A few of these are played just for laughs but mostly they claim some serious intent - hence the label docu-tainment. Docu-tainment emerged from the never-neverland that exists somewhere between the totally entertainment-orientation of ‘reality’ TV and the informative intent of the dramatised documentary. It aims to inform and entertain by putting a member of the public (or sometimes a celebrity) in someone else’s shoes by changing their appearance for a day (or even living the role for a month). So we’ve had white women going black, black women going white, thin women becoming temporarily fat, women as men, women looking older etc.
I have separated out celebrity ‘fakeovers’ as a special case of disguise makeups.
Regardless of the ethics, educational or entertainment value of these shows they arguably pose a unique challenge to makeup artists to produce a transformation capable of working in ‘real-life’ situations.