Screenwriting : Where are all the good parody films? by Randall C Willis

Randall C Willis

Where are all the good parody films?

In my blog, I recently published a post asking what has gone wrong with the parody industry in recent years. Films like Paranormal Whacktivity, Disaster Movie and Vampires Suck just don't seem to match up with Blazing Saddles, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Airplane and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. For me, it seemed the biggest difference between the two groups was that the former simply ripping off as many genre clichés as possible, offering no firmer links between these scenes than bad jokes, fart noises or perky breasts. By comparison, the latter group have an incredibly strong central story that is decorated by the genre tropes. (Much greater detail in my blog entry at: http://createdbyrcw.com/2014/09/23/no-parity-in-parody/) Anyone have any thoughts? Or am I just the grumpy old writer who goes around saying "When I was a boy, we knew schtick!"? Cheers...Randy

Mario Leone

Airplane

CJ Walley

You're spot on, Randall. A lot of modern parodies do seem to be just a barrage of pop culture references strung together. There's also often a focus on vulgarity and attempts at shock humour. I do feel a good parody is written with love and admiration for the source material. It's not so much mocking as a homage. The best recent parody movie I've seen, and perhaps one of my favourites ever, is Black Dynamite; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Y24a0cyCE

Cherie Grant

I've never enjoyed parody films. Didn't think there were any good ones.

Cherie Grant

oh no wait, I did have a good laugh watching Spaceballs clearly a parody of Star Wars.

Randall C Willis

Thanks CJ for the suggestion...will have to check it out. And Cherie, I totally appreciate that parodies are not to everyone's tastes (although I am glad you enjoyed Spaceballs). In a lot of circles (not saying yours Cherie), parodies are seen as cheap, easy writing...the good ones are anything but. And as CJ suggested, I see them more as a humourous love letter to a genre or subgenre, which is why they can be so hard to get right. Thanks again, folks.

Shelley Stuart

Galaxy Quest was another good one.

Samuel V Langford

Comedy has always been my favorite genre... it's also the toughest genre to do well... btw... most of Mel Brook's movies are farcical in nature, not parodies...including "The Producers" actually , spaceballs is the only one that I can think of off the top of my head that I think would fall under being a literal parody. there's a number of times where you could almost say his work is a blend of parody and farce but they are actually not... some of his characters may be based on characters we've seen before but they are placed in new circumstances... like "Men in Tights" even though was a sketch about Robin Hood, it was not a parody but a farce. No one does farce like Mel Brooks... he is the best at what he does.. I've always been a big fan of his, although my comedy writing is mostly inspired by Billy Wilder and Woody Allen.. The original "Producers and Young Frankenstein are my favorite Mel Brooks movies.

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