Mockusequel tapocalypse
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From Barbara Phillips Long, in reference to yesterday's Guardian story "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues review – rockers return for mockusequel of pin-sharp laughs and melancholy" ("Enter the Tapocalypse as Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner return in a still-funny, cameo-studded telling of the hapless band’s final gig"):
Movie making offered the audience fictional stories, but also evolved past the newsreel to present "documentaries."
Then there were the "mockumentaries, " like "This is Spinal Tap," which made fun of documentaries about rock bands — or "rockumentaries."
Now a sequel to This is Spinal Tap is being touted as a "mockusequel." I'm not sure how useful the term mockusequel will be, given that it is a narrow category in film history, but I found it interesting.
As a bonus, the Guardian review also offers the reader "Tapocalypse."
"Apocalypse" seems productive lately. In addition to "Tapocalypse, " there was Trump's intention to send troops to Chicago being called "Chipocalypse," which initially confused me. (Note to self — Chipocalypse has nothing to do with potato chips, taco chips, or other crunchy snack foods.)
I had the same brief "What does invading Chicago have to do with potato chips?" reaction to Trump's threat.
Moving on: as Wiktionary explains, apocalypse comes from Greek ἀποκάλυψις, in turn based on ἀποκαλύπτω,
From ἀπο- (apo-) + καλύπτω (kalúptō, “to cover”).
so exactly corresponding to English "un+cover".
The "huge disaster" sense of apocalypse then arises by the association that Wiktionary describes as "The unveiling of events prophesied in the Revelation; the second coming and the end of life on Earth".
Seonachan said,
September 12, 2025 @ 2:50 pm
Mockumentary is also an interesting term because it has multiple interpretations. I always thought it was obvious that the mock- prefix stood for fake or simulated. But Christopher Guest, who stars in the Spinal Tap movies and also directed and starred in several exemplars of the genre (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind) has said that he doesn't like the term because "I'm not mocking anybody."
Seonachan said,
September 12, 2025 @ 2:55 pm
(I think Guest is being a little too defensive, if not disingenuous, as he's been making this claim for decades, without acknowledging the alternative meaning of mock. And as much as I love those movies, I think they are mocking at times – though mostly with some affection.)
J.W. Brewer said,
September 12, 2025 @ 8:42 pm
I think "mockusequel" may strike folks as odd because it seems like it ought to be wordplay riffing on something like "docusequel," which google tells me is not non-existent (although often hyphenated as "docu-sequel"), but I think still so rare that it generally doesn't suffice to set up the joke for those (like me) who did not have it as even a passive entry in their individual lexicons.