ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines the ways in which animated documentary can be thought through as a type of reenactment, one where the original real people and their actions are reinscribed through animation of various kinds. He talks about how animated documentary – as a type of communicative act, and as a performative act. The performativity of animated documentary will also be linked to a discussion of some of the ideas of John L. Austin, who argued that certain types of speech act were 'performative' in the sense that the speaker actually did something, or performed an act by saying what they did. The illocutionary and perlocutionary elements of a speech act, terms that Austin developed in the lecture series, are concerned with intention and effect. Annette Hill has talked about documentary 'modes of engagement' and how viewers will "draw on the referential integrity and the aesthetic value of documentary at the same time".
