannabe's in small town America to the same mold right in Hollywood.

Since that was made in 2006, Guest hasn't made a new mockumentary to date--perhaps because everybody jumped onto this genre he took to a higher level. In-between the years of those four Guest mockumentaries, smarter comedies started to be played straight to the point where we no longer laugh out loud and instead guffaw mightily on the inside. This type of comedy differs from a movie by Adam Sandler or Seth Rogan where it's more a throwback to sight gags and obvious comedic situations.

Those who want a real cerebral comedy blast gravitate to the mockumentary format where Guest is still the king and hopefully is planning more. It's those penetrating looks into the human condition, though, that makes this genre close to tragedy at times as Guest's films could nearly be called. With others merging that tragic line with the comedy lately, it may make mockumentaries too painful to watch for certain audiences after a while. Even though we've been taught in art that comedy and tragedy can sometimes be closer than we think, it could test the patience of some viewers who still have problems getting a mere chortle out of one of Guest's films or ones like it.

If that's already happening, it may explain why we're seeing a rise in more sight gag-oriented films which consistently go to #1 at the box office. Audiences obviously want to guffaw themselves silly rather than laugh on the inside. Because of that, the mockumentary may be heading for oblivion or Guest and his peers will have to create new ones that make us laugh out loud at least occasionally. "This is Spinal Tap" was one of those that found the perfect balance 25 years ago...

Source:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/maindetails