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:
“How false is the conception, how frantic the pursuit, of that treacherous phantom which men call Liberty: most treacherous, indeed, of all phantoms; for the feeblest ray of reason might surely show us, that not only its attainment, but its being, was impossible. There is no such thing in the universe. There can never be. The stars have it not; the earth has it not; the sea has it not; and we men have the mockery and semblance of it only for our heaviest punishment.”
—John Ruskin (1819–1900)
“... 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)