Parody film | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

A parody film or spoof film is a subgenre of comedy film that lampoons other film genres or films as pastiches, works created by imitation of the style of many different films reassembled together. Although the subgenre is often overlooked by critics, parody films are commonly profitable at the box office. Parody is related to satire, except that "parody is more often a representation of appreciation, while a satire is more often...pointing ...out the major flaws of an object through ridicule." J.M. Maher notes that the "difference is not always clear" and points out that "some films employ both techniques". Parody is found in a range of art and culture, including literature, music, theater, television, animation, and gaming. The first film parody was The Little Train Robbery (1905), which makes fun of The Great Train Robbery (1903), in part by using an all child cast for the Western spoof. Historically, when a genre formula grows tired, as in the case of the moralistic melodramas in the 1910s, it retains value only as a parody, as demonstrated by Buster Keaton shorts that mocked that melodrama genre. Influential parody actors and creators from the first half of 20th century included the Marx Brothers (active 1905–1949), W. C. Fields (active 1898–1946), Mae West (active 1907–1978), Laurel and Hardy (1927-1955), and Bob Hope (active 1924–1998). The 1970s and 1980s have been called the "golden age" of parody movies, led by Mel Brooks and the "ZAZ trio" (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker). Brooks' parodies included a Western parody, Blazing Saddles (1974), a horror parody, Young Frankenstein (1974), and a space opera parody, Spaceballs (1987). The ZAZ trio is best known for their film which parodies a number of 1960s and 1970s genres (from exploitation film to kung fu film), The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) and their air disaster film parody, Airplane! (1980). Woody Allen also contributed several parodies.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related concepts (3)

Shrek

Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book of the same name by William Steig. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson (in their feature directorial debuts) and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, it is the first installment in the Shrek film series. The film stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow.

Comedy film

A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes on humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh in amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (dark comedy being an exception to this rule). Comedy is one of the oldest genres in the film and it is derived from classical comedy in theatre. Some of the earliest silent films were comedies such as slapstick comedy which often relies on visual depictions, such as sight gags and pratfalls, so they can be enjoyed without requiring sound.

Film genre

A film genre is a stylistic or thematic category for motion pictures based on similarities either in the narrative elements, aesthetic approach, or the emotional response to the film. Drawing heavily from the theories of literary-genre criticism, film genres are usually delineated by "conventions, iconography, settings, narratives, characters and actors". One can also classify films by the tone, theme/topic, mood, format, target audience, or budget.