Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A form of documentary used to generate a reactionary effect in an audience; especially such a documentary containing scenes of violence, gore, or other disturbing imagery.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Blend of shock and documentary.

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Examples

  • Mr. Coleman's last role was in the film "Midgets vs. Mascots," a self-proclaimed "shockumentary" pitting small people against sports mascots.

    'Diff'rent Strokes' Star Gary Coleman Dies 2010

  • Warren, a professional radio host in Asheville, North Carolina, originally interviewed High Priest Peter H. Gilmore on the air, was overwhelmed with controversial feedback, and felt the Church was a good candidate for a "shockumentary," as he calls it.

    Archive 2008-05-01 Christopher 2008

  • It's hard to imagine today the impact this tawdry but fascinating Italian "shockumentary" had on the world in 1962, when the bizarre customs of people in other lands seemed both exotic and horrifying to Western eyes.

    Joe Dante's DANTE'S INFERNO 2008

  • It's hard to imagine today the impact this tawdry but fascinating Italian "shockumentary" had on the world in 1962, when the bizarre customs of people in other lands seemed both exotic and horrifying to Western eyes.

    Archive 2008-03-30 2008

  • Warren, a professional radio host in Asheville, North Carolina, originally interviewed High Priest Peter H. Gilmore on the air, was overwhelmed with controversial feedback, and felt the Church was a good candidate for a "shockumentary," as he calls it.

    Inside the Church of Satan: New Controversial Footage Captured Christopher 2008

  • So, while the filmmakers indeed use manipulation in major doses, with le Cilaire admitting himself the film is a "shockumentary," the staged footage is still grounded in reality.

    DVD Verdict 2008

  • This Italian "shockumentary" showed odd behavior from all parts of the world.

    StrategyPage.com 2008

  • "shockumentary" from 1962 is a travelogue of the world as seen by three Italians, Franco Prosperi, Gualtiero Jacopetti and Paolo Cavara, called "the most irresponsible filmmakers in the world."

    International Documentary Association - Thomas White 2010

  • "shockumentary" from 1962 is a travelogue of the world as seen by three Italians, Franco Prosperi, Gualtiero Jacopetti and Paolo Cavara, called "the most irresponsible filmmakers in the world."

    International Documentary Association - Thomas White 2010

  • Incidentally, all this was missing from the way audiences (in the Curzon cinema I think) saw another 1960s shockumentary — The Savage Eye (directed by Joseph Strick) — when I saw it I, like the audience, shuddered but felt no complicity at all.

    Ballardian » An Exhibition of Atrocities: J.G. Ballard on Mondo films 2009

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