Forms of Parody

A parody is an imitation of a work of art, literature, or music for an intention of making playful joke out of the original work. A parody may be ironic or takes a cynical approach to the work that it uses as reference. Or it might be just some comedic relief.

Most of the time, a parody is a serious work that has been to make it looks absurd by mocking or pointing out the flaws of the original work. A parody is similar to, and may also be referred to as burlesque, lampoon, or a spoof.

The word parody was taken from the Greek “paroidia”. It means a song sung alongside another. However, in modern culture such as ours, a parody can involve printed, audio, and visual media. Though, copyright laws are complicated when dealing with a parody. Since the original work is copyrighted to the original creator, is the work of parody is credited to the original creator too?

But in many cases, the creator of parody must get permissions from the original creator.

Film is a popular industry where a parody may be created. A popular movie that has become an icon such as Twillight series, have a parody of its own, Vampire Sucks. Numerous other titles existed which many of them were starred by popular Hollywood comedians.

Parody : On the left is Vampire Suck, and on the right is the original work, Twillight.

Music is as popular as other parody mediums. It involves changing or copying the existing music ideas or lyrics. It might be humorous, even mocking the existing musical material. Sometimes, for satirical effects.

Other forms of parody or spoof exist within television, and sometimes radio. Other shows have been developed as a parody of reality. Though parody in print is rarer and lesser known, books, magazine, and newspapers have also contained parodies of original works or situations, like comics.