diff --git a/django/contrib/sitemaps/views.py b/django/contrib/sitemaps/views.py
index cfe3aa6..c8d2f4d 100644
--- a/django/contrib/sitemaps/views.py
+++ b/django/contrib/sitemaps/views.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import warnings
+
 from django.contrib.sites.models import get_current_site
 from django.core import urlresolvers
 from django.core.paginator import EmptyPage, PageNotAnInteger
@@ -6,8 +8,15 @@ from django.template.response import TemplateResponse
 from django.utils import six
 
 def index(request, sitemaps,
-          template_name='sitemap_index.xml', mimetype='application/xml',
-          sitemap_url_name='django.contrib.sitemaps.views.sitemap'):
+          template_name='sitemap_index.xml', content_type='application/xml',
+          sitemap_url_name='django.contrib.sitemaps.views.sitemap',
+          mimetype=None):
+
+    if mimetype:
+        warnings.warn("The mimetype keyword argument is deprecated, use "
+            "content_type instead", DeprecationWarning, stacklevel=2)
+        content_type = mimetype
+
     req_protocol = 'https' if request.is_secure() else 'http'
     req_site = get_current_site(request)
 
@@ -24,10 +33,17 @@ def index(request, sitemaps,
             sites.append('%s?p=%s' % (absolute_url, page))
 
     return TemplateResponse(request, template_name, {'sitemaps': sites},
-                            content_type=mimetype)
+                            content_type=content_type)
 
 def sitemap(request, sitemaps, section=None,
-            template_name='sitemap.xml', mimetype='application/xml'):
+            template_name='sitemap.xml', content_type='application/xml',
+            mimetype=None):
+
+    if mimetype:
+        warnings.warn("The mimetype keyword argument is deprecated, use "
+            "content_type instead", DeprecationWarning, stacklevel=2)
+        content_type = mimetype
+
     req_protocol = 'https' if request.is_secure() else 'http'
     req_site = get_current_site(request)
 
@@ -51,4 +67,4 @@ def sitemap(request, sitemaps, section=None,
         except PageNotAnInteger:
             raise Http404("No page '%s'" % page)
     return TemplateResponse(request, template_name, {'urlset': urls},
-                            content_type=mimetype)
+                            content_type=content_type)
diff --git a/django/shortcuts/__init__.py b/django/shortcuts/__init__.py
index 9f89634..21bd7a0 100644
--- a/django/shortcuts/__init__.py
+++ b/django/shortcuts/__init__.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ This module collects helper functions and classes that "span" multiple levels
 of MVC. In other words, these functions/classes introduce controlled coupling
 for convenience's sake.
 """
+import warnings
 
 from django.template import loader, RequestContext
 from django.http import HttpResponse, Http404
@@ -17,7 +18,14 @@ def render_to_response(*args, **kwargs):
     Returns a HttpResponse whose content is filled with the result of calling
     django.template.loader.render_to_string() with the passed arguments.
     """
-    httpresponse_kwargs = {'content_type': kwargs.pop('mimetype', None)}
+    httpresponse_kwargs = {'content_type': kwargs.pop('content_type', None)}
+
+    mimetype = kwargs.pop('mimetype', None)
+    if mimetype:
+        warnings.warn("The mimetype keyword argument is deprecated, use "
+            "content_type instead", DeprecationWarning, stacklevel=2)
+        httpresponse_kwargs['content_type'] = mimetype
+
     return HttpResponse(loader.render_to_string(*args, **kwargs), **httpresponse_kwargs)
 
 def render(request, *args, **kwargs):
diff --git a/docs/howto/outputting-csv.txt b/docs/howto/outputting-csv.txt
index bcc6f38..1f9efb5 100644
--- a/docs/howto/outputting-csv.txt
+++ b/docs/howto/outputting-csv.txt
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ Here's an example::
 
     def some_view(request):
         # Create the HttpResponse object with the appropriate CSV header.
-        response = HttpResponse(mimetype='text/csv')
+        response = HttpResponse(content_type='text/csv')
         response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="somefilename.csv"'
 
         writer = csv.writer(response)
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ Here's an example, which generates the same CSV file as above::
 
     def some_view(request):
         # Create the HttpResponse object with the appropriate CSV header.
-        response = HttpResponse(mimetype='text/csv')
+        response = HttpResponse(content_type='text/csv')
         response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="somefilename.csv"'
 
         # The data is hard-coded here, but you could load it from a database or
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ Here's an example, which generates the same CSV file as above::
 
 The only difference between this example and the previous example is that this
 one uses template loading instead of the CSV module. The rest of the code --
-such as the ``mimetype='text/csv'`` -- is the same.
+such as the ``content_type='text/csv'`` -- is the same.
 
 Then, create the template ``my_template_name.txt``, with this template code:
 
diff --git a/docs/howto/outputting-pdf.txt b/docs/howto/outputting-pdf.txt
index 9d87b97..d15f94f 100644
--- a/docs/howto/outputting-pdf.txt
+++ b/docs/howto/outputting-pdf.txt
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ Here's a "Hello World" example::
 
     def some_view(request):
         # Create the HttpResponse object with the appropriate PDF headers.
-        response = HttpResponse(mimetype='application/pdf')
+        response = HttpResponse(content_type='application/pdf')
         response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="somefilename.pdf"'
 
         # Create the PDF object, using the response object as its "file."
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ Here's the above "Hello World" example rewritten to use :mod:`io`::
 
     def some_view(request):
         # Create the HttpResponse object with the appropriate PDF headers.
-        response = HttpResponse(mimetype='application/pdf')
+        response = HttpResponse(content_type='application/pdf')
         response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="somefilename.pdf"'
 
         buffer = BytesIO()
diff --git a/docs/internals/deprecation.txt b/docs/internals/deprecation.txt
index 63d65d1..da0d1e2 100644
--- a/docs/internals/deprecation.txt
+++ b/docs/internals/deprecation.txt
@@ -290,8 +290,14 @@ these changes.
   specified as a plain string instead of a tuple will be removed and raise an
   exception.
 
-* The ``mimetype`` argument to :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` ``__init__``
-  will be removed (``content_type`` should be used instead).
+* The ``mimetype`` argument to the ``__init__`` methods of
+  :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse`,
+  :class:`~django.template.response.SimpleTemplateResponse`, and
+  :class:`~django.template.response.TemplateResponse`, will be removed.
+  ``content_type`` should be used instead. This also applies to the
+  :func:`~django.shortcuts.render_to_response` shortcut and
+  the sitemamp views, :func:`~django.contrib.sitemaps.views.index` and
+  :func:`~django.contrib.sitemaps.views.sitemap`.
 
 * When :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` is instantiated with an iterator,
   or when :attr:`~django.http.HttpResponse.content` is set to an iterator,
diff --git a/docs/ref/contrib/admin/actions.txt b/docs/ref/contrib/admin/actions.txt
index d7eef62..0a302ec 100644
--- a/docs/ref/contrib/admin/actions.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/contrib/admin/actions.txt
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ objects as JSON::
     from django.core import serializers
 
     def export_as_json(modeladmin, request, queryset):
-        response = HttpResponse(mimetype="text/javascript")
+        response = HttpResponse(content_type="application/json")
         serializers.serialize("json", queryset, stream=response)
         return response
 
@@ -356,5 +356,3 @@ Conditionally enabling or disabling actions
                     if 'delete_selected' in actions:
                         del actions['delete_selected']
                 return actions
-
-
diff --git a/docs/ref/template-response.txt b/docs/ref/template-response.txt
index 3f5e772..844b5fa 100644
--- a/docs/ref/template-response.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/template-response.txt
@@ -56,11 +56,11 @@ Attributes
 Methods
 -------
 
-.. method:: SimpleTemplateResponse.__init__(template, context=None, mimetype=None, status=None, content_type=None)
+.. method:: SimpleTemplateResponse.__init__(template, context=None, content_type=None, status=None)
 
     Instantiates a
     :class:`~django.template.response.SimpleTemplateResponse` object
-    with the given template, context, MIME type and HTTP status.
+    with the given template, context, content type, and HTTP status.
 
     ``template``
         The full name of a template, or a sequence of template names.
@@ -75,12 +75,15 @@ Methods
         The HTTP Status code for the response.
 
     ``content_type``
-        An alias for ``mimetype``. Historically, this parameter was only called
-        ``mimetype``, but since this is actually the value included in the HTTP
-        ``Content-Type`` header, it can also include the character set encoding,
-        which makes it more than just a MIME type specification. If ``mimetype``
-        is specified (not ``None``), that value is used. Otherwise,
-        ``content_type`` is used. If neither is given,
+
+        .. versionchanged:: 1.5
+
+        Historically, this parameter was only called ``mimetype`` (now
+        deprecated), but since this is actually the value included in the HTTP
+        ``Content-Type`` header, it can also include the character set
+        encoding, which makes it more than just a MIME type specification. If
+        ``mimetype`` is specified (not ``None``), that value is used.
+        Otherwise, ``content_type`` is used. If neither is given,
         :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` is used.
 
 
@@ -144,7 +147,7 @@ TemplateResponse objects
 Methods
 -------
 
-.. method:: TemplateResponse.__init__(request, template, context=None, mimetype=None, status=None, content_type=None, current_app=None)
+.. method:: TemplateResponse.__init__(request, template, context=None, content_type=None, status=None, current_app=None)
 
     Instantiates an ``TemplateResponse`` object with the given
     template, context, MIME type and HTTP status.
@@ -165,12 +168,15 @@ Methods
         The HTTP Status code for the response.
 
     ``content_type``
-        An alias for ``mimetype``. Historically, this parameter was only called
-        ``mimetype``, but since this is actually the value included in the HTTP
-        ``Content-Type`` header, it can also include the character set encoding,
-        which makes it more than just a MIME type specification. If ``mimetype``
-        is specified (not ``None``), that value is used. Otherwise,
-        ``content_type`` is used. If neither is given,
+
+        .. versionchanged:: 1.5
+
+        Historically, this parameter was only called ``mimetype`` (now
+        deprecated), but since this is actually the value included in the HTTP
+        ``Content-Type`` header, it can also include the character set
+        encoding, which makes it more than just a MIME type specification. If
+        ``mimetype`` is specified (not ``None``), that value is used.
+        Otherwise, ``content_type`` is used. If neither is given,
         :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` is used.
 
     ``current_app``
diff --git a/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt b/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt
index b1b4700..68860f1 100644
--- a/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/http/shortcuts.txt
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ Optional arguments
     The MIME type to use for the resulting document. Defaults to the value of
     the :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` setting.
 
+    .. versionchanged:: 1.5
+        This parameter used to be called ``mimetype``.
+
 ``status``
     The status code for the response. Defaults to ``200``.
 
@@ -87,7 +90,7 @@ This example is equivalent to::
 ``render_to_response``
 ======================
 
-.. function:: render_to_response(template_name[, dictionary][, context_instance][, mimetype])
+.. function:: render_to_response(template_name[, dictionary][, context_instance][, content_type])
 
    Renders a given template with a given context dictionary and returns an
    :class:`~django.http.HttpResponse` object with that rendered text.
@@ -121,10 +124,14 @@ Optional arguments
                                   my_data_dictionary,
                                   context_instance=RequestContext(request))
 
-``mimetype``
+``content_type``
     The MIME type to use for the resulting document. Defaults to the value of
     the :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` setting.
 
+    .. versionchanged:: 1.5
+        This parameter used to be called ``mimetype``.
+
+
 Example
 -------
 
@@ -148,7 +155,7 @@ This example is equivalent to::
         t = loader.get_template('myapp/template.html')
         c = Context({'foo': 'bar'})
         return HttpResponse(t.render(c),
-            mimetype="application/xhtml+xml")
+            content_type="application/xhtml+xml")
 
 ``redirect``
 ============
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/views/generic_urls.py b/tests/regressiontests/views/generic_urls.py
index 0f214d1..d504362 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/views/generic_urls.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/views/generic_urls.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ urlpatterns += patterns('',
 urlpatterns += patterns('regressiontests.views.views',
     (r'^shortcuts/render_to_response/$', 'render_to_response_view'),
     (r'^shortcuts/render_to_response/request_context/$', 'render_to_response_view_with_request_context'),
-    (r'^shortcuts/render_to_response/mimetype/$', 'render_to_response_view_with_mimetype'),
+    (r'^shortcuts/render_to_response/content_type/$', 'render_to_response_view_with_content_type'),
     (r'^shortcuts/render/$', 'render_view'),
     (r'^shortcuts/render/base_context/$', 'render_view_with_base_context'),
     (r'^shortcuts/render/content_type/$', 'render_view_with_content_type'),
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/views/tests/shortcuts.py b/tests/regressiontests/views/tests/shortcuts.py
index 62bd82f..3a5df6a 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/views/tests/shortcuts.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/views/tests/shortcuts.py
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ class ShortcutTests(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(response.content, b'FOO.BAR../path/to/static/media/\n')
         self.assertEqual(response['Content-Type'], 'text/html; charset=utf-8')
 
-    def test_render_to_response_with_mimetype(self):
-        response = self.client.get('/shortcuts/render_to_response/mimetype/')
+    def test_render_to_response_with_content_type(self):
+        response = self.client.get('/shortcuts/render_to_response/content_type/')
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)
         self.assertEqual(response.content, b'FOO.BAR..\n')
         self.assertEqual(response['Content-Type'], 'application/x-rendertest')
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/views/views.py b/tests/regressiontests/views/views.py
index 748f076..50ad98a 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/views/views.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/views/views.py
@@ -68,11 +68,11 @@ def render_to_response_view_with_request_context(request):
         'bar': 'BAR',
     }, context_instance=RequestContext(request))
 
-def render_to_response_view_with_mimetype(request):
+def render_to_response_view_with_content_type(request):
     return render_to_response('debug/render_test.html', {
         'foo': 'FOO',
         'bar': 'BAR',
-    }, mimetype='application/x-rendertest')
+    }, content_type='application/x-rendertest')
 
 def render_view(request):
     return render(request, 'debug/render_test.html', {
@@ -263,4 +263,4 @@ class Klass(object):
             return technical_500_response(request, *exc_info)
 
 def sensitive_method_view(request):
-    return Klass().method(request)
\ No newline at end of file
+    return Klass().method(request)
