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{{short description|Documentary genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual events}}
{{Distinguish|docufiction}}

'''Docudrama''' (or '''documentary drama''') is a [[genre]] of [[television show|television]] and [[feature film|film]], which features [[Drama (film and television)|dramatized]] [[Historical reenactment|re-enactment]]s of actual events.<ref name="museum" /> It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ogunleye |first=Foluke |title=Television Docudrama as Alternative Records of History |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20065757 |journal=History in Africa |volume=32 |pages=479–484 |doi=10.1353/hia.2005.0019 |jstor=20065757 |s2cid=162322739 |issn=0361-5413}}</ref>

Docudramas typically strive to adhere to known historical facts, while allowing some degree of [[Artistic license|dramatic license]] in peripheral details, such as when there are gaps in the historical record. [[Dialogue]] may, or may not, include the actual words of [[Reality|real-life]] people, as recorded in [[historical document]]s. Docudrama producers sometimes choose to film their reconstructed events in the actual locations in which the historical events occurred.{{Citation needed}}

A docudrama, in which historical fidelity is the keynote, is generally distinguished from a film merely "[[List of films based on actual events|based on true events]]", a term which implies a greater degree of dramatic license, and from the concepts of [[historical drama]], a broader category which may also incorporate entirely fictionalized events intermixed with factual ones, and [[historical fiction]], stories generally featuring fictional characters and plots 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 film|documentary]] filmed in [[Real time (media)|real time]], incorporating some fictional elements—docudrama is filmed at a time subsequent to the events portrayed.{{Citation needed}}

== Characteristics ==
The docudrama genre is a reenactment of actual historical events.<ref name="museum">{{cite web |url= http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=docudrama |title= Docudrama |publisher= The Museums of Broadcast Communications |access-date= 28 June 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120812200057/http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=docudrama |archive-date= 2012-08-12 |url-status= dead }}</ref> However it makes no promise of being entirely accurate in its interpretation.<ref name="museum" /> It blends fact and fiction for its recreation and its quality depends on factors like budget and production time.{{sfn|Hoffer|Nelson|1978|p=21}} The filmmaker [[Leslie Woodhead]] presents the docudrama dilemma in the following manner:

{{Blockquote|[instead of hunting for definitions] I think it much more useful to think of the form as a spectrum that runs from journalistic reconstruction to relevant drama with infinite graduations along the way. In its various mutation it's employed by investigative journalists, documentary feature makers, and imaginative dramatists. So we shouldn't be surprised when programs as various as ''[[Culloden (film)|Culloden]]'' and ''[[Oppenheimer (TV series)|Oppenheimer]]'' or ''Suez'', or Cabinet reconstructions refuse tidy and comprehensive definition.{{sfn|Rosenthal|1999|p=xv}}}}

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.<ref name="museum" />

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.{{sfn|Lipkin|2011|pp=1-2}} Educator Benicia D'sa maintained that docudramas are heavily impacted by filmmakers' own perspectives and understanding of history.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=D'sa |first=Benicia |title=Social Studies in the Dark: Using Docudramas to Teach History |url=https://doi.org/10.3200/TSSS.96.1.9-13 |journal=The Social Studies |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=9–13 |doi=10.3200/TSSS.96.1.9-13 |s2cid=144165650 |issn=0037-7996}}</ref>

== 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]].

However, docudrama as a separate category belongs to the second half of the twentieth century. [[Louis de Rochemont]], creator of ''[[The March of Time]]'', became a producer at [[20th Century Fox]] in 1943.<ref name="Aitken">{{cite book |editor-last1=Aitken |editor-first1=Ian |title=The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136512063 |pages=767–768 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ay5rIWCXlLsC&pg=PA767}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schauer |first1=Bradley |title=Escape Velocity: American Science Fiction Film, 1950–1982 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=9780819576606 |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1aoDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA42}}</ref> The films (''[[The House on 92nd Street]]'', ''[[Boomerang (1947 film)|Boomerang]]'', ''[[13 Rue Madeleine]]'') were imitated,<ref name="Aitken" /> and the style soon became used even for completely-fictional stories, such as ''[[The Naked City]]''.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Krutnik |editor1-first=Frank |editor2-last=Neale |editor2-first=Steve |editor3-last=Neve |editor3-first=Brian |editor4-last=Stanfield |editor4-first=Peter |title="Un-American" Hollywood: Politics and Film in the Blacklist Era |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=9780813541983 |page=143 |edition=Illustrated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NubM5xfHhoIC&pg=PA143}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Spicer |first1=Andrew |title=Film Noir |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317875031 |page=57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCapDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA57}}</ref> Perhaps the most significant of the semidocumentary films was ''[[He Walked by Night]]'' (1948), based upon an [[Erwin Walker|actual case]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Krutnik |first1=Frank |title=In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134973187 |page=206 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UWyIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA206}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sanders |first1=Steven |last2=Skoble |first2=Aeon J. |title=The Philosophy of TV Noir |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=9780813181561 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jAQaEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT55}}</ref> [[Jack Webb]] had a supporting role in the movie and struck up a friendship with the [[Los Angeles Police Department|LAPD]] consultant, Sergeant Marty Wynn. The film and his relationship with Wynn inspired Webb to create ''[[Dragnet (series)|Dragnet]]'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nickerson |first1=Catherine Ross |title=The Cambridge Companion to American Crime Fiction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521136068 |page=102 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HlkUqB7wYpsC&pg=PA102}}</ref> 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]], a former [[vaudeville|vaudevillian]] and stage actor turned playwright and author,<ref>{{cite news |title=Philip C. Lewis, 75, dramatist, writer for various media |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76045979/obituary-for-philip-c-lewis-aged-75/ |access-date=25 June 2022 |work=The Bergen Record }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Philip C. Lewis, Writer For Film, Radio and TV |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/06/archives/philip-c-lewis-writer-for-film-radio-and-tv.html |access-date=25 June 2022 |work=New York Times }}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite web |title=docudrama (n.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/docudrama |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Douglas Harper |access-date=25 June 2022}}</ref> Lewis trademarked the term "DocuDrama" in 1967 (expired, 1992) for a production company of the same name.<ref>{{cite web |title=DOCUDRAMA - Trademark Information |url=https://www.trademarkelite.com/trademark/trademark-detail/72264942/DOCUDRAMA |website=Trademark Elite |access-date=25 June 2022}}</ref>

The influence of [[New Journalism]] 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]] and [[Norman Mailer]] were influenced by this movement, and Capote's ''[[In Cold Blood]]'' is arguably the most famous example of the genre.{{sfn|Siegle|1984|pp=437-451}}

== American television ==
Some docudrama examples for [[American television]] include ''[[Brian's Song]]'' (1971), and ''[[Roots (1977 miniseries)|Roots]]'' (1977). ''Brian's Song'' is the biography of [[Brian Piccolo]], a Chicago Bears football player who died at a young age after battling cancer. ''Roots'' depicts the life of a slave and his family.<ref name="museum" />

==Examples==
{{expand list}}
This list is ordered by release date.

===Radio===
* ''[[The March of Time (radio program)|The March of Time]]'' (1931–45)
* ''The Fifth Horseman'' (radio series) (1946)

===Film===
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* ''[[:fr:Bandits en automobile|Bandits en automobile]]'' {{in lang|fr}} (1912)
* ''[[The March of Time]]'' (1935–51)
* ''[[Native Land]]'' (1942)
* ''[[The Wrong Man]]'' (1956)
* ''[[A Night to Remember (1958 film)|A Night to Remember]]'' (1958)
* ''[[The Gallant Hours]]'' (1960)
* ''[[Judgment at Nuremberg]]'' (1961)
* ''[[The Longest Day (film)|The Longest Day]]'' (1962)
* ''[[In Cold Blood (film)|In Cold Blood]]'' (1967)
* ''[[The Boston Strangler (film)|The Boston Strangler]]'' (1968)
* ''[[Tora! Tora! Tora!]]'' (1970)
* ''[[10 Rillington Place]]'' (1971)
* ''[[Goodbye Uncle Tom]]'' (1971)
* ''[[The Legend of Boggy Creek]]'' (1972)
* ''[[Edvard Munch (film)|Edvard Munch]]'' (1974)
* ''[[The Missiles of October]]'' (1974)
* ''[[All the President's Men (film)|All the President's Men]]'' (1976)
* ''[[Helter Skelter (1976 film)|Helter Skelter]]'' (1976)
* ''[[Pumping Iron]]'' (1977)
* ''[[King (miniseries)|King]]'' (1978)
* ''[[The Onion Field (film)|The Onion Field]]'' (1979)
* ''[[Christiane F. – We Children from Bahnhof Zoo]]'' (1981)
* ''[[The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff]]'' (1983)
* ''[[Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks]]'' (1985)
* ''Seacoal'' (1985)
* ''[[Life Story (TV film)|Life Story]]'' (1987)
* ''[[Eight Men Out]]'' (1988)
* ''[[JFK (film)|JFK]]'' (1991)
* ''[[Malcolm X (1992 film)|Malcolm X]]'' (1992)
* ''[[Dien Bien Phu (film)|Dien Bien Phu]]'' (1992)
* ''[[Schindler's List]]'' (1993)
* ''[[Quiz Show (film)|Quiz Show]]'' (1994)
* ''[[Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13]]'' (1995)
* ''[[Nixon (film)|Nixon]]'' (1995)
* ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Hillsborough (1996 film)|Hillsborough]]'' (1996)
* ''[[Pirates of Silicon Valley]]'' (1999)
* ''[[The Insider (film)|The Insider]]'' (1999)
* ''[[Thirteen Days (film)|Thirteen Days]]'' (2000)
* ''[[The Pianist (2002 film)|The Pianist]]'' (2002)
* ''[[Bloody Sunday (TV drama)|Bloody Sunday]]'' (2002)
* ''[[The Laramie Project (film)|The Laramie Project]]'' (2002)
* ''[[The Story of the Weeping Camel]]'' (2003)
* ''[[Touching the Void (film)|Touching the Void]]'' (2003)
* ''[[Good Night, and Good Luck]]'' (2005)
* ''[[Krakatoa: The Last Days]]'' (2006)
* ''[[The 9/11 Commission Report (film)|The 9/11 Commission Report]]'' (2006)
* ''[[United 93 (film)|United 93]]'' (2006)
* ''[[Rescue Dawn]]'' (2007)
* ''[[A Mighty Heart (film)|A Mighty Heart]]'' (2007)
* ''[[Che (2008 film)|Che]]'' (2008)
* ''[[The Beckoning Silence]]'' (2008)
* ''[[The Lena Baker Story]]'' (2008)
* ''[[The Informant!]]'' (2009)
* ''[[Public Enemies (2009 film)|Public Enemies]]'' (2009)
* ''[[The Fighter]]'' (2010)
* ''[[127 Hours]]'' (2010)
* ''[[Fair Game (2010 film)|Fair Game]]'' (2010)
* ''[[No Place on Earth]]'' (2012)
* ''[[The Attacks of 26/11]]'' (2013)
* ''[[Enemy of the Reich]]: The Noor Inayat Khan Story'' (2014)
* ''[[Heaven Is for Real (film)|Heaven Is for Real]]'' (2014)
* ''[[Pride (2014 film)|Pride]]'' (2014)
* ''[[Spotlight (film)|Spotlight]]'' (2015)
* ''[[The Big Short (film)|The Big Short]]'' (2015)
* ''[[Soaked in Bleach]]'' (2015)
* ''[[0-41*]]'' (2016)
* ''[[Nise: The Heart of Madness]]'' (2016)
* ''[[Snowden (film)|Snowden]]'' (2016)
* ''[[Sachin: A Billion Dreams]]'' (2017)
* ''[[American Animals]]'' (2018)
* ''[[Bohemian Rhapsody (2018 film)|Bohemian Rhapsody]]'' (2018)
* ''[[Rocketman (2019 film)|Rocketman]]'' (2019)
* ''[[Sergio (2020 film)|Sergio]]'' (2020)
* ''[[Walnut Tree (2020 film)|Walnut Tree]]'' (2020)
* ''[[Argentina, 1985]]'' (2022)
* ''[[The Other Fellow]]'' (2022)
* ''[[The Challenge (2023 film)|The Challenge]]'' (2023)
}}

===Television===
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* ''[[Culloden (movie)|Culloden]]'' (1964)
* ''[[The War Game]]'' (1965)
* ''[[Insurrection (TV series)]]'' (1966)
* ''[[The Missiles of October]]'' (1974)
* ''[[Death of a Princess]]'' (1980)
* ''[[Miracle Landing]]'' (1990)
* ''[[From the Earth to the Moon (miniseries)]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Mayday (Canadian TV series)]]'' (2003)
* ''[[DC 9/11: Time of Crisis]]'' (2003)
* ''[[Egypt (TV series)|Egypt]]'' (2005)
* ''[[Space Race (TV series)|Space Race]]'' (2005)
* ''[[The Road to Guantanamo]]'' (2006)
* ''[[Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire]]'' (2006)
* ''[[Nuclear Secrets]]'' (2007)
* ''[[Heroes and Villains (TV series)|Heroes and Villains]]'' (2007-2008)
* ''[[House of Saddam]]'' (2008)
* ''[[Micro Men]]'' (2009)
* ''[[Moonshiners (TV series)|Moonshiners]]'' (2011–Present)
* ''[[The Men Who Built America]]'' (2012)
* ''[[Mabo (film)|Mabo]]'' (2012)
* ''[[An Adventure in Space and Time]]'' (2013)
* ''[[Code of a Killer]]'' (2015)
* ''[[Barbarians Rising]]'' (2016)
* ''[[The American West]]'' (2016)
* ''[[Mars (miniseries)|Mars]]'' (2016)
* ''[[Roman Empire (TV Series)]]'' (2016-2019)
* ''[[Genius (U.S. TV series)|Genius]]'' (2017)
* ''[[Wormwood (miniseries)|Wormwood]]'' (2017)
* ''[[When We Rise]]'' (2017)
* ''[[The Detectives (2018 TV series)|The Detectives]]'' (2018)
* ''[[Chernobyl (miniseries)|Chernobyl]]'' (2019)
* ''[[Washington (miniseries)|Washington]]'' (2020)
* ''[[Grant (miniseries)|Grant]]'' (2020)
* ''[[Valley of Tears (TV Series)|Valley of Tears]]'' (2020)
}}[[The Days (Japanese TV series)|The Days]] (2023)

== See also ==
* [[Docufiction]]
* [[Mockumentary]]
* [[Pseudo-documentary]]
* [[Semidocumentary]]
* [[Dramality]]
* [[Ethnofiction]]
* [[Fly on the wall]]
* [[Factual television]]
* [[Reality television]]
* [[Peter Watkins]], a pioneer of docudrama
* [[List of historical drama films]]
* [[List of Asian historical drama films]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{cite journal |last1=Hoffer |first1=Tom W. |last2=Nelson |first2=Richard Alan |title=Docudrama on American TV |journal=Journal of the University Film Association |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=21–27 |jstor=20687422 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20687422}}
*{{cite book |last1=Lipkin |first1=Steven N. |title=Docudrama Performs the Past: Arenas of Argument in Films based on True Stories |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=9781443827874 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AaUnBwAAQBAJ}}
*{{cite book|title=Why Docudrama?: Fact-Fiction on Film and TV |first=Alan |last=Rosenthal |publisher=Southern Illinois Press |location=Carbondale & Edwardsville |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8093-2186-5 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Siegle |first=Robert |title=Capote's Hand-Carved Coffins and the Nonfiction Novel |journal=Contemporary Literature |volume=25 |year=1984 |issue=4 |pages=437–451 |doi=10.2307/1208055|jstor=1208055 }}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |last=Duarte |first=German A. |year=2009 |title=La scomparsa dell'orologio universale. [[Peter Watkins]] e i mass media audiovisivi |place=Milan |publisher=Mimesis Edizioni |isbn=978-8857501222 }}
*{{cite book |last=Duarte |first=German A. |year=2016 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28664888 |title=Conversations With Peter Watkins/Conversaciones con Peter Watkins |place=Bogotà |publisher=UTADEO PRESS |isbn=978-958-725-195-1 }}
* Goodwin, Andrew, et al. ''Drama-Documentary''. London: British Film Institute, 1983.
*{{cite book |last=Hellmann |first=John |year=1981 |title=Fables of Fact: The New Journalism as New Fiction |url=https://archive.org/details/fablesoffactnew00hell |url-access=registration |place=Urbana |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=0252008472 }}
*{{cite book |last=Kazin |first=Alfred |year=1973 |title=Bright Book of Life: American Hot Dogs and Storytellers from Hemingway to Mailer |place=Boston |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=0316484180 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/brightbookoflife00kazi }}
*{{cite book|title=Real Emotional Logic: Film and Television Docudrama As Persuasive Practice |editor1-last=Lipkin |editor1-first=Steven N. |publisher=Southern Illinois Press |location=Carbondale |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8093-2409-5 }}
*{{cite book |last=Lukács |first=György |author-link=György Lukács |editor1-first=Hannah |editor2-last=Mitchell |editor2-first=Stanley |editor1-last=Mitchell |year=1962 |title=The Historical Novel |place=London |publisher=Merlin Press }}
*{{cite book |title=No Other Way to Tell It: Dramadoc/docudrama on television |last=Paget |first=Derek |publisher=Manchester University Press |place=Manchester |edition=2nd |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7190-8446-1 }}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Rhodes |editor1-first=Gary Don |editor2-last=Springer |editor2-first=John Parris |year=2006 |title=Docufictions: Essays on the intersection of documentary and fictional filmmaking |place=London |publisher=McFarland & Co. |isbn=978-0-7864-2184-8 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Roscoe |first1=Jane |last2=Hight |first2=Craig |year=2001 |title=Faking it: Mock-documentary and the subversion of factuality |publisher=Manchester University Press |place=Manchester |isbn=978-0-7190-5641-3 }}
*{{cite book|title=Writing Docudrama: dramatizing reality for film and TV |first=Alan |last=Rosenthal |publisher=Focal Press |location=Boston, Mass. |year=1995 |isbn=0240801954 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Stavreva |first=Kirilka |title=Fighting Words: Witch-speak in Late Elizabethan Docu-fiction |journal=Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies |volume=30 |year=2000 |issue=2 |pages=309–338 |doi=10.1215/10829636-30-2-309|s2cid=170650915 }}
*{{cite book |last=White |first=Hayden |author-link=Hayden White |year=1978 |title=Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism |url=https://archive.org/details/tropicsofdiscour00hayd |url-access=registration |place=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=0801821274 }}

== External links ==
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1103146/index.html British Film Institute paper on British drama-documentary]
* [http://www.sadibey.com/dosyalar/Gerekli_Seyler/Documentary_Genres.doc Docudrama: the real (his)tory] by Çiçek Coşkun (Middle East Technical University, Department of Sociology): unpublished academic paper
* [http://www.bookrags.com/research/docudrama-sjpc-01/ Docudrama] at BookRags

{{Film genres}}

[[Category:Docudramas| ]]
[[Category:Documentary film genres]]
[[Category:Drama genres]]
[[Category:Film genres]]
[[Category:Non-fiction genres]]
[[Category:Television genres]]
[[Category:Films based on actual events| Docudrama]]

Docudrama - Revision history

Rkrakeshboro: Improved article clarity and structure

24.53.244.196: Established an original page.