Abstract
This chapter analyzes the cognitive tools that viewers use when evaluating the veracity of documentaries, using the docudrama, The Queen, to exemplify viewers’ evaluations of a documentary’s truthfulness. It argues that viewers use a series of cognitive heuristic tools, such as availability, representativeness and anchoring, based on their individual cognitive and affective dispositions, including the personal relevance of a given documentary. It further argues that documentaries, but also fiction, tend to be believed unless such cognitive and affective processes provide disconfirmation, and that documentaries may often be veiled propaganda, as in the case of The Queen, where a central purpose is to present a glowing portrait of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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Grodal, T. (2018). Docudrama and the Cognitive Evaluation of Realism. In: Brylla, C., Kramer, M. (eds) Cognitive Theory and Documentary Film. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90332-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90332-3_5
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