Writing a Parody | Partielo

2 min de lecture384 mots

Definition

Parody

(also called a ‘send-up’, a ‘spoof ‘or a ‘lampoon’, depending on how serious it is to be taken) is usually a work created to mock or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or its author by use of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation

The notion of parody dates all the way back to the days of Aristotle, who, in his second book of Poetics identified a certain Hegemon of Thasos as the inventor of burlesque-style parody, making a sublime text ridiculous through comic imitation. Even that along ago, parody was done for mockery and for humorous effect.

Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody (2001) by Michael Gerber

This opening page uses many of the devices habitually used in parody and low burlesque. Most striking to most students is of course the clever coining of new names for the characters and places. For example, we have Hogwarts renamed ‘Hogwash’ (which is a word used when you do not believe a word of what you are hearing, like the more vulgar ‘Foutaises!’ in French), Gryffindor becomes “Grittyflorr’ (which means ‘dirty floor’) and a Muggle (word used for someone who has no magical powers) has become a “Muddle” (which means, ‘to confuse’).

A retenir :

Many people confuse the term ‘parody’ with a related notion of ‘pastiche'. Finding symbolic names is a key exercise for any writer of fiction but it is particularly important when writing parodies. Another technique that is used here is using a few lines taken directly from the original, or wording your text so that is sounds similar in tone and style to the original work (Can you imagine a parody of Hamlet that did not use the ‘to be or not to be’ line from Act III?). Another common technique in this type of parody is the breaking of the mimesis, which occurs when the author steps out of the fictional world he is presenting and talks about people and things from our ‘real’ world. This is commonly done in parodies of films, in which discussion moves from the plot or the fictional world to that of writers and producers working on the film, the viewers watching the film...

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