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62-511: It was revealed to be a mockumentary at the end of the film. The fictional part is about the five members of the Moss family who have just moved from the city into a new suburban development of Evergreen (part of Evergreen ) in Calgary , Alberta . The family discuss and portray the life in the suburbs and the various flaws and advantages of a modern suburban life, with a considerably greater emphasis on

124-465: A long-term liberal incumbent played by Gore Vidal . Man Bites Dog is a 1992 Belgian black comedy crime mockumentary written, produced, and directed by Rémy Belvaux , André Bonzel , and Benoît Poelvoorde . In 1995, Peter Jackson and Costa Botes directed Forgotten Silver , which claimed New Zealand "director" Colin McKenzie was a pioneer in filmmaking. When the film was later revealed to be

186-511: A mockumentary about the survival of the megalodon . The Canadian series Trailer Park Boys and its films (1998–present) were one of the first mainstream examples of Canadian mockumentaries. Popular examples in the US include sitcoms The Office (2005–2013), Parks and Recreation (2009–2015), and Modern Family (2009–2020); the American improv comedy Reno 911! (2003–2009); Derek (2012–2014);

248-415: A mockumentary refers to films, while the term comedy verite refers to TV series, though term is widely used here. The series Documentary Now! (2015–present) on IFC , created by Saturday Night Live alumni Bill Hader , Fred Armisen , and Seth Meyers , spoofs celebrated documentary films by parodying the style and subject of each documentary. Hight argues that television is a natural medium for

310-456: A mockumentary, Jackson received criticism for tricking viewers. Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan from 2006, and its 2020 sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm , are two controversial yet successful films that use this style, as does Brüno , a similar film from 2009 also starring Sacha Baron Cohen . Sony Pictures Animation released their second animated feature, Surf's Up in 2007, which

372-446: A mockumentary, as it provides for "extraordinarily rich sources of appropriation and commentary". In 2018, the BBC released the series Cunk on Britain created by Charlie Brooker and starring Diane Morgan about British history with Philomena Cunk, an extremely dim-witted and ill-informed interviewer, asking various experts ridiculous questions. The follow-up Cunk on Earth featuring

434-632: A number of subgenres, for example by setting or subject, or a distinctive national style, for example in the Indian Bollywood musical. A music genre is a conventional category that identifies pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style , although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. There are numerous genres in Western classical music and popular music , as well as musical theatre and

496-411: A particular culture or community. The work of Georg Lukács also touches on the nature of literary genres , appearing separately but around the same time (1920s–1930s) as Bakhtin. Norman Fairclough has a similar concept of genre that emphasizes the social context of the text: Genres are "different ways of (inter)acting discoursally" (Fairclough, 2003: 26). A text's genre may be determined by its: In

558-415: A similar plot was released by BBC Two in 2022 and is available on Netflix . The BBC series People Like Us was first produced for radio in 1995 before a television version was made in 1999. Kay Stonham 's Audio Diaries was a similarly short tenured radio mockumentary that premiered the year after People Like Us 's run on Radio 4 ended. Genre Genre ( French for 'kind, sort')

620-586: A specific genre is important for important for a successful transfer of information ( media-adequacy ). Critical discussion of genre perhaps began with a classification system for ancient Greek literature , as set out in Aristotle's Poetics . For Aristotle, poetry ( odes , epics , etc.), prose , and performance each had specific features that supported appropriate content of each genre. Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, for example, and even actors were restricted to their genre under

682-481: A story, or allegorical personifications. They usually deal with subjects drawn from "everyday life". These are distinguished from staffage : incidental figures in what is primarily a landscape or architectural painting. "Genre" is also be used to refer to specialized types of art such as still-life , landscapes, marine paintings and animal paintings, or groups of artworks with other particular features in terms of subject-matter, style or iconography . The concept of

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744-531: A structured classification system of genre, as opposed to a more contemporary rhetorical model of genre. The basic genres of film can be regarded as drama, in the feature film and most cartoons , and documentary . Most dramatic feature films, especially from Hollywood fall fairly comfortably into one of a long list of film genres such as the Western , war film , horror film , romantic comedy film , musical , crime film , and many others. Many of these genres have

806-510: A viable mode. He then uses two additional criteria to distinguish the system. The first of the criteria is the object to be imitated, whether superior or inferior. The second criterion is the medium of presentation: words, gestures, or verse. Essentially, the three categories of mode , object , and medium can be visualized along an XYZ axis. Excluding the criteria of medium, Aristotle's system distinguished four types of classical genres: tragedy , epic , comedy , and parody . Genette explained

868-411: Is a 1978 television film in mockumentary style about The Rutles , a fictional band that parodies The Beatles . The Beatles' own 1964 feature film debut, A Hard Day's Night , was itself filmed in mockumentary style; it ostensibly documents a few typical (and highly fictionalized) days in the life of the band as they travel from Liverpool to London for a television appearance. Since the beginning of

930-699: Is a Cold-War era American "mockumentary" film that made use of archival government footage from the 1950s. Woody Allen's 1983 film Zelig stars Allen as a curiously nondescript enigma who is discovered for his remarkable ability to transform himself to resemble anyone he is near, and Allen is edited into historical archive footage. In 1984, Christopher Guest co-wrote and starred in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap , directed by Rob Reiner . Guest went on to write and direct other mockumentaries including Waiting for Guffman , Best in Show , and A Mighty Wind , all written with costar Eugene Levy . In Central Europe,

992-412: Is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a documentary. The term originated in the 1960s but was popularized in the mid-1990s when This Is Spinal Tap director Rob Reiner used it in interviews to describe that film. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues in a satirical way by using a fictional setting, or to parody

1054-702: Is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature , music , or other forms of art or entertainment, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Stand-alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, but genres are amalgams of these texts based on agreed-upon or socially inferred conventions. Some genres may have rigid, strictly adhered-to guidelines, while others may show great flexibility. The proper use of

1116-427: Is constantly forced to rely on the car for every little need. The family carries on its ordinary life with Ann having a positive opinion of their new life and Evan and the kids can see more clearly on the flaws and disadvantages of this lifestyle. However, they go along with it, constantly trying to find their way to justify their choice. The soundtrack features songs from Joey Santiago of The Pixies . Radiant City

1178-446: Is further subdivided into epic , lyric , and drama . The divisions are recognized as being set by Aristotle and Plato ; however, they were not the only ones. Many genre theorists added to these accepted forms of poetry . The earliest recorded systems of genre in Western history can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle . Gérard Genette explains his interpretation of the history of genre in "The Architext". He described Plato as

1240-521: Is met or not. Many genres have built-in audiences and corresponding publications that support them, such as magazines and websites. Inversely, audiences may call out for change in an antecedent genre and create an entirely new genre. The term may be used in categorizing web pages , like "news page" and "fan page", with both very different layout, audience, and intention (Rosso, 2008). Some search engines like Vivísimo try to group found web pages into automated categories in an attempt to show various genres

1302-407: Is often applied, sometimes rather loosely, to other media with an artistic element, such as video game genres . Genre, and numerous minutely divided subgenres, affect popular culture very significantly, not least as they are used to classify it for publicity purposes. The vastly increased output of popular culture in the age of electronic media encourages dividing cultural products by genre to simplify

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1364-605: The 28th Genie Awards and the Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Vancouver International Film Festival . It was also the runner up for best Canadian film on the 2007 Toronto Film Critic’s List. The movie has also been released in DVD on March 4, 2008. The DVD includes the original English version of the film and the English version with French subtitles. Mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of mock and documentary )

1426-511: The Renaissance period. According to Green, "Beethoven's Op. 61 and Mendelssohn's Op. 64 are identical in genre – both are violin concertos – but different in form. However, Mozart's Rondo for Piano, K. 511 , and the Agnus Dei from his Mass, K. 317 are quite different in genre but happen to be similar in form." Some, like Peter van der Merwe , treat the terms genre and style as

1488-596: The True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri. Radiant City has received generally favorable reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 93% rating, and an average rating of 6.8/10 from 15 critics. Metacritic , gave the film a weighted average score of 60 (out of 100) based on 6 reviews from mainstream critics, considered to be "mixed or average reviews". The film won the Genie Award of Best Documentary at

1550-527: The " hierarchy of genres " was a powerful one in artistic theory, especially between the 17th and 19th centuries. It was strongest in France, where it was associated with the Académie française which held a central role in academic art . The genres, which were mainly applied to painting, in hierarchical order are: The hierarchy was based on a distinction between art that made an intellectual effort to "render visible

1612-456: The 1950s when archival film footage became available. A very early example was a short piece on the " Swiss Spaghetti Harvest " that appeared as an April Fools' prank on the British television program Panorama in 1957. Mockumentaries can be partly or wholly improvised . Early work, including Luis Buñuel 's 1933 Land Without Bread , Orson Welles 's 1938 radio broadcast of The War of

1674-405: The 1980s, the mockumentary format has gained considerable attention. The 1980 South African film The Gods Must be Crazy (along with its 1989 sequel ) is presented in the manner of a nature documentary , with documentary narrator Paddy O'Byrne describing the events of the film in the manner of a biologist or anthropologist presenting scientific knowledge to viewers. In 1982, The Atomic Cafe

1736-497: The Money and Run (1969), The Clowns (1970) by Federico Fellini (a peculiar hybrid of documentary and fiction , a docufiction), Smile (1975) , Carlos Mayolo 's The Vampires of Poverty (1977) and All You Need Is Cash (1978). Albert Brooks was also an early popularizer of the mockumentary style with his film Real Life , 1979, a spoof of the 1973 reality television series An American Family . Woody Allen 's Take

1798-427: The Money and Run is presented in documentary style with Allen playing a fictional criminal, Virgil Starkwell, whose crime exploits are "explored" throughout the film. Jackson Beck , who used to narrate documentaries in the 1940s, provides the voice-over narration. Fictional interviews are inter-spliced throughout, especially those of Starkwell's parents who wear Groucho Marx noses and mustaches. The style of this film

1860-485: The World ". The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour (1970–1971) also featured mockumentary pieces that interspersed both scripted and real-life man-in-the-street interviews, the most famous likely being "The Puck Crisis" in which hockey pucks were claimed to have become infected with a form of Dutch elm disease . All You Need Is Cash , developed from an early series of sketches in the comedy series Rutland Weekend Television ,

1922-547: The Worlds , various April Fools' Day news reports, and vérité -style film and television during the 1960s and 1970s, served as precursor to the genre. Early examples of mock-documentaries include various films by Peter Watkins , such as The War Game (1965), Privilege (1967), and the dystopic Punishment Park (1971). Further examples are " The Connection " (1961), A Hard Day's Night (1964), David Holzman's Diary (1967), Pat Paulsen for President (1968), Take

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1984-456: The assumption that a type of person could tell one type of story best. Genres proliferate and develop beyond Aristotle's classifications— in response to changes in audiences and creators. Genre has become a dynamic tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictability through artistic expression. Given that art is often a response to a social state, in that people write, paint, sing, dance, and otherwise produce art about what they know about,

2046-433: The closely related concept of "genre ecologies". Reiff and Bawarshi define genre analysis as a critical reading of people's patterns of communication in different situations. This tradition has had implications for the teaching of writing in American colleges and universities. Combining rhetorical genre theory with activity theory , David Russell has proposed that standard English composition courses are ill-suited to teach

2108-660: The comedy series The Muppets (2015); People Just Do Nothing (2011–2018) and the Australian Chris Lilley shows Angry Boys , Summer Heights High , We Can Be Heroes: Finding the Australian of the Year , Ja'mie: Private School Girl , Jonah from Tonga and Lunatics . Shows currently running in this format include What We Do in the Shadows (2019–present) and Abbott Elementary (2021–present). Strictly speaking,

2170-418: The creator of three imitational, mimetic genres distinguished by mode of imitation rather than content. These three imitational genres include dramatic dialogue, the drama ; pure narrative, the dithyramb ; and a mixture of the two, the epic . Plato excluded lyric poetry as a non-mimetic, imitational mode. Genette further discussed how Aristotle revised Plato's system by first eliminating the pure narrative as

2232-664: The documentary form itself. While mockumentaries are usually comedic , pseudo-documentaries are their dramatic equivalents. However, pseudo-documentary should not be confused with docudrama , a fictional genre in which dramatic techniques are combined with documentary elements to depict real events. Nor should either of those be confused with docufiction , a genre in which documentaries are contaminated with fictional elements. They are often presented as historical documentaries, with B roll and talking heads discussing past events, or as cinéma vérité pieces following people as they go through various events. Examples emerged during

2294-696: The fictional Olympic Deliverance Commission in the run-up to the 2012 Summer Olympics ), and W1A , which follows the main characters of Twenty Twelve as they start work at the BBC, as well as The Office (2001) and its many international offshoots , and Come Fly with Me (2010), which follows the activity at a fictional airport and its variety of staff and passengers. British comedy duo Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French often presented short mockumentaries as extended sketches in their TV show French & Saunders . Discovery Channel opened its annual Shark Week on 4 Aug 2013 with Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives ,

2356-948: The field of rhetoric , genre theorists usually understand genres as types of actions rather than types or forms of texts. On this perspective, texts are channels through which genres are enacted. Carolyn Miller's work has been especially important for this perspective. Drawing on Lloyd Bitzer 's concept of rhetorical situation, Miller reasons that recurring rhetorical problems tend to elicit recurring responses; drawing on Alfred Schütz , she reasons that these recurring responses become "typified" – that is, socially constructed as recognizable types. Miller argues that these "typified rhetorical actions" (p. 151) are properly understood as genres. Building off of Miller, Charles Bazerman and Clay Spinuzzi have argued that genres understood as actions derive their meaning from other genres – that is, other actions. Bazerman therefore proposes that we analyze genres in terms of "genre systems", while Spinuzzi prefers

2418-522: The film (David Koechner, Eric Roberts, Chaz Bono, Ed Begley Jr.), performing arts (Ja Rule, Billy Morrison), and TV (Lindsey Shaw, Pierson Fode, Johnny Bananas) to play fictional versions of themselves. In television, the most notable mockumentaries in the 2000s have been ABC Australia 's The Games (1998–2000), the Canadian series Trailer Park Boys (1999–present), the British shows Marion and Geoff (2000), Twenty Twelve (2011–2012) (which follows

2480-478: The first time that viewers were exposed to mockumentary was in 1988 when the Czechoslovakian short film Oil Gobblers was shown. For two weeks, TV viewers believed that the oil-eating animals really existed. Tim Robbins ' 1992 film Bob Roberts was a mockumentary centered around the senatorial campaign of a right-wing stock trader and folksinger, and the unsavory connections and dirty tricks used to defeat

2542-502: The flaws. While the characters and instances in the movie are fictional, the actors that play them all live in real suburban areas. Interspersed with this narrative, experts speak about their views of the suburbs. These include Ken Greenberg , Joseph Heath , Mark Kingwell , James Howard Kunstler , Marc Boutin , Andrés Duany and Beverly Sandalack . These portions are filmed in different suburban areas of North America, including Oakville, Ontario . The Moss family decides to move from

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2604-593: The fourth and final type of Greek literature , was excluded by Plato as a non-mimetic mode. Aristotle later revised Plato's system by eliminating the pure narrative as a viable mode and distinguishing by two additional criteria: the object to be imitated, as objects could be either superior or inferior, and the medium of presentation such as words, gestures or verse. Essentially, the three categories of mode, object, and medium dialogue, epic (superior-mixed narrative), comedy (inferior-dramatic dialogue), and parody (inferior-mixed narrative). Genette continues by explaining

2666-401: The genres prose or poetry , which shows best how loosely genres are defined. Additionally, a genre such as satire might appear in any of the above, not only as a subgenre but as a mixture of genres. Finally, they are defined by the general cultural movement of the historical period in which they were composed. In popular fiction , which is especially divided by genres, genre fiction is

2728-492: The genres that students will write in other contexts across the university and beyond. Elizabeth Wardle contends that standard composition courses do teach genres, but that these are inauthentic "mutt genres" that are often of little use outside composition courses. Genre is effective as a tool in rhetoric because it allows a speaker to set the context for a rhetorical discussion. Devitt, Reiff, and Bawarshi suggest that rhetorical genres may be assigned based on careful analysis of

2790-410: The inner city of Calgary to a suburban area called Evergreen to satisfy Ann Moss's desire of living in a new house. Her husband, Evan Moss, is still keeping his job downtown, which forces him to consume two hours of commuting time. Apparently, even if the area offers everything that is needed by a family in walking distance, one is isolated due to constructions, buildings, distance, and the area layout and

2852-573: The integration of lyric poetry into the classical system by replacing the removed pure narrative mode. Lyric poetry , once considered non-mimetic, was deemed to imitate feelings, becoming the third "Architext", a term coined by Gennette, of a new long-enduring tripartite system: lyrical; epical, the mixed narrative; and dramatic, the dialogue. This new system that came to "dominate all the literary theory of German romanticism " (Genette 38) has seen numerous attempts at expansion and revision. Such attempts include Friedrich Schlegel 's triad of subjective form,

2914-520: The later integration of lyric poetry into the classical system during the romantic period , replacing the now removed pure narrative mode. Lyric poetry, once considered non-mimetic, was deemed to imitate feelings, becoming the third leg of a new tripartite system: lyrical, epical, and dramatic dialogue. This system, which came to "dominate all the literary theory of German romanticism (and therefore well beyond)…" (38), has seen numerous attempts at expansion or revision. However, more ambitious efforts to expand

2976-496: The lyric; objective form, the dramatic; and subjective-objective form, the epic. However, more ambitious efforts to expand the tripartite system resulted in new taxonomic systems of increasing complexity. Gennette reflected upon these various systems, comparing them to the original tripartite arrangement: "its structure is somewhat superior to most of those that have come after, fundamentally flawed as they are by their inclusive and hierarchical taxonomy, which each time immediately brings

3038-510: The more usual term. In literature , genre has been known as an intangible taxonomy . This taxonomy implies a concept of containment or that an idea will be stable forever. The earliest recorded systems of genre in Western history can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle. Gérard Genette , a French literary theorist and author of The Architext , describes Plato as creating three Imitational genres: dramatic dialogue, pure narrative, and epic (a mixture of dialogue and narrative). Lyric poetry ,

3100-841: The music of non-Western cultures. The term is now perhaps over-used to describe relatively small differences in musical style in modern rock music , that also may reflect sociological differences in their audiences. Timothy Laurie suggests that in the context of rock and pop music studies, the "appeal of genre criticism is that it makes narratives out of musical worlds that often seem to lack them". Music can be divided into different genres in several ways. The artistic nature of music means that these classifications are often arbitrary and controversial, and some genres may overlap. There are several academic approaches to genres. In his book Form in Tonal Music , Douglass M. Green lists madrigal , motet , canzona , ricercar , and dance as examples of genres from

3162-431: The same, saying that genre should be defined as pieces of music that share a certain style or "basic musical language". Others, such as Allan F. Moore, state that genre and style are two separate terms, and that secondary characteristics such as subject matter can also differentiate between genres. A music genre or subgenre may be defined by the musical techniques , the styles, the context, and content and spirit of

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3224-614: The search for products by consumers, a trend the Internet has only intensified. In philosophy of language , genre figures prominently in the works of philosopher and literary scholar Mikhail Bakhtin . Bakhtin's basic observations were of "speech genres" (the idea of heteroglossia ), modes of speaking or writing that people learn to mimic, weave together, and manipulate (such as "formal letter" and "grocery list", or "university lecture" and "personal anecdote"). In this sense, genres are socially specified: recognized and defined (often informally) by

3286-429: The search hits might fit. A subgenre is a subordinate within a genre, Two stories being the same genre can still sometimes differ in subgenre. For example, if a fantasy story has darker and more frightening elements of fantasy, it would belong in the subgenre of dark fantasy ; whereas another fantasy story that features magic swords and wizards would belong to the subgenre of sword and sorcery . A microgenre

3348-534: The subject matter and consideration of the audience. Genre is related to Ludwig Wittgenstein's theory of Family resemblance in which he describes how genres act like a family tree, where members of a family are related, but not exact copies of one another. This concept of genre originated from the classification systems created by Plato . Plato divided literature into the three classic genres accepted in Ancient Greece : poetry , drama , and prose . Poetry

3410-623: The themes. Geographical origin is sometimes used to identify a music genre, though a single geographical category will often include a wide variety of subgenres. Several music scholars have criticized the priority accorded to genre-based communities and listening practices. For example, Laurie argues that "music genres do not belong to isolated, self-sufficient communities. People constantly move between environments where diverse forms of music are heard, advertised and accessorised with distinctive iconographies, narratives and celebrity identities that also touch on non-musical worlds." The concept of genre

3472-456: The tripartite system resulted in new taxonomic systems of increasing scope and complexity. Genette reflects upon these various systems, comparing them to the original tripartite arrangement: "its structure is somewhat superior to…those that have come after, fundamentally flawed as they are by their inclusive and hierarchical taxonomy, which each time immediately brings the whole game to a standstill and produces an impasse" (74). Taxonomy allows for

3534-947: The universal essence of things" ( imitare in Italian) and that which merely consisted of "mechanical copying of particular appearances" ( ritrarre ). Idealism was privileged over realism in line with Renaissance Neo-Platonist philosophy. A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique , tone , content , or even (as in the case of fiction) length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young adult , or children's . They also must not be confused with format, such as graphic novel or picture book. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups. The most general genres in literature are (in loose chronological order) epic , tragedy , comedy , novel , and short story . They can all be in

3596-414: The use of genre as a tool must be able to adapt to changing meanings. The term genre is much used in the history and criticism of visual art, but in art history has meanings that overlap rather confusingly. Genre painting is a term for paintings where the main subject features human figures to whom no specific identity attaches – in other words, figures are not portraits, characters from

3658-399: The whole game to a standstill and produces an impasse". Although genres are not always precisely definable, genre considerations are one of the most important factors in determining what a person will see or read. The classification properties of genre can attract or repel potential users depending on the individual's understanding of a genre. Genre creates an expectation in that expectation

3720-612: Was presented at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival with a very warm reception. It was also premiered at several film festivals, including Vancouver and Calgary International Film Festivals, the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival and the São Paulo It’s All True Documentary International Film Festival, San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, Miami International Film Festival and

3782-551: Was the first of its kind to incorporate the mockumentary style into animation. REC , a 2007 Spanish film by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, uses journalism aesthetics to approach a horror universe set up in a real building in Barcelona . The film was remade in the United States as the 2008 film Quarantine . Ivo Raza's 2020 mockumentary Reboot Camp is a comedy about a fake cult that uses an ensemble cast of celebrities from

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3844-408: Was widely appropriated by others and revisited by Allen himself in films such as Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story (1971), Zelig (1983) and Sweet and Lowdown (1999). Early use of the mockumentary format in television comedy can be seen in several sketches from Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974), such as " Hell's Grannies ", " Piranha Brothers ", and " The Funniest Joke in

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