Dictionary.com defines a genre as "a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like." There exists a specific genre that thrives off of these particular forms, content, and techniques. That genre is the Parody. In the world of film, a parody film is one that essentially picks on other genres by taking these thematic elements of a certain genre of film and then portraying them in a way that is so excessive, it becomes humorous. Essentially, parodies create hilarity out of things that are not meant to be funny at all. Parody is by far the most versatile genre of film ever created. Unlike other genres, parodies can be based off of any genre of film or other medium of media for that matter. For instance, it takes a very specific mix of film elements to make a movie a "horror movie" or an "epic drama." But anything, no matter how frightening, emotional, or action-packed, can be made fun of, and this is the goal of the parody.
There are many ways to make a parody film. Some focus on an entire genre and make obvious humorous references to many films within that genre, or simply to ideas or events that are consistent through most films of that genre. One of the best known parody series of this kind are the Scary Movie films. As the name implies, these films put a humorous twist on many of the most popular horror movies of our time.
There are currently 4 films in the "Scary Movie" series, and each one focuses primarily on a few specific major horror films, adding bits and pieces of others along the way. This clip is from the original "Scary Movie," which primarily makes fun of the teen slasher films "Scream" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer," arguably the two most popular horror franchises of the 1990s. This particular scene illustrates how the film makes fun of the now iconic ghost mask worn my the killer in the "Scream" films. The first time you see the killer in the clip, his mask is as it appears in the actual horror film, and it is very terrifying. But as the clip progresses, you will obviously notice the mask change from scary, to smiling, and finally to the face of a drunk. Parody is most effective when making fun of the most memorable aspects of films and genres, and the "Scream" mask is a perfect target for those acquainted with modern horror films. This is also a less direct mockery of the perpetual need for killers to wear masks in horror films. Masks hide a killer's identity as well as any emotion he/she might display. This scene turns the idea into a joke by portraying different expressions on an inanimate mask that can't itself actually change shapes. Also noticeable, this scene does not solely employ elements of horror movies. This scene makes fun of a very popular Budweiser ad that was aired during a Monday Night Football Game in November of 1999. This conveys how parodies find material from all forms of media and don't only make fun of the genre and medium on which they primarily focus.
Other parodies focus on specific films or stories within a genre. These types of parody succeed by portraying certain events or facets of a story in ways that are unusual to the story, as well as adding in props and dialogue that are completely irrelevant, but therefore hilarious. There is a parody that makes a mockery of the Medieval epic story of King Arthur and his knights of the round table, and is in my opinion the greatest parody ever created. It is called "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
The overarching parodies taking place in this scene is that of the Witch Hunting craze which took place in Medieval England, as well as the very skewed scientific beliefs and logic inherent to the time period. When it comes to movie about historical time periods, parodies don't merely make fun of common genre characteristics, but also thematic events, beliefs, and practices of the time period in which the mocked films take place. Obviously, nobody would actually believe the things said in this scene, especially when a person's life was at stake, but the fact that the film makes such outlandish claims while the characters appear to take it all very seriously is absolutely hysterical. Parodies also portray details such as political and socio-economical conditions and stereotypes of the time period. This scene demonstrates the common idea that the lower class (peasants) are deceitful, unintelligent degenerates while the upper-class (monarchy/noblemen) are "so wise in the ways of science." The ironic humor behind this is that the King's so-called "wise" claim is no more logical than the ideas of the peasants. The last method by which parodies of a single film are effective is placing elements that simply do not belong. This is a particularly useful tactic in historical parodies such as "Holy Grail" because items and ideas of other time periods can be placed into the scenes, creating a very mixed-up and therefore funny atmosphere. This can be seen in the film clip when the peasant of England in 792 A.D. is wearing shaving cream.
The one thing that is absoutely crucial to the parody genre, and that is stereotypes. Parodies would not be here today without the institution of stereotypes in society. Parodies thrive off of these commonly accepted, though often skewed social perspectives. Whether they be racial, gender, economic, or cultural, stereotypes are very common accepted, yet nothing more than perspective. This makes them very easy to mock. A good example of a film parodying many different stereotypes is Mel Brooks's classic "Blazing Saddles."
This scene is very representative of the whole movie in that it is saturated with jokes formed around stereotypes. This scene employs many stereotypical, derogatory terms for certain races and groups, which come off as funny just because of the shear shock value at suddenly hearing something so absurd and inappropriate. Racial expectations are touched on here too. The white men in the scene expect to hear the black laborers sing songs reminiscent of slavery "work songs," yet the blacks retaliate with Sinatra. Many stereotype jokes get their comedic value simply from complete unexpectancy. Physical examples of sterotypes are evident in this scene as well. All the Chinese laborers are portrayed wearing golden Chinese "coolie" hats, suggesting that all Chinese people wear these hats, though this is clearly not the case in real life. Such steretype jokes continue all throughout the film including, including a blonde haired, blue eyed singer who just happens to have a thick German accent, country "hillbilly" characters speaking incoherent gibberish and being absolutely filthy, as well as a long waiting line at the gallows. Regardless of what the main topic of the film is, if you're watching a parody, you will undoubtedly see countless jokes developed around stereotypes.
There are countless other types of parodies out there to cater to the film preferences of anyone. Some other ideas include Mel Brooks's "Spaceballs," which makes fun of sci-fi films(particularly Star Wars), Hot Shots 1 & 2, which mock Top Gun and Rambo respectively, and "This is Spinal Tap," which parodies the documentary (more specifically, the rock band documentary, or "Rockumentary"). The fact is, anything and everything can be made fun of and that is the reason that parody films will continune to prosper.
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