Parody
A parody is a special piece of art.
Parodies make fun of another piece of art by mocking it.
The parody is an imitation of the original, but exaggerating it, showing clichés which have been used, to make the original look ridiculous or to make a comment about an issue affecting society.
For example, in a serious Western movie, the good guys always seem to shoot better and faster than the bad guys. In a Western parody, this might be exaggerated by showing a good guy firing a single shot, and a dozen of the bad guys falling from their horses as a result.
Mel Brooks is a director who has made many movies which are parodies:
- Blazing Saddles is a parody of Western movies in general,
- Spaceballs is a parody of the Star Wars movies, and science fiction in general,
- Men in Tights is a parody of Robin Hood movies,
The website Uncyclopedia is also a parody of Wikipedia.
Parodies can be anything from songs to poems to books to movies.
A movie that makes a parody of another movie or several movies at once is a parody movie.
Newspaper columnists are well known for their strip cartoons which can very often parody public opinion on major issues affecting society, such as the recent credit crunch.
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