Zelig/Hip-Hop

While watching Zelig again yesterday, I noticed a similarity between this genre of 'fake documentaries' and hip-hop. The latter relies on sampled bits from previously recorded music (or sound) to create a new work that (hopefully) has an identity of its own. Fake documentaries (or mockumentaries as they are correctly referred to) like Zelig and Sweet and Lowdown) position their fictional protagonists in spatio-temporal proximity of real-life events and people. In doing so, they 'reuse' not only these events and people but also our awareness and understanding of them and what they stand for. The thesis seems far-fetched, and I'd have to work out my thoughts more carefully to make a stronger claim, but this is just to get the idea out, before I forget about it.