"Made In Secret"

Although we do not technically have to post on "Made In Secret," I wanted to express a few of my thoughts on the film since I will not be in class on Monday.

Upon finishing the film, I wasn't really sure what to think. Admittedly, the inability to classify the film into a traditional genre did bother me: Could it be considered a documentary (albeit a documentary made by the organization itself)? Or was it a mockumentary (in the same vein as "The Office")? Surely, the movie couldn't be considered a "real" documentary - there were too many staged events. (For example, everyone actually WANTED Geoffrey to be filming them; and there was no crisis concerning whether or not to attend a film festival.) Then again, the crew did actually create pornography. Furthermore, most actors only played exaggerated versions of themselves. Does this mean the group literally became The East Van Porn Collective?

I don't really think so. I think that, while the film isn't "mockumentary" in the satirical, comedic way that "The Office" is, it's still certainly fiction. Whenever actors take on a new role, they must prepare themselves for that role. This may include traveling to a foreign country, speaking in a different dialect, or educating themselves on a certain time period. To some extent, actors must always disengage from their routine life in order to practice living the life of their character. The reason why this appears to be different for the creators of "Made In Secret" is firstly, that they are not professional actors (and so do not habitually have to "practice" for such roles), and secondly, that they practiced as a group instead of individually (so it blurred the line between preparing for their roles as and actually becoming the East Van Porn Collective). The reason why the film caused so much uproar is precisely that it wasn't made in the traditional satiric, comedic mockumentary style. In my opinion, the only true pieces of documentary in the film are the special features of cast interviews.