Bonus Assignment: "What Makes a Parody Work? Part 1" by Anthony Izzi

     Before you start reading this, keep in mind that this is not a real assignment. I will not receive any credit from this. This is just a blog I wanted to write about. I want to write about an observation of the Parody genre and analyze parody movies from the 20^th century and the more recent movies. Enjoy.

Introduction:

      Many people believe that the parody genre has died starting with “Scary Movie” back in the year 2000 and it is responsible for critical failures such as “Date Movie”, “Epic Movie”. Meet the Spartans”, “Disaster Movie” made by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Many believe that there hasn’t been a good parody film since the mid 1990’s. For the most part, I agree. Friedberg and Seltzer’s (cough) movies were down-right torture, but I disagree with their opinion on the other parody films such as Scary Movie 1 and 2.

     As I analyze these movies, I’ll describe the construction of a parody film and I’ll be comparing Mel Brooks’ gems “Spaceballs” and “Blazing Saddles”, parody films in the early 2000’s, Friedberg and Seltzer’s movies, and other modern parodies. I will explain why the genre is failing, but also why there is still a glimmer of hope. Here are the steps of constructing a parody film:

Step 1:”What are you making fun of?”

     When you start writing a parody, you need to pick a target; this target could be a certain movie or a certain genre. “Spaceballs” (1987) was a parody of the “Original Star Wars Trilogy” (1977-1983). It’s clear what its target is and the movie takes advantage of that by having similar yet different story and characters.

“Scary Movie” (2000) is a parody of “Scream” (1996) and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (1997); this works because the two targets have a lot in common: both are horror movies, both are murder mysteries, both have central characters in their early-twenties, and both have a leading lady. Both movies are likely to be in the same universe and “Scary Movie” proves that with its own story. The same for “Scary Movie 2” (2001); its main targets are “The Haunting (1999)” and “The Exorcist” (1973). Both movies are supernatural horror films and “Scary Movie 2” takes advantage of that by including them into the story.

The more modern “Superhero Movie” (2008) is a parody of “Spiderman” (2002), but it also takes its time to make fun of other films in the Superhero genre such as “Batman Begins” (2005) and “X-Men” (2000) while keeping its focus on “Spiderman”.

“Epic Movie” (2007) sounds like a parody of an adventure, fantasy, or action movie or the genres. The main target of “Epic Movie” is “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” (2005); this sounds like it would work because Narnia is a fantasy/adventure movie, but each of the four main characters come from four spoofs of certain movies: Peter comes froma spoof of “X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006), that’s good because that was an action movie; Susan comes from a spoof of “Snakes on a Plane” (2006), that’s also good because it was a thriller; Lucy comes from a spoof of “The Da Vinci Code” (2005), I guess that’s okay, though I’m starting to see a pattern in the release dates of these movies; and Edmund comes from a spoof of “Nacho Libre” (2006), why, that’s not even an action or adventure movie. After the four characters first meet each other, they’re in a spoof of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005), WHAT?! After they enter Gnarnia (the Narnia knock-off), there are references to “Superman Returns” (2006), “Boart” (2006), “Casino Royale” (2006), “Click” (2006), “MTV Cribs” (still ongoing) etc. The majority of the movies that “Epic Movie” acknowledges have little to nothing in common with the other movies and they were all released recently; “Borat” wasn’t even on DVD when “Epic Movie” premiered. 

  

2% on Rotten Tomatoes                        

“Spaceballs” parodies “Star Wars”, so that’s one target. “Superhero Movie” parodies “Spiderman”, again just one target. “Scary Movie” parodies “Scream” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, two targets. “Epic Movie” parodies “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, "Charlie, and the Chocolate Factory”, “The Da Vinci Code”, “Snakes on a Plane”, “Nacho Libre”, “X-Men: The Last Stand”, and the villain’s evil plan copies Lex Luthor’s plan in “Superman Returns”; so “Epic Movie has at least SEVEN targets. To write a parody, you should focus on one or two targets because with fewer targets, it helps to write a story; speaking of which…

Step 2: “How should you write the story?”

     

      When writing a parody of the movie, you could either copy-paste the same story in the same way that “Scary Movie” did or make a story similar, but also having its differences. The original story has a dark story and the parody has somewhat of the same story, but in a more light-hearted tone that fits well with the comedy. “Spaceballs” and “Star Wars (A New Hope)” share the same main outline of a story, but they both have their respective differences. In “Star Wars”, the empire possesses a globally devastating weapon, the Death Star, which is capable of destroying an entire planet. In “Spaceballs”, the Spaceballs also possess a globally devastating weapon, Mega Maid, but it’s not as terrifying as the Death Star since this is a comedy and the story is much more light-hearted. Instead of being able to destroy an entire planet, it can suck all the air out of an entire planet; this works because it appears tame compared to the Death Star and the damage can be mended thanks to the reverse function of Mega Maid; the people of the seemingly doomed planet run out of air for a minute, but they get their air back and everyone is unharmed. The Spaceballs aren’t as threatening as the empire, but they are menacing in their own original way and it gets the job done; and originality is gold in any movie. 

 

      

      The heroes in “Spaceballs”, Lone Starr, Barf, Princess Vespa, and Dot Matrix, go through mostly the same things the heroes in “Star Wars” go through: freeing the princess, foiling the villains’ plans, fleeing the villains. Unlike “Star Wars”, Lone Starr and Barf rescue Vespa and Dot after some character development between the four characters, especially between Lone Starr and Vespa; they talk about their pasts, their dislikes, and they begin to fall in love and that makes the escape scene later more engaging. While taking story elements from “Star Wars”, “Spaceballs has its own originality.

      

      “Superhero Movie” also has its own original story while having similarities to “Spiderman”. Both films are about a shy and quirky teen who acquires superpowers and uses them to fight crime, including a highly-stressed businessman who also gains superpowers while desperately trying to keep his company. In “Spiderman”, The Green Goblin plans to torment Spiderman to fight alongside him while he’s spreading chaos in New York City. In “Superhero Movie”, Hourglass must absorb other people’s lives in order to keep his youth; which is much more interesting because when he was normal, he was losing his company and now after saving his company, he’s losing his youth. Hourglass plans to absorb all lives from the residents of New York City; this gives a good reason why the hero must defeat the villain and save the city. The threat is much more interesting and creative in certain parody films and can even rival the original source.

     Writing a story for a parody of a certain genre is different. If you write a story for a parody of the Western genre, how should it be done? Do you:

   A)  Write an original comedic story that takes place in the Wild   West?

Or

   B)  Make numerous references to several popular movies that were released recently?

 “Blazing Saddles” (1974) has its own original story and it spoofs the Western genre by taking advantage of the time that the movie takes place in such as the temporary discrimination against Sheriff Bart, Bart inventing the candy-gram, and several other acronyms such as cars, motorcycles, movie theaters, and so on.

     “Disaster Movie” (2008) at first aims to parody the Disaster genre, not a particular movie, but it doesn’t have an original story; it doesn’t have a story at all. It’s just an assembly line of references of recent and popular movies that don’t have anything in common and don’t fit in the genre.

This movie is so bad, it inspired a new rating in Spill.com.      

     Every movie needs a good story to keep the audience interested. For certain parody movies, the story can be fresh and creative while making fun of something at the same time. Admittedly, Comedy is one of the most challenging genres to write about, but that’s another reason why it’s such a great genre, it can challenge a writer to bring the audience something refreshingly new.