A false document is a literary technique employed to create verisimilitude in a work of fiction. By inventing and inserting documents that appear to be factual, an author tries to create a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected suspension of disbelief for a work of art. The goal of a false document is to convince an audience that what is being presented is factual.
In practice, false-document effects can be achieved in many ways. Tactics have included the following: fake police reports, newspaper articles, bibliographical references, documentary footage, or using the legal names of performers or writers in a fictional context. Supplementary material such as badges, identity cards (IC), diaries, letters or artifacts can also be included, and this extends the exercise beyond the confines of the text.
False documents intentionally blur the boundaries between fiction and fact, and, in some cases, the difference between an artistic achievement and a convincing forgery is slight. Sometimes the false-document technique can be the subject of a work instead of the technique behind the work itself; however, these two approaches are not mutually exclusive, as many texts that engage "falseness" operate on both a literal and thematic level.
A false document is usually created as an artistic exercise, but occasionally is promoted in conjunction with a criminal enterprise, such as fraud, forgery, or a confidence game. A false document should not be confused with a mockumentary, which is a fictional film presented in the manner of a documentary.
Read more about False Document: Origin of The Technique, In Film, In Art, False Documents, Fakery and Forgery, In Theory, In Fiction, In Games, In Cross-marketing, In Politics, Hoaxes, As A Field of Study
Famous quotes containing the words false and/or document:
“The books one reads in childhood, and perhaps most of all the bad and good bad books, create in one’s mind a sort of false map of the world, a series of fabulous countries into which one can retreat at odd moments throughout the rest of life, and which in some cases can survive a visit to the real countries which they are supposed to represent.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“... research is never completed ... Around the corner lurks another possibility of interview, another book to read, a courthouse to explore, a document to verify.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)