Reading the docufiction script: Harnessing the thin line between facts and fiction

Abstract

The ethical issues raised by merging facts and fiction in docufiction screenplays as a genre suitable for social impact storytelling still linger. Hence, for the intended message to be effectively passed, the genre, formatting and narrative technique have to be clearly established for the readership’s consumption. Therefore, this article will investigate how facts are reinforced by fiction in docufiction. Textual analysis of Nicodemus Adai Patrick and John Iwuh’s is employed in exploring narrative techniques and formatting as indicators of the proportion of facts and fiction in a docufiction screenplay. It concludes that docufiction is a deliberate document with a mission in which the fact supplies the foundation on which fiction stands. Pre-knowledge of the embedded fact is primal to a deeper appreciation of a docufiction. It concludes that the readership’s level of comprehension and satisfaction will be enhanced if the thin line between facts and fiction is spotted.